Who Should Write My Business Blogs? A Guide to Making the Right Choice
Kevin Phillips- Marketing Ops
- June 21, 2024
As a business owner, you’re probably juggling countless responsibilities—from managing your team to keeping an eye on the bottom line.
You know you need to increase traffic, leads, and sales on your website, and you’ve likely been told that adding educational content is the way to go. But now you're left wondering, “Who should write all this content?”
This is a crucial question because the wrong choice can lead to low-quality content that doesn’t rank well or build trust with your audience. The last thing you want is to waste time and money on a solution that doesn’t fit.
Over the last decade, I’ve worked with 150+ companies that have tried all the options we'll discuss—hiring a content manager, outsourcing to professional writers, and even dabbling in generative AI. Each approach has its pros and cons, and the right choice depends on your unique needs and resources.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a clearer understanding of which option is right for you. We’ll explore the different routes you can take, weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each, so you can make an informed decision and get your content strategy on the right track.
So let's get into it and answer...
Who Should Write My Business Blog Articles?
Content Manager
A content manager is a dedicated full-time employee responsible for planning, creating, and managing all content for your business.
They play a crucial role in ensuring that your content strategy aligns with your business goals and resonates with your audience.
Here’s a closer look at the pros and cons of hiring a content manager.
Pros
- Full-time Focus: Content managers devote their entire 40-hour work week to developing and maintaining your business’s content. This full-time commitment means they can give your content the attention it needs, ensuring consistency and quality across all platforms.
- Expertise in Writing: With a background in English, Journalism, or Creative Writing, content managers bring a high level of writing expertise to the table. Their skills enable them to craft engaging and polished content that effectively communicates your message and attracts your target audience.
- Dedicated to Your Business: Unlike freelance writers or agencies, content managers work exclusively for your company. This focus allows them to deeply understand your brand, products, and audience, leading to more tailored and relevant content.
- Continuous Improvement: A content manager’s job doesn’t end after an article is published. They continually monitor the performance of your content, making necessary updates and optimizations to improve SEO, engagement, and conversion rates.
- Versatile Skills: Content managers are not limited to writing blog posts. They can create a wide range of content types, including guides, whitepapers, emails, video scripts, social media posts, and web copy. This versatility ensures that all your content needs are met.
Cons
- Learning Curve: While content managers are skilled writers, they may not initially be experts in your industry. They will need time to research and learn about your field to produce high-quality, accurate content. However, they typically become more knowledgeable as they immerse themselves in the work.
- Costly: Hiring a full-time content manager can be expensive, with salaries ranging from $55-99K a year. This cost can be a barrier for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets.
- Lack of Understanding: Many organizations do not fully understand the role of a content manager, which can lead to challenges in effectively training and utilizing them. Without proper support and clear expectations, content managers may struggle to plan their workload and achieve the desired results.
Internal Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
Another approach is to leverage the expertise of several people within your company to write articles.
This can include members from various departments such as sales, leadership, product owners, and customer service reps.
Each of these team members brings unique insights and experiences that can enrich your content.
Pros
- Increased Content Volume: By having multiple people contribute, you can produce a higher volume of content. This approach allows you to cover a wide range of topics and address various aspects of your business, potentially boosting your content output significantly.
- Deep Expertise: SMEs possess in-depth knowledge of your industry and products. When they write content, they share this expertise directly with your audience, providing valuable and credible information that can build trust and authority.
- Customer Insights: Team members who interact directly with customers, like sales and customer service reps, understand the problems and solutions that matter most to your audience. They can write articles that address real customer pain points and questions, making the content highly relevant and engaging.
Cons
- Time Constraints: Your employees already have demanding full-time jobs. Adding content creation to their responsibilities can feel like an extra burden, potentially leading to delays and burnout. It can be challenging for them to find the time and energy to write consistently high-quality content.
- Variable Writing Skills: Not everyone is a natural writer. The content produced by different SMEs will likely vary in quality, requiring additional review and editing to ensure it meets your standards for spelling, grammar, and SEO. This extra step can slow down the content production process.
- Inconsistent Messaging: With multiple writers, each with their own voice and style, you risk having inconsistent messaging across your content. This variability can confuse your audience and weaken your brand identity. Establishing guidelines and a unified content strategy is essential to maintain consistency.
Outsourced Writers
Outsourcing your content creation involves hiring external writers, either through a content marketing agency or freelance writers.
