Quick Tips Tuesday: How to know when it’s time to call in a professional writer
Ah, words. Gotta love ‘em, right? How often do you read a company blog post and think to yourself, “Wait, what?” Whether it’s a matter of audience mismatch, or the tone reading more like an all-hands group text gone rogue, or worse yet (in my experience, at least), they insisted on using the wrong form of ‘their,’ more than once. I get it. You’re busy, so how can you be expected to write content that not only lands with your intended audience, but maybe, possibly, convinces a few of them to, you know, convert? Frankly, you can’t. And that’s OK. Every founder or startup CEO wears so many hats it makes my neck hurt just thinking about it. So it’s no wonder “write new blog post” gets relegated to the back burner, only to then fall behind the stove, never to be seen again. Before we get to the meat of this article, a quick detour into stat-land for those of you who like when opinions are backed up with numbers. Humans love stories. From the days of sitting around the campfire telling origin stories, to grandparents regaling their descendants with stories of ‘the olden days,” right down to today’s topic where content marketing is doing the work of connecting people who need something to people who can provide those things—we love a good yarn. So how am I going to connect that long, storied history (see what I did there?) with why you might want to call in a professional writer to handle your brand storytelling? Easy, by spelling it out for you (I’ll try to stop now). Here are my top five reasons it may be time for you to take “storyteller” off your stack of hats and pass the quill to a pro (sorry, couldn’t resist one more). Content creation is mercilessly devouring all your time Creating great content that tells your brand story in just the right way takes time, it might as well be your full-time job for all the effort you’re giving it. When you, or another executive team member, is spending more time writing blog posts, sourcing images for those posts, conducting subject matter expert (SME) interviews for those posts, etc…etc…etc…it’s a sign from your deity of choice that it may be time to bring in someone who’s full time job is actually to tell those stories. Then you or that team member can go back to being the SME you hired them to be, the one interviewed for the article, rather than the other way around. Your online presence sounds like three people arguing about where to go to dinner When you’re tackling the blog posts, your CMO is handling social media (how’d that happen?), and the CTO took over your LinkedIn page (for some reason)…things can get confusing for your audience. They never know who they’re going to get when they interact with your brand. Will it be the sassy tweeter, the all-business LinkedIn guru, or the avuncular blogger who knows how to use avuncular in a sentence without sounding all pretentious? A professional business writer will be able to unify your brand voice, developing the tone for each platform to match not only that platform but your overall brand image, into a cohesive whole. Your “simple” explanations end up frying your audience’s synapses instead You’re a domain expert. You’re running your own startup for flip’s sake. So why do your attempts to explain what your widget does seem to go…sideways? The answer’s in the question—you’re a domain expert, not a storyteller. You know your business and your widget inside out, and upside down. Frankly, the easiest way to look at this one is that you know your widget TOO well to explain it in a way your grandparents would understand. You need someone who can listen to you explain your expertise in widget making and turn it into clear, concise, and accessible content that attracts and educates your readers (that’s a writer, in case I wasn’t clear…). It’s time to build your long-form content into the juggernaut you know it can be High-value assets like customer stories, whitepapers, and newsletters take even more time than blog posts. Between deeper research, knowledge of appropriate structure guidelines and style guides, and being able to tell these in-depth stories in a way that will not only resonate but keep your audience’s rapt attention, you know where I’m going with this. You need someone who can dedicate the time to learning your product, industry, and audience. You need someone who can then take that research and spin it into such a compelling story it makes you want to buy your own widget in bulk. And that takes a very distinct skill set. It’s time, no, it’s past time to establish your thought leadership Once you’ve been in business for a bit, have a stable of happy customers, and see nothing but growth on your horizon, it’s too late to start building your domain authority and brand reputation. To position yourself, and by extension your company, as a leader in your industry, you need to start putting out articles that demonstrate your domain expertise. Like NOW. Tomorrow works, too. But today would be better. A professional writer with some experience in your vertical and a good ear can easily transition into just the executive ghostwriter you need to power your journey to thought leadership (OK, I’ve now officially used that term too many times for one article, my apologies to all the thought leaders out there who, like me, feel the term itself might be a bit overused). Takeaway time Hiring a freelance writer to take over your band storytelling isn’t just about lightening your insane workload. It’s about amplifying your brand’s voice, clarifying your message, unifying your tone, and building your credibility. If you find content creation is holding your back, the right business writer can help you connect with your audience in a way that will help generate the brand evangelists you