Five Benefits Your Ghost-Blogger Can Never Deliver

In nature there is no right or wrong, only consequences.

Ghost-blogging isn’t misrepresentation. It’s a missed opportunity.

Even worse, if your business blog is ghost-written, it’s a missed opportunity in which you’re investing precious marketing dollars.

The mistake arises when business leaders assume blogging is the latest way to make marketing communications appear chic and up-to-date. As a result, they approach their blog like every other marketing tool in their arsenal. It becomes another receptacle for promoting the corporate message, only with the addition of a “personal face” slapped over it.

A ghost-written corporate blog often reflects the same me-too marketing attitude that leads to cookie-cutter web copy, ersatz press releases and boilerplate brochures. The rush to join the blogosphere translates to the blog’s regular content: Rather than take time to develop a personal voice and perspective, executives hire someone else to crank out content under the assumption that high-frequency posts indicates an abundance of wisdom and authority.

Social media advocates have spent a lot of pixels to call ghost-blogging inauthentic, and even unethical. These charges seem a bit dramatic to me. It’s enough to call ghost-blogging ineffective.

First, I tend to doubt that most ghost-written executive blogs attract a loyal following or deeply engaged readers. Even if they do, the most important relationship on a blog is between readers and content, not readers and the by-lined author. That’s why people say content, not authenticity, is king.

So, I won’t go so far as to say ghost-blogging never works. Some executives work closely with their ghosts to develop a strategic and uniform message for their business blog. They remain invested in the content, and take ownership for it.

The problem is that there are far more effective ways to communicate the corporate message, especially with the help of ghost-writing talent.

Regardless of how it’s applied, blogging is by nature a personality-driven medium. Yes, content matters. But take a look at which blogs influence a large, loyal and chatty following. The majority of them aren’t ghost-written company mouthpieces. Rather, they showcase the immediate and personal perspective of a charismatic blogger, and his or her following.

So, the problem isn’t blogging, or ghost-writers. It’s combining the two, which puts them at odds with each other. It’s a misapplication of marketing tactics, not strategy.

If your goal is to increase the visibility, credibility and authority of your business or its executives, and you wish to leverage the talents and logistical benefits of a ghost-writer, then the most appropriate marketing medium is an emailed newsletter.

Regularly emailed e-newsletters allow all of the logistical benefits of a ghost-writer, and carry far more value as a marketing tool than a blog. Among the benefits:

1. A more realistic schedule: Whether published weekly, monthly or quarterly, newsletters are simpler to plan and coordinate with a ghost-writer. Also, their regularity promotes more focused communications: Most businesses can find one or two items of genuine interest to report every month.
2. More active outreach: Rather than driving people to your blog, a newsletter brings content to the people.
3. A well-defined funnel: Since most newsletters require registration, they can more clearly define the scope and characteristics of people at the top of your marketing-to-sales funnel.
4. Better tracking: Blog analytics tell you a lot about your audience, but a hyperlink-rich newsletter can tell you more about what motivates individual audience members to take action.
5. No comment: The authenticity issue with ghost-bloggers congeals in a blog’s comments section, where readers can engage with the perceived author. No matter how talented your ghost-writer, he or she is poorly qualified to interact on your behalf. A newsletter not only eliminates this issue, it relegates any unwelcome reader perspective to the privacy of an email response.

Bottom line: Ghost-blogging is a symptom, not a disease. The disease is ineffective application of sound marketing tools. Fortunately, there’s a cure: Put your ghost-writer to work where he or she won’t create unnecessary and often counterproductive layers between you and the audience.

Friday Link Love

Photo credit: dawnzy58

Leading this week’s Link Love is blogger Dave Fleet’s open invitation to lurkers – i.e. readers who frequent a blog, but rarely ever leave a comment – to come out of the shadows and say “hello.”

Since Dave frequently writes about ghost-blogging, I’ve frequently read his posts – often long after comments are timely. Even so, that qualifies me as a lurker. So, I gave him a shout out in the comments section.

Now I’m inviting you to do the same. Any regular readers out there? If not, that’s cool too. I won’t feel as obligated to stick so doggedly to my weekly blogging schedule.

Speaking of ghost-bloggers, Mark Schaefer tackles the issue again, only this time he proposes some ground rules. If you must hire a ghost-blogger, Mark suggests, at least try to do it legitimately.

I respect his attempt, but I felt it was an academic argument. The underlying problem with ghost-blogging is a misapplication of strategy, not tactics. It isn’t merely unethical marketing, it’s ineffective marketing. Have your ghostwriter draft you a nice e-newsletter instead.

Interestingly, Mark’s next post introduces what could be the blogosphere’s first Authenticity Policy, which he and his blog’s readers helped inspire. Drafted and posted by Anne Giles Clelland, President and CEO of Handshake Media in Blacksburg, VA, the policy is posted here.

There’s social media thought leaders, and then there’s just social media leaders. Full props to Ms. Clelland.

How to spot a writer
From authentic bloggers, we go to authentic marketing writers. A post by John White on the aptly named How to Hire a Writer blog, recommends you ask prospective freelancers about their method.

Are you a writer? Then you have a method, right? …RIGHT?

If not, you’d better go commit John’s post to memory, because the toothpaste is out of the tube now.

Last but not least, Corey Freeman, teenage wunderkind gives props on her Writer7 blog to another wunderkind, blogger Alex Fraiser, who with his wunderkind co-blogger, Seth, publishes Blogussion.

