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Building Brand Identity - Five Reasons Your Blog Needs a Ghostwriter
by Enzo F. Cesario
Business Skills Articles
Published on this site: August 31st, 2010 - See
more articles from this month
A ghostwriter is any writer who creates content for a project
that will be presented under another name. As you are traveling
in a bookstore, you might marvel at the sheer volume of works
certain names such as Tom Clancy put out. In many cases, these
books weren't written by a single writer but rather many and
then published under the big name. This arrangement is a good one
for many writers, as it allows them to get work and valuable
writing experience, while also benefiting the larger name by
allowing more work under their aegis to get out.
Your blog might just benefit from hiring a ghostwriter for the
same reasons. Every blog needs a writer to direct it, and blogs
do best when guided by one or two voices in a consistent
direction. Sometimes, however, the originator of a business or
idea isn't the one who can best capture that direction, and
that's when you should turn to a ghostwriter.
In no particular order, here are five reasons that many blogs
choose to hire a ghostwriter for their content.
- They Can't Write Appropriately:
This isn't referring to whether their content is polite or not,
it simply refers to whether the "idea man" behind a project can
generate content that fits the aim of the blog. Suppose, for
example, you have someone who knows all about the world of
competitive cooking as seen in Iron Chef. He knows the
competitors' ranks and accomplishments and wants to use the blog
to promote interest in competitive cooking - even, perhaps, in
his own cooking school.
The problem is, he can't write in a way that catches the eye.
His writing might be too technical, or rely on obscure factoids
that don't really do much to inspire the reader's imagination.
A ghostwriter, on the other hand, is all about the writing, and
one of the best talents a writer can have is the ability to take
someone else's ideas and rephrase them in exciting, evocative
language.
- Lack of Time:
Many of the big blogs seen on the web weren't startup ventures,
but rather grew out of a company that already existed. Many
companies have seen the success of blogs in other ventures, and
have chosen to add one to their own site, much the same way they
chose to add a website to their business when the web first got
popular. This is a natural evolution and response to a changing
market, and is not a bad idea. On the other hand, the owner is
usually concerned with other issues and does not have time to
devote to writing a blog.
In such cases, the natural step is to hire a ghostwriter. You
want the articles to continue to go out in your company's name,
since the idea of the blog is to promote the company, but don't
have time to do it yourself because you are justifiably busy. A
ghostwriter can build a solid blog post in about an hour of work,
and then move on to their other projects.
- Intermediate Perspective:
There is a great deal to be said for being familiar with your
product and your brand. You get to know subtleties and rhythms of
the business that no outsider could appreciate. The problem is,
your perspective is entirely different from that of your
customers. They can't get into the nitty gritty of your brand in
a way you can.
In cases like these, the value of a ghostwriter lies in linking
the outside views of your audience with the inside views of the
company. You can communicate your passions directly to this
writer, who can marry them to a perspective of those on the other
side of the glass. Their intermediate presence crucially bridges
the gap between brand and audience.
- Brand Protection:
Writers are a notoriously prideful lot. Some of the fiercest
legal battles are over intellectual property rights, and justly
so. Creating a written body of work is a tremendous effort, and
having it stolen or infringed upon is a terrible offense. On the
other hand, a branded blog is not about the individual writer,
it's about the brand and what the brand represents.
By definition, a ghostwriter doesn't take credit for their work.
The work is put out in the name of the brand, or the site's
owner, as a means of projecting the brand forward. The
ghostwriter is willing to take their pay without putting their
own creative name on the work, which will benefit your brand
because there isn't an intermediate step. If you let one
ghostwriter go, either because they move on to new things or you
decide you need a new creative direction, there isn't
necessarily an indication of this to the outside world, and the
brand's voice continues.
- Flexibility and Freshness:
Ghostwriters in the plural sense can do a blog good, too. If you
maintain more than one at a time, you can ease the wear and tear
that is associated with writing on the same general subject.
Writers are like horses; you don't want to ride them to death on
the way there if you expect to get home. And since writing can be
done anywhere, by anyone, anytime, you can cast your net far and
wide in search of the two or three writers you need to best
communicate your message.
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist
and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content
agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos
and social media in the "voice" of our client's
brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more
recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to
http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at
http://www.iBrandCasting.com/.
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