Write Your Blogs Yourself, Your Audience Will Know the Difference

I submitted a proposal to a recruiting firm recently and one of the core management team members asked if I write content and I wanted to share with you my answer to her question:

“I don’t write content for my clients or arrange for a content writer. I train staff and management to write what they know. My belief is that you know your clients and market better than anyone. You can pay a content writer to write blogs about your industry but it rings hollow and the reader detects that quickly. Content filling isn’t the goal, it’s addressing the true communication need. Everyone tells me that they aren’t a good writer but it’s really about what you have to say, having someone to edit (if needed), and discipline of a schedule for writing. A few paragraphs once a week (once you’re practiced, you tend to write much more). Among a core staff, everyone can take one or two week’s worth of writing. It can absolutely be achieved in house. Your audience will appreciate the personalization and your bottom line will reflect it in savings. The benefit is that they are truly your words and you can speak them verbally to back up what you’ve written. You can’t do this well if someone has written it for you.

I do believe that investing in high level copy writing, graphic design, layout, and printing is appropriate for big pieces like your website, printed materials and the like but blogs should come from you. That’s my opinion.”

If you receive email subscriptions or read RSS feeds at any length, you, as a reader, can detect when it’s a business owner or team member that is writing or if they are purchasing or outsourcing their copy. Someone called me their “Official BS Detector” yesterday (I need a tshirt printed with that title!) but I know we all have that ability, we just don’t trust ourselves. We know BS when we see it. Give your audience the real thing. They will appreciate it.

[Image via Stock.xchng]