You can almost hear the refrain from the crowd:
“I don’t have time.”
Or,
“I’m not creative.”
And, my personal favorite,
“But, I’m not a good writer.”
Don’t believe any of it for a second.
The reality is that in this day and age we have a hard time writing a greeting card without using a word processor, and our written communication has exploded in the age of the Internet.
If estimates are accurate, the amount of emails that we receive and send daily is our foremost communication vehicle.
Chances are, the Marketing Manager who says he/she doesn’t have time to write is likely writing at least a 1000 words a day via email.
Hmmm …
A good, well-thought through blog post is the equivalent of that two paragraph email that is being sent to Betty Joe in accounting. You know the type: you’re never sure which side of the bed she woke up on and email is easier than making the walk over to see how bearish she is on a ten point scale.
So, let’s just acknowledge that everybody has the capacity to write, everybody has ideas and that the “time” notion is really a function of prioritization.
The other thing to take into consideration is the quality of the writing that is a reflection on your organization. Ideas are one thing, and everybody has them like a nose, but sloppy grammar can kill a message. Now, make no mistake, the blogosphere is forgiving for some loose grammar. I should know, as my use of the possessive is a grammatical Achilles heel. However, poor syntax can be a problem in writing.
Because syntax is really the only impediment to blogging, I always recommend that clients take a look at a software program called WhiteSmoke.
A very-well regarded and well-reviewed software program, WhiteSmoke promises:
… An innovative software tool that improves and edits your English writing. Based on patented natural language processing (NLP) technology, WhiteSmoke performs advanced and context-based English grammar, spelling, and punctuation checking, as well as text enrichment to enhance your writing. From well-written letters and emails to friends, through to professional business documentation and presentations.
Priced at about $80, it’s an affordable solution to help give folks the confidence to let their ideas shine through and acts as a super adjunct to your Microsoft Word program.
This reminds me, it’s really a good idea to write and edit a post in Word and then save as a .txt file before copying into the Compendium platform.
Next time you hear an organizational limiting statement about blogging, be armed with a couple of solutions to help unleash the embedded knowledge in your organization. WhiteSmoke can be a tool that helps build confidence for intrepid bloggers that need a boost.
