Why Hiring a Ghostwriter for Your Nonfiction Content is a Great Investment

WHY HIRING A GHOSTWRITER FOR YOUR NONFICTION CONTENT IS A GREAT INVESTMENT

Content Marketing is a potent tool for any brand. It provides the opportunity for a brand to position itself in consumers’ minds by offering relevant content that addresses and/or solves a problem that the consumer has.

And brands that use content marketing often produce nonfiction content to raise awareness of a problem and solution.

However, producing nonfiction materials as part of content marketing can take a significant investment in both time and effort. Thus, hiring a ghostwriting service to create nonfiction content marketing materials is an excellent investment.

In this article, we will explore how this investment pays off in terms of time and effort saved in producing relevant and engaging content consumers can put to use in their daily lives.

Why Hire a Ghostwriter?

Hiring a ghostwriter consists of employing an individual or company to produce materials that bear the brand’s name and not that of the writer. The crux of a ghostwriting service is that the content producers do not receive credit or royalties. Instead, ghostwriters charge a flat fee for their services.

It is worth noting that ghostwriters are well aware that they have no claim over the rights to the materials produced. Therefore, companies that hire ghostwriters often sign standard non-disclosure agreements and waivers to ensure that all parties are clear on the business’s nature.

There are several reasons why companies hire ghostwriters to help them produce their nonfiction content.

For one, organizations may not have staff specialized in writing or content production. This lack of specialization is worth noting as staff may be knowledgeable in a topic but may lack the training to produce appropriate content. Therefore, producing materials may prove to be laborious and time-consuming. Content marketer Heather Pemberton Levy states that ghostwriting content “is a matter of workload and judgment.”  As such, busy staff must gauge if they should be taking on projects like this or not.

Secondly, staff may lack the experience, know-how, or time needed to research high-quality nonfiction content. This point pertains specifically to the in-depth knowledge required to produce relevant and up-to-date content marketing materials.

As Heather Pemberton notes, “Experts who spend their time developing companies in their fields may not be skilled writers. Maybe the demands of their roles, such as flying around the world to meet with clients, prevent them from writing.”

Thirdly, organizations may need to divert staff’s time and attention from their usual tasks to produce content. Consequently, this would lead to a loss in productivity due to the additional burden placed on staff.

Indeed, using internal staff would make sense when they know the topic and have writing experience. In such cases, they would be capable of producing high-quality content even if it meant making an additional effort. The company could then compensate the staff member(s) with recognition, a bonus payment, or extra time off for their hard work.

Nevertheless, the organization would need to ensure that its staff can handle the additional workload without disregarding their usual tasks.

Ultimately, hiring a ghostwriter for individual projects makes much more sense. Doing so enables the company to have the flexibility to get writing projects done without having to divert staff time and resources to activities unrelated to the organization’s core business.

The Main Benefits of Ghostwritten Nonfiction Content

Businesses use content marketing to position their brand, which is a significant contrast from traditional marketing.

Traditional marketing is about boosting public awareness of individual products and providing consumers with reasons to buy the brand’s products or services.

Content marketing is about positioning a brand in such a way that consumers do not think about the products or services themselves. The aim is to place the brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds by showing them how the brand can improve their lives. To do so, consumers must first become aware of the problems they face in their daily lives.

When organizations produce nonfiction materials, they should strive to raise awareness of the issues or pain points that consumers face and then underscore how the brand can help them alleviate such pain points. This process begins by providing credible facts and information that consumers can take to heart.

To reap the rewards of nonfiction content, brands can hire ghostwriters to help them achieve these goals. Here are the most significant reasons why companies should consider hiring a ghostwriter for their content marketing materials.

1. They Have Content Marketing Insights

Ghostwriters are knowledgeable of the nonfiction content market. They specialize in topics based on their academic background, professional experience, and skills. Thus, ghostwriters can deliver high-quality content that meets or exceeds expectations.

2. They Can Handle Quick Deadlines

Ghostwriters frequently work with tight turnarounds. Since ghostwriters dedicate their time to writing, they have the time to focus on projects.

While they may work on multiple projects at once, ghostwriters remain focused on writing, which isn’t often true about a business’s internal staff.

For example, a typical content marketer can produce a well-researched 500-word blog post in about one to two hours.  However, an experienced and savvy ghostwriter could deliver a similar piece of content in under an hour.

3. They’re More Cost Effective

The cost of hiring a ghostwriter is generally far less than taking on a staff writer. Ghostwriters typically manage fees per word or project. Thus, businesses can limit the amount of money they spend on each project. Having a writer on staff adds a burden to the business’s payroll. Hence, a ghostwriting service is much more cost effective.

Caroline Forsey at HubSpot offers this valuable insight into the purpose of content writers (including ghostwriters): “Simply put, content writers are the storytellers for their brand. They convey meaningful, helpful, and insightful messages to inspire and move an audience to take action – that action being a final sale.”

An experienced ghostwriter can help any brand tell its story. In doing so, brands can establish the type of relationship they seek to cultivate with their consumers.

