Writing: When You’re Just Not That Into It
One of the earliest examples of content marketing was Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack.” It was a yearly publication Franklin used to promote his printing business and printed more than 10,000 copies a year (a pretty significant feat considering this was colonial America).
Franklin was praised for his clever phrases and witty observations. He told stories and provided useful information. He caught the attention of his audience, offered value, AND promoted his business. He was marketing with content. And this worked because he enjoyed writing and he was good at it!
Things Have Changed…
Things have changed a lot in the last couple hundred years and good ol’ Ben is not representative of today’s entrepreneurs. In today’s content-saturated, social media-driven marketing world, throwing some words on a post and calling it a blog is not good enough.
You need successful content, complete with flair and personality, that will help your buyers find YOU.
And unless you are a proven content marketer (e.g., you have seen results from your copy writing) or a time-traveling colonial inventor, you should leave the writing to the experts. Your readers will know when you just aren’t that into it because your content will be boring and topics will miss your target demographic. Not to mention, it will be miserable for you to sit there and fail at something you don’t want to be doing anyway.
So keep a few things in mind before you skimp on your marketing budget:
- Hiring a professional marketing writer will allow you to focus on the things that matter in your business; such as building a great culture and improving productivity.
- Most professional content marketers will also provide strategy planning. This will ensure that your overall marketing goals are in line with what they are producing. You can also get one-off blogs or articles written but in these cases, you need to have your strategy beforehand.
- People complete tasks they enjoy and have practiced in less time. What could take you four hours to do, a professional writer can get done in half that time, so you are really saving money!
Look back on your past three blogs. If your page views are below your goal, it is time to hire a professional. If you don’t have goals for your content, it is REALLY time to hire some marketing help. If you don’t have three past blog posts, chat with our client success team!
