Why You’re Losing if You are Not Blogging
Depending on the day and time, you are being one of many different people: business professional, mom, husband, soccer coach, friend, sibling. Each of these “hats” you wear has distinct and specific responsibilities and obligations. As a parent, for example, you have a responsibility to support and help your children to grow into responsible, smart and able adults. As a business professional, you need to do what it takes to make your company more successful every day.
If you can keep all your many hats separated and segmented, you’ll have a better chance of success because you’ll be able to be fullyl “in the moment” for each. Friends would prefer you didn’t wear your business professional hat when they need your help with a personal problem. Likewise, your business associates likely wouldn’t appreciate your soccer coach hat worn at the office.
Every day, in business, many different kinds of business professionals hire professional writers. You may want to hire a writer to make sure your promotion and advertising actions are creating the impact you need to bring in more clients. Or, you may be releasing a new product and need a great press release. Website updates do well with incorporating a professional writer too, as well as email newsletters, blogs, you name it. Whether you are a small business owner, a marketing or advertising executive, CEO or president, or manager overseeing operations, you could be wearing your hat thin if you are not fully informed about what hiring a professional writer can do for you.
Who is responsible for the marketing and promotion at your company? Is that person also doing the writing? Is that person a professional writer, or just someone that writes as part of his job, or both? Understand the differences. Just because writing is part of a job description doesn’t mean you will get professional-quality copy. Have you heard of anyone hiring a web hosting company that provides a monthly blog as part of their contract? Ever read any of those blogs? Ghastly! Today, many companies are splitting up their marketing, sales, promotion and copywriting and, to get the best bang for their buck, are out-sourcing all or part of that work.
A medium-sized company with a marketing department in place, but no professional advertising copywriters, could be missing out, since a professional ad copywriter knows how to create a desire in the reader. Analyze the strengths of your marketing staff and decide if you are maximizing on those. If your gal is fantastic at analytics and lead generation, have her do more of that and hire a professional freelance writer to cover the copy. Maybe your writing is getting done because one of your staff does specialize in writing, but your social media marketing is being neglected.
I’ve run into this countless times with my own clients, and since I truly only want your business to succeed, I wanted to share with you a few common misconceptions about whether or not to hire a professional writer. If you are suffering from any of these six common maladies, rest assured, you are not alone.
- You feel like you don’t need a writer because no one in your industry is using social media marketing or blogging anyway. Oh, yeah? Let’s say your business manufactures packaging for other manufacturers, or that you are an entrepreneur. No matter what you do, there is a way to sell your product or service without hiring a blog writer or doing social media, but, (and that’s a big but!) what if you could reach so many more people that are on the internet right now looking for a company like yours? You don’t want them turned off by your outdated website and marginal social media presence, do you? Be the first in your industry to have well thought-out branding and image, a cutting-edge website, a blog, e-newsletters and active social media – and watch the leads roll in.
Article posting (79%) and social media excluding blogs (74%) are the most popular tactics for B2B content marketers.
- You don’t have the budget to add a body to your staff to do your content writing. Believe me, I understand this predicament. There are two questions you can ask yourself if this applies: 1. Do you understand the value that hiring a professional writer brings, in regards not only to the spend, but the revenue you are missing out on because your copy isn’t enticing your potential client to act? And 2. Is it really worth it to “save” a few dollars, when your image and your brand is at stake? especially since you don’t have to insure or give paid vacations to freelancers? Believe it or not, out-sourcing writing work to a professional writer costs less than doing it halfway, or not doing it at all. Plus, with a freelancer you don’t pay insurance or sick days.
Small businesses that blog get 126% more leads than small businesses that do not blog.
- You don’t know that the best-in-class in your industry is already doing it. Do you know what your competition is doing? Have you pin-pointed your industry influencers? Is your marketing activity creative and original? Believe it or not, blogging gets slightly more focus and attention by today’s marketers than social media. No matter your business, using social media and a blog can benefit you and is worth investing in. Your competition knows that. That’s why they are spending the time and money to do it right.
Companies that published 16 or more blog posts per month got 4.5X the leads than companies that published 4 or less monthly posts.
- You’re haphazardly trying to DIY in some capacity. Are you really trying to spend your production (or weekend) hours putting together blogs, e-letters, lead-nurturing emails, PPC ads, press releases, reports, white papers, webinars, and video scripts, and building your following and posting on social media? Even your marketing staff needs to stay focused on the big picture. Content creation, writing and social media take time, not the kind of time you (or your staff) have on hand if you are bogged down with your own daily tasks.
The average word count of top-ranking content (in Google) is between 1,140-1,285 words.
- You’re a business executive, not a writer. Seems obvious, but once you see how valuable content and social media marketing is and what it can do for your business – and that some of your competition has figured it out, using it with wild abandon – you will understand why you need to jump on the ferry before it leaves the dock. Not only is content and social media not going away, but it will bring business in direct ratio to the length and quality of your use of it. Writers, like me, love writing. I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine. When you hire a professional writer, or ghost writer, you will be gaining the quality communication and language expertise you wouldn’t get any other way.
You get what you pay for. Hiring a cheap writer, or trying to do it yourself, could do more harm than good if you end up with a sloppy, unprofessional, unorganized piece that will only accomplish making your business look cheap.
- You strive to look and feel better than ever before. Wait… this is a malady? Yes, because it’s hard to look your best sometimes when you are not the only one creating your image. Your company, employees, and associates contribute to your image with their If you do it right, soon clients, bosses, subordinates and co-workers, family, friends and even your competition will stand up and take notice (and probably treat you a little differently) because they will see your commitment, loyalty, and unmistakable passion for improving your business and going the extra mile.
61% of US online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.
Be the business that does it right. Lead by example by creating an industry image that stands out, and put out quality content that proves your commitment to your clients. New clients are looking for you on the internet and social media. Content writing should be delegate to a seasoned professional for the best return. You’ll get the best results, for less than what you will spend in haphazard attempts or mediocre copy.
68% of consumers are likely to spend time reading content produced by a company they are interested in.
Make the decision to improve your business and commit to doing whatever it takes to achieve it. Then, just do it.
Denise Read
President/CEO, Head Writer
714 941-9399
818 913 3202 mobile/text
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