Ten Compelling Reasons to Hire a Commercial Writer

by Barry W. Morris

Published on this site: July 6th, 2005 - See more articles from this month...

About three weeks ago I was engaged in small talk with a woman at a social gathering. It was a business event so we exchanged the perfunctory so-what-do-you-dos and I answered that I was a professional writer.

"Really! How interesting," she said.

"Yes, it's really great!" I said. "I write for businesses, hospitals, and healthcare organizations helping them with marketing copy, publicity features, brochures, and the like.'

She gave me a look of mild confusion. "Why would they hire a writer?"

It's a common question. One I get all the time. So, I ever-so-gently proceeded to educate this kind woman about the umpteen- thousand ways that a Freelance Commercial Writer (FLCW) can impact a business and enhance their image in the process.

Later in the evening, on the way home in fact, I thought about what I shared with her. I figured that if she was wondering about this, then there must be plenty of people out there who must be wondering the same thing.

I gathered the answers together, looked at them a bit closer and came up with the following ten reasons why any business would be wise to hire a professional writer:

Reasons:

1. Problem Solving.
   
   It's perhaps the most important, yet understated, reasons why hiring a FLCW is a good idea. A professional writer looks at your marketing materials and identifies how they could be better, more effective, and more results- oriented. They create online content that sells your product or service 24-7. A writer/designer team can create a newsletter that can be distributed online or in-print to your customers resulting in increased sales. A writer can overhaul your existing company web site and optimize it for more effective search engine optimization and recognition. By doing any of these things, a professional writer buys you more time to focus on what you do best.
   
   
2. Your Competition Uses One.
   
   It's true. Most businesses utilize the services of a writer to create, edit, or polish online content, internal and external newsletters, help with manual production, and similar tasks. They understand the strength of having a professional wordsmith craft their messages. It works for them. It can work for you!
   
   
3. Your Business Image Matters.
   
   Anyone on your staff can write a few sentences. But can you guarantee that that those sentences position your company favorably? Will it present the right image you've worked hard to create and sustain? When your customer surfs to your web site at two in the morning (when some of us do our best thinking), will they find that your site conveys the same professional image that you do? Business image is a 24-7 issue. When you partner with a professional writer, you can expect your image to be their top concern.
   
   
4. Fresh Perspective.
   
   You're up to your eyeballs in your business all day long. Sometimes that's a good thing and at others, it a very bad thing. When it comes to writing effective copy, being that close to your business can cloud your communications. An outside writer can often infuse new life into old copy, web content, and company literature. A fresh perspective is often just what you need.
   
   
5. Bottom Line Impact.
   
   A professional writer charges only for the time they work on your project. Just think about that. What if the rest of your employees only got paid for the work they completed? What if you didn't have to pay for sick leave, vacation, benefits, and worst of all, a less than stellar work ethic? A professional writer is a consultant. You pay only for what you agree up front is reasonable. It's a win-win situation.
   
   
6. Reduced Work Load.
   
   You're so busy you don't know which way is up. Your To-Do List looks like Santa's. How are you supposed to get all those backlogged writing projects done? Try bringing on a professional writer for a specified period of time. Get just one of those projects out of the way. Are there cyclic period of heavy work loads in your business? A professional writer is the solution you've been waiting for. One call gets you an instant employee without the employee hassles.
   
   
7. Redirects Key Employees.
   
   When you bring in a professional writer, your marketing guru can refocus on marketing, your administrative assistant can refocus on organizational tasks, and you can do what you do best. A writer allows your key people to do what you hired them to do. Kind of like what we were talking about in 4 above. Writers write, craft, envision, and suggest. You make the decisions. The writer gets it done. Your employees are refocused on their jobs.
   
   
8. Leveraging Sales Staff.
   
   Imagine getting more out of your existing sales staff without adding additional employees. By updating your company sales literature with more powerful, benefit- laden copy you can increase the productivity of each member of your sales staff. One call to your writer will initiate the process of review and revision of your existing materials. Keeping your company literature up to date is a sure-fire way to leverage the ability of your sales personnel.
   
   
9. The Creativity Factor.
   
   There's no doubt that you know your business, product or service better than anyone. But, strange as it may seem, that can impede your marketing message. A professional writer is trained to examine and extract the nuances of your company's products and services, identity and them, and finally craft a message that clearly demonstrates the benefits to the user. Think of a writer as similar to a photographer; while anyone can take pictures, it takes an artist to enhance the subject in the proper light. You wouldn't assign your family portraits to someone who simply is good with a camera. Why would you leave your business image to someone good with words?
   
   
10. Increased Referrals.
    
    You know from experience that business comes to you from different sources including results from marketing efforts, repeat business from existing customers, and referrals. The best thing about referrals? They're free. There's no additional marketing dollars needed to create this new source of customers. When you partner with a professional writer, you're potential source of referral business increases. That's because professional writers work for many companies. Therefore, their professional network of contact becomes your network of contacts. It's always a mutually beneficial relationship that results from partnering with a freelance commercial writer.

Barry W. Morris is a Freelance Commercial Writer based in San Jose,
California, USA. He works primarily with independent business owners who are frustrated with how long it takes to get their business writing projects out-the-door. His site is http://BarryMorris.com