The post on Blogussion that caught Corey’s attention, and that I’ve since bookmarked, offers a list of 18 articles to help you write better blog headlines. That sort of exhaustive resource could only appeal to a generation that doesn’t yet feel time is their enemy

Seriously though, I’m digging this new crew of bloggers, and what they’re bringing…

The Fearful Secret of Copywriting Success

Photo credit: bobster855

I owe my professional success, in part, to knowing which fights to pick. Picking this one may not represent my smartest play, but here I go…

Let me state up front that I have no professional or personal ax to grind with organizer Michael Stelzner, or the other copywriting luminaries putting their time, expertise and necks on the line at the Copywriting Success Summit 2009. I’ve actually purchased and read publications offered by several of the Summit’s speakers. I frequently read many of their blogs; and I’ve even exchanged friendly correspondence with a few.

Even so, this is one copywriter who won’t be shelling out the $297 early bird rate to hear any of them speak at the Summit.

A brief, but relevant digression
Social media guru Chris Brogan has taken hits lately for profiting off the professional network he took years to build with free content and advice. The profits in question stem, in part, from his publication of Trust Agents, a well-received New York Times bestseller about social media relationships.

For more on that debate, visit here and here. My take on the issue is very simple: The decision to put a price on content belongs solely to those who create it. The rest of us can vote with our wallets.

Which brings me back to the Copywriting Success Summit 2009, and why I won’t be attending…

Apologies in advance for pissing anyone off. I recognize I could just as easily cast a silent vote. But there’s a discussion worth having here about whether our profession benefits more from a communal or competitive model. Put another way, should our relationships with other freelancers be governed by capitalism or communism? (For the irony impaired: IRONY!)

I’ll be brutally honest with you. I tend to be a capitalist when I’m providing a service, and a communist (IRONY!) when I’m receiving one.

So, it’s more a reflection of me – not the Summit speakers – that when I read about these kinds of events and products, I find myself wondering whether their expertise reflects an ability to attract new clients, or extract money from new copywriters. Did success lead them to promote their methods, or did promotion of their methods lead to their success?

I digress. This isn’t about me, and it isn’t about them. It’s about all of us.

Here’s my question
What is gained and what is lost when we pay others for the secrets to their success?

Bob Bly, the Godfather of copywriting gurus, once said that tapping the proven methods of veteran copywriters can reduce your learning curve from 100 hours to 10 hours. I agree.

I still have dog-eared copies of Bob’s books, and others from Peter Bowerman and Michael Masterson on my shelf. They were constant references when I launched my freelance career nearly eight years ago. They provided some very sound advice, such as:

• Establish a niche for yourself. It’s easier to grasp the value of a specialist, than a generalist.
• Define your ideal client before getting started
• Demonstrate, rather than promote, your skill at writing persuasively
• Sell the benefits, not the features of your copywriting services
• Learn the comparative application and benefits of marketing tools – for example, email vs direct mail, blogging vs e-newsletters

All very good stuff and – another disclosure – some of these lessons came from online seminars similar to the upcoming Summit. I think it’s wise for budding copywriters to invest in materials and events that will help them cultivate expertise. I do.

But I also believe that there are certain traits to successful freelancers that, by definition, can’t be taught. These I rarely ever see the experts breathe a hint about. Among them:

• Enthusiasm bordering on a compulsive desire for the self-employed lifestyle. (Today’s enthusiasm becomes tomorrow’s hard-boiled commitment when business gets slow)
• Dogged – and I mean dogged persistence at marketing yourself. That includes building and sustaining a network of prospective clients
• A high pain threshold for risk, uncertainty and a sometimes fickle marketplace. It’s not personal, deal with it.
• A rock-solid perspective about when you’re beating yourself up, and when you’re letting yourself off the hook for mistakes
• Confidence – not cockiness – confidence that you know what constitutes good copy
• A self-sustaining and monstrous work ethic
• Attention to self-care: Your creative side is linked to your physical, mental and emotional health. Working on your writing means working on yourself
• Savings: There are no unemployment benefits for the self-employed. Debt and insolvency are not your friends, particularly when you’re sitting at the negotiating table
• And lastly, an ability to be in the right place at the right time (i.e. everywhere)

Just because these things can’t be taught doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be mentioned. Freelancing is not an easy business, and not everyone is cut out for it.

Maybe that’s my problem with seminars, kits and books that make success seem like it’s the product of a secret formula. These materials highlight the potential road to riches, and proven methods that have worked for others. But they don’t talk about the external risks, and they ignore internal factors.

They don’t tell me about me – my strengths, my weaknesses, which flaws I can correct and which I need to work around. This stuff gets brushed aside in the promotional materials because it doesn’t sell. There’s no profit in it.

And yet, I would argue that my second list of bullets plays a far greater role than the first in determining a freelancer’s long-term success.

Bottom line: I’m not out to take food off the plate of any expert who wants fair recompense for his or her expertise. But neither do I want to see the genuinely challenging path of freelance writing to be presented as a cakewalk – if you only know the secrets.

Here’s the fearful secret of copywriting success: Freelancing can be damned hard at times – anything worthwhile generally is.

So do we cultivate the next generation of freelancers by billing them for our hard-won expertise, or by freely sharing our experience and support through networks, blogs and mentorships?

What say you?