When to Seek Professional Help: Writing

Anyone in business knows there are times when we must communicate in writing. And any business person who is not a writer probably feels a root canal (minus anesthesia) would be more fun.

It isn’t easy to translate our message or information into an effective marketing piece, blog, or report. Most business people would rather spend the hours it takes to write a good brochure concentrating on their core business.

Luckily, there is an army of people who love to write and can do it well. They’re the ones that can transform your message into something that makes your business look good.

So, when is it time to call in a professional writer? Let’s look at a couple of the factors.

Importance

Businesses constantly need to put their best face forward to stay competitive. No matter how great a product or service, a brochure or blog needs content that can grab and keep the reader’s attention. The content needs to show readers why they should spend money with that particular business. Readers will put aside what is difficult to read or isn’t logical, and that may cost customers.

Experienced writers know how to construct pieces to entice readers to stick around, pieces that make it easy for readers to “see” the message. We know how to work with business people to pluck the message out of their brains with minimal discomfort and present it in the best possible light.

Cost Effectiveness

We all feel that we are capable of doing things ourselves. Writing is no different.

There are templates, spell checkers, and grammar checkers that make you believe you can easily produce a finished product. Well, that isn’t exactly true.

Templates can help format things like reports and brochures, but they don’t help much with content. Spell checkers don’t work for words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly. Grammar checkers, well, I’ve had to turn mine off because it is wrong about 50 percent of the time.

I’m not saying that these things can’t be useful – as long as we remember their limitations.

DIY writing relates back to the importance of the piece. The more important it is that it be the best it can, the more time it will take to get it there. The more time a business person must spend on creating quality writing, the less time she is spending on what makes her business thrive.

I’m terrible with math, so taxes give me a real headache. I realized that it was costing me a lot of money to do my own taxes (not to mention I didn’t really have the expertise to do them right). Instead of creating billable hours for my business, I was bogged down in something I wasn’t good at and hated. Now I pay an accountant to do them.

The same concept holds true for getting professional writing help. Let’s look at an example.

Say you are an investment adviser and charge an hourly rate of $100. You want to provide a monthly e-newsletter to your clients, but you spend five hours a month researching, writing, revising, and disseminating the newsletter. That’s $500 you’re not putting in your pocket.

If you hire a writer to do the newsletter each month for $250, you actually will be ahead $250 each month. (Warning: I’m using really low, round figures here because I’m bad at math. The $250 newsletter rate is not set in stone. Price depends on a number of factors.)

Not only that, but the newsletter (the product) will help you retain existing and grab potential clients.

Of course, there are lots of things I’d like to farm out, but I’m not at a point in my profitability for that to be possible – yet. So I pick and choose what services to invest in, services that will provide the best return for the funds I have available.

When you get to the point where you can pay someone to write cheaper, faster, and better than you, grab them! It will make your life that much easier and your business that much more successful.

To contact someone, who loves to wallow in words, about professional writing services, visit AIC Communication Services or e-mail info@aic-communication-services.com.

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