Types of Nonfiction Content Ghostwriters Produce

Thus far, we’ve focused on the usefulness of nonfiction materials as part of an overall content marketing strategy. Now it’s time to address the specific materials used in effective content marketing.

In a nutshell, ghostwriters can produce any material needed to establish a brand’s presence. These materials include guides, books, whitepapers, manuals, how-to guides, blogs, or user testimonials. As a result, an organization must determine which materials suit them best. That decision largely depends on the nature of the products or services.

To begin with, companies must decide the image they want to convey. For example, this image could be one of luxury and exclusivity. Alternatively, this image could be one of good value for money. Other brands may seek to position themselves as the undisputed leader in their industry.

Renowned keynote speaker and author Andrew Davis once said, “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.”  Indeed, relatable and useful content helps build that trust in a brand. And in turn, that trust produces revenue.

Here are two examples to highlight the various angles that nonfiction content can go about to build trust:

Cosmetic Company

A cosmetics company looks to position itself as the leading brand in their industry. So, they decide to address their core consumers’ main pain points.

The brand decides to publish a series of tutorials to show their consumers how their products can improve their skin health. These tutorials come in the form of short how-to guides in eBook format.

All consumers need to do is sign up for the mailing list, and a new guide lands in their email every month with a unique discount code for the products mentioned in the how-to guide.

Tourism and Leisure Brand

A tourism and leisure brand looks to attract new customers. The brand opts to produce a series of travel guides on specific destinations.

Each guide focuses on the most popular spots to visit. Also, the guides include recommendations on things to do and recommendations on staying safe. The guide addresses a consumer pain point by offering an all-in-one tourism experience.

All consumers need to do is like the brand’s social media profiles to gain access to the brand.

In both examples, the brands are not actively pushing sales. Their angle is to provide value through relevant information that consumers can use to address specific pain points.

Successful ghostwriters understand this need.

As such, the content they produce is value specific. There are no catchy phrases used to entice consumers to purchase. The sole purpose behind the content is to achieve and sustain trusted brand status.

Considering the unlimited number of possible content types, brands must be keenly aware of their core consumers. When a brand knows exactly whom they are catering to, they can hire a ghostwriter that has experience in that specific type of content. As such, the hiring process should include some kind of trial to determine if the ghostwriting service is up to the task.

Any reputable ghostwriting service will be willing to produce trial materials or examples of applicable work they’ve done. From there, the brand can determine if the ghostwriter is a good fit.

Ghostwriting as an Investment

Unless a company is in the publishing business, nonfiction content will provide minimal earnings, if any at all. Therefore, the point of producing nonfiction content is not to sell it to customers. Instead, the purpose is to bridge the communication gap.

Hence, nonfiction content’s primary function is to build a compelling case for future consumers.

The real investment of ghostwritten, nonfiction content is the savings that organizations can achieve. These savings happen by hiring ghostwriters to produce content marketing materials; thus, preventing staff from having to divert time and attention away from their regular duties.

This is an important consideration, as an organization’s core business should be its primary focus.

The overall cost of producing content is quite demanding in terms of time and effort. This could be easily quantified in terms of hourly wages.

For instance, a staff member earning $20 an hour takes out six hours of their workweek to produce a piece of content. These are six hours that the staff member did not spend on their core functions. In all, the business spent $120 on producing the material.

However, the investment in time does not stop there. There is editing, design, and publishing to consider as well. In total, one piece of marketing content could end up costing three times that amount.

Then, there is the cost of making up for the lost time. The six hours that the staff member used to produce the materials might lead to their working overtime, taking time out of the weekend, or missing a deadline.

Ultimately, the writing project may add unnecessary stress to the staff member. The toll the additional project took on the individual or group of individuals far outweighs the cost of hiring an external ghostwriting service to do the heavy lifting.

In the end, hiring an external ghostwriting service is much more cost-effective and time effective than asking internal staff members to do it. And the return on investment of the ghostwritten, nonfiction materials can be easily tracked through the leads and conversions resulting from their distribution.

Conclusion

Content marketing is a cost-effective way of engaging consumers without coming off as “salesy.” The value that nonfiction content can deliver is truly priceless, especially if it can contribute to solving a pain point for consumers.

However, brands must keep in mind that tasking internal staff with nonfiction content production can be quite arduous, particularly when staff members don’t have the time, knowledge, or experience to produce high-quality materials. Thus, hiring a ghostwriting service makes the most sense.

A ghostwriting service can provide high-quality materials on a strict turnaround, therefore saving a business time and effort. As a result, staff members can devote their time and attention to core functions. And, in the meantime, the ghostwriters can produce the types of materials the brand needs to engage their consumers.

Ultimately, ghostwritten, nonfiction materials do not yield returns themselves. Instead, they are a bridge between consumers and brands. The dialogue that emerges between both sides should eventually produce more leads and conversions.

This is where nonfiction content yields its returns. After all, this type of content is another marketing tool that brands can use to improve their brand positioning. As consumers receive greater value from a brand, they will associate the brand with a valuable product or service. Once a brand reaches this point, brand loyalty is a stone’s throw away.