is equally likely that those feelings translated into a less than
enthusiastic attitude toward work. By deciding to share the
spotlight with employees, you will show them that you value their
expertise and they will begin to feel more appreciated.
THE CONTENT GRIND
Creating content isn’t easy. Most people aren’t writers. Keep in
mind that getting the words down on the page often isn’t even the
only consideration. A diverse range of viewpoints is vital to making
content stand out. Beyond that, writing takes a lot of time and
effort. Just because you have the knowledge needed to write the
content doesn’t mean that you should personally be doing it all.
Just think about it in the same way you think about running your
business. You have all the knowledge and skill needed to do
everything. Does that mean you should personally handle every
aspect of the business? Of course not. You delegate. In the same
way, you should delegate content creation. In the time it takes you
to write one page of content, you could have a team writing a
dozen pages.
Who knows your business better than your employees? Chances
are, nobody does. Your employees are your greatest tool for getting
great ideas and expertise out into the world. The problem is that
most people aren’t writers. Being an expert on a topic and being
someone who is able to effectively write and communicate about
that topic are two very different things.
LEVERAGING EMPLOYEE KNOWLEDGE
The biggest fear most people have is that they aren’t qualified to
write about a topic even if they know it very well. One of the best
ways around this issue is to have the employee speak with a
ghostwriter who you are working with. That writer can take the
ideas from the expert over the course of a 10-minute phone call
and then use that information to write a professional article. From
there, the employee will get the article, the credit and be able to
claim authorship for the article. After all, it was their ideas. They
simply needed professional help getting those ideas out of their
head and onto paper.
The process of utilizing a ghostwriter is relatively simple, but it is
still foreign to many people since they have never been through it
personally. To that end, the basic outline goes as follows:
• You come up with a topic, either yourself or in a meeting with
everyone, and then assign that topic to the employee with the
most knowledge on the topic.
• You connect with a ghostwriter and do a brief introduction
between the writer and the employee.
• The writer and employee have a quick call or email exchange
to discuss the content itself.
• The writer produces a draft, submits it for edits or changes,
and finalizes it.
• You put your employee’s name on the piece of content and
they get the credit for it.
The process is simultaneously simple and very powerful. It is simple
because it takes the heavy lifting off you and your staff and offloads
it onto a third party (who will likely do it in a more professional
manner). It is powerful because it quickly magnifies your
capabilities as an organization, and it extends your reach through
the newly created content at a small cost when compared with the
time that would have been spent doing it all in-house.
The end result is threefold. Engagement in the team is boosted
significantly. Confidence in employees will rise. And the general
workload will be a lot lower. It’s a whole lot easier to take your
ideas and outsource the actual writing to a third party than to
devote the time, resources and mental energy to handle it all
in-house. Especially when there is still work to be done.
Working with a ghostwriter is often the solution you need to begin
“sharing the spotlight” with your employees and executing your
content strategy.
“Whoever owns the ink in an industry is the one who gains an
unfair advantage over their competition”
- Verne Harnish, Founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and Author of Scaling Up
MEET
ANDY BUYTING,
FOUNDER & CEO
CARLE PUBLISHING
HOW TO
WIN CLIENTS
& INFLUENCE
PEOPLE
Create Instant Credibility and Gain an Unfair
Advantage Over Your Competition
ANDY BUYTING
Andy Buyting's thought leadership journey
started when he published his first business
book in 2007 and first magazines in 2009.
Since that time, he has leveraged custom
magazines and online digital content strategies
to establish himself as a leading authority in
content marketing and brand positioning.
Through his company, Carle Publishing Inc.,
Andy and his team make these strategies and
tools accessible to their Client-Partners.
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