Calling All Thought Leaders: Why Hire a Ghostwriting Team?
July 8, 2022
You’re an expert in your industry. So why should you enlist a team of professional writers, proofreaders, and editors to help with your written communications?
The answers could transform the quality and quantity of your messaging—from blogs to speeches, whitepapers to books, and more.
Thought Leadership Involves Thought Sharing
You know that consistent thought sharing is key to thought leadership, but you are busy. So are your department heads and SMEs—and writing thought leadership pieces probably isn’t something any of you trained for.
Yet, you understand that frequent, effective communications are vital to your authority and your brand in an age of non-stop messaging.
As Blyth Campbell of PRSA Alaska writes:
Customers, employees, and other stakeholders want authentic communication from leaders, brands, and organizations. Executives and thought leaders want to communicate better—and more often— but don’t have the time to create compelling, creative content across multiple platforms. Modern ghostwriting can bridge the gap.
If ghostwriting is a practical solution to this dilemma, should you start searching for a ghostwriter? Or should you hire a ghostwriting agency that can provide a comprehensive team approach to producing your written communications?
Why an Expert Employs a Ghostwriting Agency
Much like other savvy companies, a well-structured ghostwriting agency uses the dynamics of teamwork to benefit its customers and clients.
There is synergy at work within a team that just cannot happen with a single ghostwriter. There are several other powerful factors on an agency’s side, too.
Project Management
The first factor is project management. An adept agency will assign a ghostwriting team of a project manager/editor and one or more writers for each project. Whether you need a single, defining thought-leadership book or many pieces of authoritative, informative content for a website, project management keeps all the essential parts of the process moving and on schedule.
Process
Another motive for choosing an agency is process. In a first-rate ghostwriting agency, objective review of each piece of writing is built into the team’s method. After a piece is drafted, a so-far uninvolved proofreader and editor scrutinize it. This offers a level of refinement not possible with a single ghostwriter—and confirms the writing is done in your voice and style.
Deadlines
Deadlines present another compelling reason to hire a ghostwriting team. All businesses have deadlines of sorts, and writing projects are especially prone to be deadline-driven. With multiple writers, a ghostwriting agency can meet a due date impossible for a single ghostwriter on a rush project that needs timely publication.
Volume
If you need a volume of material ghostwritten, an agency is a natural choice. You will become a much more productive author with a team assigned to write in your name. And, not to worry, the same editor will hone each piece of writing to be sure it retains your unique, branded style and voice.
Similar Projects
A ghostwriting agency of depth and breadth will equip you with a team that has completed projects similar to yours. An independent ghostwriter cannot be expected to have an agency’s diversity of writing experience. An agency hires ghostwriting team members from a variety of backgrounds, and your team will either be familiar with your industry’s language or pick it up quickly.
Security
Lastly, but not the least reason to choose a ghostwriting agency is thatyour project’s timeline is secure. You never have to worry about your writing project getting stalled because there is always more than one person assigned to it. If a writer or editor must be absent for any reason, it continues uninterrupted.
Thought leadership requires copious amounts of creative communications.
A ghostwriting team helps you produce a quantity of creative, timely communications that become part of your distinct brand of thought leadership. You may want to include others in your organization as authors of some pieces as well.
In her blog titled, “How to Win the Thought Leadership Arms Race in 2022,” Brook Zimmatore suggests in Entrepreneur that experts who want to optimize their messaging “roll out a structured calendar of thought leadership.” She advises:
Once you have identified your purpose, pillars, and spokespeople, you need to plan out a structured thought leadership content calendar. A calendar will allow you and your team to be more strategic in your thought leadership. Schedule your content so that each piece ties into the other, creating a complete picture that takes your audience along a path of continual growth.
If creating such a calendar sounds like more than you have time for, a seasoned ghostwriting agency can create one for you.
Here are some other types of content a nimble agency can help you compose.
Blog content.
An adept ghostwriting agency has produced blogs for many industries. Its experience means that you will likely be matched with a ghostwriting team that has written on yours or similar industries, enabling it to work with your SMEs gracefully and knowledgeably.
Team members will research and absorb your subject matter quickly. Cross-checks between members help ensure your blog is interesting, flows, ranks on search engines without keyword stuffing, and sounds like you every time.
Books.
A reputable agency has the resources to complete your thought leadership book or memoir from any stage of the process—conception through research, writing, and editing. The agency will add members to your ghostwriting team if needed to finish and polish your book more quickly when time is of the essence.
In an example familiar to most Americans, the hugely popular Nancy Drew book series was written by a ghostwriting team, not the mythical Carolyn Keene. The team dynamic, exodusbooks.com explains, was the reason “Keene” wrote so many books:
Nancy Drew is that kind of series, each book ostensibly written by Carolyn Keene but really the work of a team of ghostwriters and editors churning out novel after novel about the exploits of a smart, brave and attractive adolescent girl named Nancy Drew who solves mysteries as an amateur sleuth.
Your thought leadership book will presumably target a different audience, but the principle holds: Hiring a ghostwriting team means books can be published more quickly while staying faithful to their author’s voice.
Speeches and Presentations.
You may need to give the keynote address at a conference or awards ceremony, a PowerPoint presentation to interested investors or desired clients, or a motivational talk to employees.
You won’t have to sweat through writing these or other presentations yourself when you hire a ghostwriting agency. Instead, you can put your energy into a memorable delivery.
Whitepapers.
Whitepapers are now a vital element of showing thought leadership. The documents that explain your products or services and what they do for your clients need to be accurate and authoritative. But do your SMEs have the time or inclination to write them?
An agency well-versed in writing for a variety of technical industries fills this need. Team members know how to converse with your SMEs intelligently and tactfully to get the information they need to write convincing whitepapers.
Press Releases.
Today’s thought leaders know the value of compelling, well-timed press releases. A media-savvy ghostwriting agency knows how to write them, with teams composed of professionals trained and skillful in journalism. Getting their heads around your business and goals quickly is their business, and collaboration among team members fuels creativity.
Your team will deliver press releases with eye-catching headlines and lead paragraphs that show leadership on topics of real interest to audiences. These are designed to trigger the media attention you want, then find their way swiftly into the echo chambers of social media.
Magazine Articles.
Thought leadership becomes highly visible when you author articles for an inside-the-company magazine or for industry- and audience-specific magazines. A ghostwriting agency of size and scope offers writer/editor ghostwriting teams with magazine skills under their belts, ready to work with you and/or your marketing department and SMEs.
Case Studies.
When you hire a team to write your customers’ or clients’ success stories, a tedious process becomes a rewarding joint venture. Your ghostwriting team helps pinpoint a case, formulate an approach, and write copy that tells future customers you have answers for their issues, too. The agency manages the project throughout, even seeking approval for the final product from your legal department.
Authorship is assured when you hire a ghostwriting team.
Whichever types of content an agency helps you create, as a thought leader and author you can be assured that:
- A professional ghostwriting team understands confidentiality in all executive communications: Its writers and editors appreciate confidential sources, your proprietary processes, and “off-the-record” elements of your conversations. Your team also understands what to leave in your written product—and what to leave out—for its intended audience and purpose.
- A capable agency prioritizes your preferences and lets your voice shine through in all the work it does for you. It is your blog, your book, your speech, and your press release the team creates. Each says what you want it to say, is error-free, professionally polished, and appeals to its readers.
- The “checks and balances” of the team approach ensure that both of the above are true, for every project. Objective proofreaders and editors maintain consistency in these vital areas.
- You as the authority in your field are the author of all work done by your team on your behalf, and all credit goes to you. This is a top priority for every member of your ghostwriting team.