This approach allows you to tap into a pool of professional writers who specialize in creating high-quality content tailored to your needs.
Pros
- Skilled Writers: Agencies and freelance writers are experienced professionals who understand the nuances of writing compelling content. They are well-versed in SEO and marketing tactics, ensuring that your content not only reads well but also ranks well on search engines.
- Efficiency: Professional writers are accustomed to working under deadlines and often have a streamlined process for content creation. Their experience in writing similar content means they can produce articles quickly without compromising on quality, allowing you to maintain a consistent publishing schedule.
- Quality Content: These writers know what it takes to craft engaging and informative articles that attract and retain readers. They can create content that appeals to both your audience and search engines, increasing your chances of driving traffic and conversions.
Cons
- Divided Attention: Freelancers and agencies typically juggle multiple clients, which can stretch their focus and availability. This divided attention might lead to less personalized service and longer turnaround times compared to an in-house content manager.
- One-off Content: Outsourced writers are generally hired on a per-article basis, meaning they produce content once and move on. They are not typically involved in the continuous optimization and updating of content, which is crucial for maintaining its relevance and effectiveness over time.
- Limited Hours: Agencies often offer a fixed number of hours per month, usually around 35-45 hours, for content creation. This limitation can restrict your content output compared to having a dedicated full-time content manager who can devote more time to your content strategy.
- Need for Review: While external writers are skilled, they may not have the same depth of knowledge about your industry as your internal team. Therefore, content still needs to be reviewed by internal SMEs to ensure factual accuracy and alignment with your brand’s voice and message. This additional step can add to the overall content production timeline.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
An emerging option for content creation is using AI tools like Jasper.ai and ChatGPT. These tools generate content based on the prompts and guidelines you provide, leveraging advanced algorithms and vast datasets to produce written material.
While still a developing technology, AI content generation offers some intriguing possibilities.
Pros
- Speed: AI can generate content at a remarkable speed, far outpacing human writers. This capability allows for rapid content production, which is especially useful for businesses needing to scale their content quickly.
- Support: AI tools are excellent for brainstorming topic ideas, creating detailed outlines, and even generating full articles. They can handle a significant portion of the content creation process, freeing up your team to focus on other tasks.
- Structure: AI excels at structuring articles logically and coherently. By scouring the internet for best practices, it can organize information in a way that is easy to read and understand, ensuring your content is well-organized and comprehensive.
- Fewer Mistakes: AI tends to make fewer grammatical and spelling errors compared to human writers. This can reduce the time spent on editing and proofreading, resulting in a more efficient content production process.
- Consistency: When properly trained, AI can maintain a consistent brand voice across all content. This consistency is crucial for brand identity and helps ensure that all your communications are aligned with your company’s tone and style.
Cons
- Lack of Originality: AI-generated content often rehashes existing information found online, making it less unique. While AI can compile and synthesize data effectively, it struggles to produce truly original insights or creative angles.
- Accuracy Issues: AI isn’t always accurate or up-to-date. It can generate content based on outdated or incorrect information, necessitating thorough fact-checking by a human editor to ensure the content's accuracy and reliability.
- Clichés and Phrases: AI tends to rely on clichés and common phrases, which can make the content feel generic. A human editor is needed to add a unique touch and elevate the content to make it more engaging and tailored to your audience.
What Comes Next?
Choosing who should write your business blogs is crucial. Now that you know the pros and cons of each option, you can make a more informed decision. Remember, you don’t have to navigate this alone.
Media Junction offers content manager training to help your in-house team create impactful articles. We also provide comprehensive marketing services and website redesigns to ensure your online presence is top-notch.
By understanding the strengths and limitations of each approach, you’ll be better equipped to select the right solution for your content needs. Let’s get your blog working for you!
For more information on our services or to discuss your content strategy, get in touch with us at Media Junction. We’re here to help you succeed.
Meet Kevin Phillips, your go-to expert for making digital content that gets noticed. With a decade of experience, Kevin has helped over 150 clients with their websites, messaging, and marketing strategies. He won the Impact Success Award in 2017 and holds certifications like Storybrand and They Ask, You Answer. Kevin dives deep into content creation, helping businesses engage customers and increase revenue. Outside of work, he enjoys snowboarding, disc golf, and being a dad to his three kids, blending professional insight with a dash of humor and passion.
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