Should You Hire A Writer For Your Next Thought Leadership Project?
If you’re looking at rolling out a thought leadership campaign for your business, then you might be thinking about what the most efficient way to get the job done is.
After all, if you’re writing thought leadership on a regular basis, it’s important to do it well.
Thought leadership that does a poor job at impressing audiences is likely to actually do damage to the brand you’re carefully building and impair your company’s ability to realize tangible commercial gains.
If you’ve decided that you have great, original insights to share — and you’re preferably also among the first to come to market with them, the second key criterion for effective thought leadership — then you might be ready to put pen to paper.
But there’s only one question: who is going to do all the writing?
Here are your options.
1- The Write It Yourself Approach
Thought leadership is often undertaken by senior executives at a company who have some important piece of thinking they wish to disseminate to a target readership.
Whether an executive will choose to do their own writing, or prepare their own speeches, will prepare on a few factors.
These include:
- Is the executive proficient at writing? If we’re talking about writing thought leadership, then how one approaches the writing process is going to make a big difference as to whether it makes more sense to take care of the process singlehandedly or enlist the support of assistants or external contractors. Technically-minded executives such as CTOs who hate the idea of writing are more likely to seek outside support.
- Does the executive own the messaging? Is the thought leadership coming directly from the executive or is the executive to whom the thought leadership will be bylined only effectively a convenient spokesperson for the company? Executives that feel a strong sense of ownership over the messaging will be more likely to wish to retain the job of writing thought leadership themselves — or keep it among their close team.
- Does the executive have the time needed to make the writing project a success? Thought leadership often needs to be coordinated with a variety of stakeholders including corporate communications departments who work to ensure conformity with company-wide branding guidelines. This is particularly true in large organizations. All this liaising requires time. Executives that are strapped for time will probably wish to have a third party take care of this task.
Of course, to maximize influence and reach, thought leadership needs to be published somewhere — and preferably somewhere of note that is attracting the eyeballs of those in the industry.
Those producing thought leadership themselves need to put as much thought into distribution as they do into writing it to begin with. Independent producers, in particular, will need to come up with a good distribution plan to complement their insights.
😀 ADVANTAGES:
- No dependencies in getting the thought leadership out the door
- Executives that truly own the thought leadership can remain close to it
😟 DISADVANTAGES:
- If executives are just being used as spokespeople, they might lack the enthusiasm necessary to get great ideas across effectively
- Distribution may be challenging without professional help
2- Get The Communications Team To Write It
Almost all large organizations have an internal marketing function. Many also have a dedicated communication team staffed with experts in crafting writing for internal and external purposes.
In smaller organizations, where wearing multiple hats is more common, the pool of workers who might be called upon to write for executives is more varied.
The assigned thought leadership ghostwriter in your office might be:
- The Office Manager
- An executive assistant
- The guy who does marketing, sales, and a little bit of accounting
Handing a thought leadership project over to the communications team can be a great way to make sure that your projects gets done. After all, the people that staff it are typically experienced communicators.
However, doing so can often mean getting your piece of writing entangled in a complicated web of editing and approval cycles. Not so much fun.
😀 ADVANTAGES:
- Outsource the job internally
- Professional project management from outlining through to publication
😟 DISADVANTAGES:
- Can entail navigating internal bureaucracy
- Production timeline could be elongated
3- Hire A PR Firm To Write It
Public Relations (PR) firms are responsible for producing a large amount of thought leadership — in fact there are even firms that specialize exclusively in thought leadership and executive communications and do virtually nothing else.
If you follow a well-known industry executive on LinkedIn, Medium, or their personal blog — there’s a reasonable chance that a PR firm took leadership over the authorship of that writing.
While hiring a PR firm to strategize and execute a thought leadership campaign can work for some organizations, for others it involves committing to an expensive retainer arrangement that may not be feasible over the long term. This is particularly true for early-stage startups who are often focused on minimizing marketing budgets to prioritize product development.
On the positive side of things, PR firms are expert at … well, public relations. Many publicists have preexisting relationships with editorial contacts and introduce their clients to target publications. This involves more than simply opening up a contact list.
Landing appropriate offsite placement opportunities for thought leadership can be a time-consuming endeavor, involving liaising with editors, adhering to publication style guides, and making sure that the pitching process runs smoothly. Those that have a PR firm making sure their thought leadership makes it into the right trade or mainstream media can put themselves at a significant advantage over the competition.
😀 ADVANTAGES:
- PR firms are great at placing finished writing
- They’re used to managing accounts and tend to be good at organization, ensuring that thought leadership is produced in time for the internal editorial calendar
😟 DISADVANTAGES:
- Many only work on retainer models
- Retaining a PR firm just to write thought leadership may not be cost-effective
4 — Hire A Freelance Thought Leadership Writer
If you want to outsource your thought leadership program without the expense and the (often) complication of hiring a public relations firm, then working with an individual freelance writer who specializes in thought leadership can be a smart and worthwhile investment.
Freelance writers are used to juggling a lot of different accounts, so often bring strong organizational and project management skills to the table — ensuring that deadlines are met and that submitted copy conforms to publication style guides.
Hiring a freelance writer specifically for writing thought leadership can also be a great way to plan and see a writing program through to completion. After all, it’s what they do for a living!
😀 ADVANTAGES:
- Often more cost effective than hiring a PR firm
- Outsources the nuts and bolts of running a thought leadership campaign
😟 DISADVANTAGES:
- May not have the distribution skills of a public relations firm
- An external contractor; companies may not be at liberty to share confidential information with third parties
Your Options Are Wide Open
Whether you’re the type who likes to scribble down their own thoughts on the back of a napkin (later polished and perfected on a computer), have enormous trust in your internal PR team, or like the idea of working in close alignment with a freelance thought leadership writer best of all, there are plenty of options for getting thought leadership produced and into the market.
If you’re interested in learning how thought leadership can be used to benefit your organization, click here to schedule an introductory meeting with DSR Ghostwriting.
Originally published at https://dsrghostwriting.com
