Why you should consider hiring a ghostwriter for your thought leadership

We’re spilling the beans. 

Believe it or not, many of the blogs, articles, and social media posts from your favorite thought leaders—aren’t actually written by them. 

It’s true, and it happens more often than you think. 

We tend to think of ghostwriters in terms of autobiographies or other long-form pieces of that sort, but believe it or not, ghostwriting is a valuable facet of B2B content marketing. That’s because, when it comes to thought leadership, there aren’t enough hours in the day to sit and write. 

Running an innovative business, launching new ventures, and staying on top of current trends in your industry are time-consuming tasks, and they don’t leave much room for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). 

And let’s be real, no one wants to end their day pushing through writer’s block, trying to parse out a thought or experience in a concise yet engaging way. 

We get it. 

You’d never present a half-baked proposal to a client, and your thought leadership shouldn’t be any different. Compare your end-of-the-day writing to handing your ideas to a professional writer and imagine the difference. 

It’s time to let go. 

Be the expert in your field and let someone else handle the rest.

What is ghostwriting?

Despite its spooky title, ghostwriting isn’t scary. It’s simply the process of pairing your great ideas, experiences, and insights with great writing skills to produce top-of-the-line content. Easy.  

While they undoubtedly have many topics and experiences to share, not all business leaders double as excellent writers—and that’s okay. 

CEOs often have ghostwriters because it gives them more time to focus on their business while simultaneously building their thought leadership in a professional and polished manner.

Whether it’s a blog post on a company website or an opinion piece on a business platform, ghostwritten articles are an effective way to increase the visibility of a thought leader or an organization and help generate web traffic and business leads. 

Ghostwriting: Real or Fake Thought Leadership?

B2B thought leadership happens when credible experts share their unique opinions or experiences in their field. Whether or not the bylined author types every word of the article is irrelevant to the purpose and effect of sharing the expertise.

When done correctly, ghostwriting helps ensure that your audience reads interesting, engaging content from an actual thought leader: you. 

Related reading: What Goes into Branding and Thought Leadership Services?

In ghostwriting, the thoughts are yours, the advice is yours, the guidance is yours, but the work of putting it together is someone else’s. It doesn’t mean you’re hiring a random writer with time on their hands to make a blind attempt at communicating your ideas. It also doesn’t mean that you’re hiring someone else to formulate great thoughts and insights based on research or their own opinions. Instead, you’re hiring a specialized expert who will help piece together all of your ideas and articulate them on paper in a way that helps you connect with your audience.

Should you consider getting a Ghostwriter?

Celebrities, politicians, and public figures employ ghostwriters to varying degrees because they know their stories will sound more cohesive and connect with their audience better if written by a professional. 

And they’re right! 

The fact is that just because someone is an expert in their industry does not mean that they are an amazing writer, and even if they are, they may not enjoy writing or have the time and energy to put into it. 

Not all thought leaders struggle with writing their own content, but many do. We find that many of our thought leadership clients fall into one of two categories:

• An incredibly busy business leader who can write their own content, but doesn’t have the time or energy to dedicate to writing 
• A thought leader who has important information and insightful ideas to share but doesn’t feel confident in their writing abilities or just doesn’t enjoy writing

Do you or does one of your business leaders fall into one of these categories? 

There’s no shame in it. Rest assured that it’s perfectly normal and common practice to let a professional type out your insights and add a bit of poeticism. In no way does it dispute your expertise. It merely allows you to focus on the areas where you shine instead of wasting time double-checking your grammar, crossing t’s, and dotting i’s.

Related reading: Why Your C-Suite Should Be Thought Leaders 

A ghostwriter’s job is to harness your ideas, research the past and current conversations in your industry to identify gaps, and work with you to develop attention-getting hooks. They capture your voice, seamlessly converting your insights and experiences into narratives that sound as if they came straight from you because, in a way, they did.

It’s the content you would’ve written if you had the time.

Thought leaders are the disruptors of the status quo and need compelling content to attract their audience and keep them engaged. That is the key driver of business in our digital world, and ghostwriters are the perfect fit for that exact purpose.

If you need help punching up your content, let’s talk.