Your signature is the mark of quality, relevant, and in-depth content.
Write your own content. Paint on your own canvass. Don’t use a “ghost writer.” I know it’s tempting, but no one knows your area of expertise and passion like you. Paying someone to generate more content under your signature dilutes the value and depth of your brand. It’s your song without your instrument. It borders on the lazy way out.
Now for large companies or corporations, out-sourcing content falls outside of my concern, as long as the communications and marketing department filters and edits all outsourced content. It’s the consultants, authors, and category gurus that concern me. If you believe it, you write it. Don’t let someone else do what you do and know best, unless you also clearly footnote and reference the source of a quote, article, or website. They don’t know and hear your customer, client, or target market like you. Don’t sell your creative soul on the alter of ghost content. If you know it and think it, you must write it.
The Robert Taylor print below hangs in my office. I purchased it in 1995. Only 75 in the world exist. It’s called “Eagle Squadron Scramble.” The original displays in the San Diego Air & Space museum, yet this print is signed by 26 of the actual American pilots that flew British Spitfires for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Brittan in WWII. The signatures are real. The very pilots signed this print. Without the signatures the print would be worth little, however it’s value is found in the pilots who signed this painting. Twenty-six men who participated in the actual event said, “Yes, this happened. We were a part of this piece of history.” My guess is most of them are dead now, but their signatures live on. Powerful. Historical. Value personified. In one sense, those brave 26 pilots sit behind me as I now write. Powerful.
And thus, the signature. It seals your identity and originality. From past to present a signature proves that a real person with brain-waves, DNA, and heartbeat created the content. It’s the legal, binding, seal of identity that stamps your approval and authorization that says, “Yes, this is mine. Me. Approved.”
So write. Own it.
Signed and Written by me, Stuart Atkins
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