One of the most important jobs you have as an online entrepreneur is to regularly write and publish content that attracts people to your website, nurtures customer relationships and builds a solid platform for your business. At times, this job is so daunting that you may be tempted to hire someone to write for you on a regular basis. Don't do it.
Earlier today, an entrepreneur friend shared that she is having trouble finding someone to write for her blog and newsletter. My friend was drafting solid articles and sending them to a copywriter to finalize. Each time, the copywriter returned a final written piece, my friend was unhappy with it because it did not adequately reflect her voice.
While it makes sense to hire someone to draft specific projects such as About page copy and product descriptions, hiring someone to be the voice of your company on a routine basis is generally not a good idea. Here are five reasons why you should not hire someone else to write for you.
1. No one else can lay a solid foundation for your business
No matter how great they are, your products do not lay a solid foundation for your business. Only you — the person, the business leader, the human being — lay a foundation for your business.
Your products are important of course, but they do not sell themselves. You sell your products.
Your salesmanship forms the foundation for your business, and the content you create is the chief cornerstone of that foundation.
Asking someone else to lay that foundation is like asking them to run a marathon for you. It can't be done.
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Donna Maria, Indie Business Network
2. Only you can establish and nurture meaningful relationships
Relationships are the cornerstone of a profitable, sustainable business. Influencing people to choose your products is a lot harder when they don't know who you are.
If they don't know you, they cannot like you. If they don't like you, they cannot trust you. If they don't trust you, they will not buy from you.
You must be your company's Chief Influence Officer.
Only you can break the ice. Only you can build the trust needed to sustain your business over the long haul.
Only you can establish and nurture meaningful relationships that give you — and by extension, your products — the credibility needed to propel your business forward.
3. No One Else Can Speak in Your Voice
Only you can genuinely represent you. Anyone else is a knock off. And nobody likes knock offs.
4. Only you can create a rhythm that works for you
Your success is in your systems, and as you implement a content publishing system, you will be creating a rhythm that works not just for your business, but also for you. Your content creation rhythm will begin to sync with your life rhythm, and, ultimately, the two will become one.
It will become easier and easier to speak with your customers in ways that really resonate with them. What's the payoff? The easier it is for you to speak with your customers, the easier it becomes for them to choose you (and your products) over someone else who does not take the time to genuinely connect with them.
5. No one can talk your walk like you can
Content creation, especially for creative entrepreneurs, is the virtual embodiment of who you are as a person. In other words, your content talks your walk.
As you share your story and your journey through the content you create for your business, you will begin to see that many of the things that make good content happen to you every single day of your life.
Did you catch that?
They happen to YOU. They don't happen to copywriters. They happen to you.
Since you are the only person living with yourself day in and day out, you are uniquely qualified to create the content that connects with your target audience. You are the only person who can build this unique efficiency into your business. Don't trust it to anyone else.
Conclusion
There are definitely times when a copywriter is in order, and I encourage you to hire the best when you need it.
But asking a copywriter to speak in your voice is asking way too much. You will be disappointed and the copywriter will be frustrated. Why go through that drama?
Your customers want to hear from you. They don't want a replacement. Be there for them. They are counting on you.
Question
How critical do you think it is to create content that speaks in your voice? Have you hired others to do this for you on a regular basis? Can other people speak in your voice in ways that can genuinely relate to your customers and sustain your business? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments below, or share on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
