5 Reasons You Should Really Hire a Writer
Most people think they can write.
In our experience, that’s not correct.
“No one has told me my writing is bad!” they say. To which I ask, has anyone ever said anything about their writing?
Do you send emails to your list that no one opens? That’s probably a writing issue. People don’t get what you do? Writing issue. No one converts when they visit your site, or clicks your social media posts, or finds you on Google?
It’s the writing.
Sometimes it’s existentially painful to contemplate paying someone money to type some words because hey, you have a keyboard, a well-functioning brain, and you know your business better than anyone, right?
No. Here are the top reasons you should really hire a marketing content writer.
1. You know your business better than anyone
You might think that this is an asset to writing marketing collateral for your business, but it’s actually a liability. Think of the millions of times you’ve explained to someone what you do and why they should hire you. How many of those people understand within five seconds?
Now think of when you sit down and try to write an email explaining what you do and why you’re the best. If you’re like most people, it’s way harder for you to write this than to say it. Suddenly instead of fizzling away forgotten in time, your words are under scrutiny. Then the pressure is really on with, say, your website — it’s a lot of space to fill. Can you explain not only why people should work with you, but why they need you in the first place?
When we’re too close to something, it’s really hard to step back and objectively explain in writing. You start using words that you understand, but your audience may not.
Basically, you’re trying to explain a tree’s leaves to an audience looking for a forest.
2. You don’t understand what people are looking for
If your audience is looking for the shade of a forest, why are you writing about a few leaves?
When you work with a good web content writer, they’re going to ask you questions — lots of questions — so they can better understand what you do, who you help, and how to explain what you do to connect with those you want to help.
A good writer will ask you questions like:
Where and how do people find you?
What are the problems they tell you they have?
How do you solve those problems?
These questions form the writing that that establishes the foundation of a good SEO strategy, and a good marketing content writer knows how to write SEO content. If you write about leaves and you buy keywords for leaves and put “leaves leaves leaves” all over your website, but your audience is searching for “forest,” it doesn’t matter how much time and money you put into SEO, you aren’t going to get results.
It’s also a foundation of marketing. If you don’t sell yourself the way people want to buy, you’re not going to sell.
3. Marketing is not your thing
Perhaps you developed your own product and your technical knowledge of it could fill tomes. You are a preeminent expert in your field. You can tell anyone the inner workings of your product forever.
That’s nice. Have you considered what your customers care about?
I don’t want to minimize your amazing work and knowledge, because you’re clearly a powerhouse in your own right. But being a powerhouse is not marketing.
If you’re going to explain what your product is and why someone should buy it, you’d better know and be able to explain why someone actually wants to buy it. And you’d better be able to do it in a way your customer understands.
You might think it’s because you’ve rethought an entire industry with your cutting-edge approach. But in reality, you make people’s jobs easier by making information more available and helping them do their jobs, thereby saving them time and money.
If your content doesn’t follow a marketing strategy to position your product and prove its worth to your market, you’re going to miss out on a lot of sales.
4. You’re really good at what you do
I am just not good at design. I know what looks good but struggle to make something that looks good. If I design simple things, they may be passable — inoffensive even! — but anyone with eyes will know that it’s not professional. Sometimes that’s fine! I know my time and budget constraints, I just have to make it work. You’ve probably been there with writing.
The issue comes when projects have higher stakes. An email newsletter, a website, and marketing collateral are not just “things you should do because business;” they should (and can!) move people to action and drive your business. When you get to this point, it’s really easy to think that with your keyboard, brain, and positive track record at being really good at what you do, heck, you can write your website and save yourself a few thousand bucks.
I believe that you are good at what you do. But I want to very gently remind you that being good at what you do does not make you good at writing. I may be good at writing, but I am a terrible designer. So when I wrote my novel and I needed a cover, did I hack something together on Canva? No — I sucked it up and paid for a designer.
You might save yourself a few thousand bucks in the short-term by avoiding a writer, but you will lose exponentially more over time if your content isn’t well-written.
5. Your writing is confusing
We’ve worked with clients who are actually quite decent writers but suffer from some being too close to their work or too good at what they do. We’ve also worked with people who just aren’t great writers themselves, whether they realize it or not.
Some people toil over putting their thoughts in a readable order, or forming and supporting a thesis statement. Others flounder when confronting grammar and punctuation. The unlucky ones struggle with both.
If people don’t understand your writing, you and your organization don’t look professional, which erodes trust and affects your bottom line.
Writers can seem expensive, but when you factor in the costs you’ll incur down the road, we’re sort of a bargain. Think of the hours you spend tearing your hair out trying to write something that has to get done — you can get someone for that!
In fact, you can get someone good — like us at Edify Content. We hear stories from so many clients who need help sharing their ideas, and are relieved to put it in the hands of experienced, reliable writers. We’re driven to help businesses build a solid, self-sufficient content strategy so they can make more sales and spend time doing what they’re good at.
Want to learn more about what we do? Read about how we work and get you results.
