The Reasons

Let’s assume that your company sells shoes. Or maybe you offer financial services to individual clients. Your product or service speaks for itself. So how important is good writing or editing to your brand? The short answer is “extremely”. Here’s why.

• Good writing and editing reflect your quality brand.
• Good writing and editing articulate and define what your company can do for its clients.
• Good writing and editing send the message that your company invests in excellence.
• Good writing and editing are often at the forefront of how your company is perceived.

Your Website

This last point is most evident in the content of your website. A company hires a professional web design company to develop its corporate website. The design firm may be a soup-to-nuts operation; offering design, content, and hosting. If you hire a small firm, it is unlikely that it has professional writers or editors on staff. More than likely, the design firm will job out its writing. That puts you, the company who hired the firm, two degrees away from quality control. However, if you hire a professional writer directly, you are more likely to get exactly the content that you want for your site. Design firms typically offer the option of them providing web content or the client doing so. Always take the option of you providing content. Then hire a professional writer to do it.

The Added Value of Professional Writing

Now let’s say that your company has a tight budget. The line item designated for writing is a small portion of your overall operating costs. Despite these financial constraints, it is money well spent to hire a pro.

It is easy to tell the difference between professionally written materials and those written by whoever volunteers or is drafted in your organization. It is often hard to put a finger on the difference, but it is there. Some differences are broad. There is less clarity. Points are often made in a roundabout way. Sometimes it is even hard to know what the point is.

Other differences are more specific. There may be errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. There is no topic sentence within paragraphs. There are run-on sentences. The writer uses the passive voice more frequently than the active voice.

It is always easiest to avoid these pitfalls by hiring a professional writer or editor. The writer can write fresh, new material. The editor may be expert at revising existing material and may charge less. Ideally, it is best to hire someone with both these distinct skills. As in most things, in the long run cheap is dear.