What is business writing good for?
I’ve run a writing services business for over eight years. In the first few months, even as I was promoting my writing services, I didn’t understand why any business would pay for good writing.
I thought, can’t anyone write?
Good writing sounded like a nice-to-have, not something that added any measurable impact to a business. But then I started hearing from clients. They were using my words to achieve a wide range of business goals—from hiring to sales to customer service and beyond.
I realized two things:
Good writing is a rare skill, especially in business.
Good writing can improve almost every aspect of a company.
Here are seven real-world examples from businesses I’ve helped over the years:
Improve sales through persuasive ad and website copy
Let’s start with the online copywriting cliche. If you browse a few dozen copywriting portfolios online, half of them will have a variation of this opening headline: “Improve sales with clear copy.”
The cliche isn’t wrong, even if it’s a little unoriginal from a copywriting perspective. One of the most common reasons that businesses hire good writers is because great writing is persuasive. It builds trust. It moves sales.
One of the first reviews I ever received for my writing contained this snippet: “Not only did we meet our goal, but we generated 3x more than the other agency with 1/2 the personnel and 1/4 of the time. Faithful. Dependable. You can hire him for your project, but keep in mind you're going to have to fight us for him first.”
Case (study) in point.
Hire top candidates through an employer brand
Fast-forward to 2024. Most of my writing clients today are CEOs, not marketing departments. They hire me to ghostwrite articles and social media posts. My clients see value in building a personal executive brand.
But why?
One client recently told me that my LinkedIn writing has accelerated their hiring. He’s the founder and CEO of a fast-growing startup. As a young company, it can be hard to compete for top talent.
Since writing for this client on LinkedIn, the company has connected with numerous qualified candidates. Nearly all of these candidates either found the opportunities through my client’s personal LinkedIn or used his LinkedIn content to research the company in preparation for the interview.
Reduce customer service call volume through clarity
A few years ago, I wrote copy for a one-page website that was selling a fairly complex consumer product. Before the new copy was added, the average customer onboarding call took between 10 - 20 minutes each.
In writing the copy, I mostly tried to simplify the product and answer common user questions.
After launching the new site, call times dropped to less than 5 minutes per customer. The client said the new copy made all the difference.
Convert more clients with case studies
For two years, I wrote a few case studies per month for an established agency. One day, I met the client for coffee to discuss a potential referral.
During the meeting, my client casually mentioned that my case studies were their number one sales tactic for closing new clients. Even two years into working with this client, this was news to me.
Multiply your website traffic through SEO
A few years ago, my wife and I were in the market for our first home. One day, while researching the Austin market, I clicked on a blog and read it top to bottom. The whole time I thought, “This sounds so familiar…”
Then I got to the end. My name and picture were in the byline. The article was familiar because I’d written it five years earlier. It still ranked in the first spot on Google.
This is another one of those obvious business benefits. Good writing is an obvious advantage when it comes to SEO. Google wants to rank the most relevant, high-quality resources at the top of their search results.
That’s a clear advantage to the gifted writer. I’ve helped many companies multiply their search traffic through SEO article writing, often to the tune of tens of thousands of monthly site visitors.
Earn publicity through storytelling
PR is a fun service to pitch. Here’s how I explain it to clients: Top magazines and blogs want to showcase the work of experts, not freelance writers. The catch is that experts must be able to tell a compelling story or write persuasively about an idea.
By partnering with a professional writer, experts have an easier chance of seeing their work published by premier media.
Over the years, I’ve helped clients appear in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Dallas Morning News, Built In, PBS NewsHour, and as cover stories in High Rise Life Magazine and Block Magazine.
Create and sell information products
Most of my life, I thought that being a professional writer meant being an author. Authors make a living by writing books and living on royalties.
Well, authors aren’t the only ones in the book business. I’ve helped many companies over the years publish short books to sell on their websites. Clients often hire me with the goal of generating a new revenue stream in their business.
But companies don’t even have to sell books directly to monetize them. Most clients I’ve worked with over the years give books away for free as a lead magnet.
One company hired me to write several short books as part of their lead gen efforts. When I last looked at the analytics a few years ago, my books were responsible for over half a million dollars in new buyer revenue.
I can only imagine what those numbers are today.
Good writing improves every aspect of your business
I didn't start my freelance career with some rare insight about the business power of writing. Lewis Commercial Writing was simply my attempt to turn my lifelong passion for writing into a viable career.
But it didn't take long for my own business to surprise me.
Good writing has the power to improve almost every aspect of your business. This article is far from an exhaustive list. I didn’t even cover obvious examples such as fundraising, brand building, or social media virality.
Let's not forget the hard-to-measure business outcomes like improved consumer trust, brand likability, and word-of-mouth marketing. All of these are strong reasons to work with a good writer. But I wanted to keep the article short.
Good writing, you might say, is a business superpower.
