In the latter part of 2024, I was part one of two freelancers doing executive ghostwriting for a husband and wife business owner duo. I’d done some ghostwriting before when I worked in-house, but this was the first time I’d done it where it revolved around someone’s personal brand. I had a lot of material that I could draw from: podcast episodes, Instagram reels, interview recordings and even a couple of self-published books. In essence, I turned around both long and short-form posts (16 to be exact) every two weeks based on the material provided.
I have a lot of thoughts on executive ghostwriting, but I’m only going to share a few here. First of all, I think these types of endeavours are a fun challenge for a freelancer like me because I have the opportunity to channel the personality/persona of someone that’s in a totally different professional situation than I am. I get to act like a detective, snooping through their social media and other aspects of their digital footprint, and gather clues around who they are–or who they want to be perceived as.
Secondly, I understand why the need for executive ghostwriting exists. Building a personal brand is hard and very time-consuming. Although very few do get lucky, it’s generally not something that can be done overnight. It takes years of consistency and value-adding for folks to see success. But as they say, nothing worth having comes easy.
Finally (at least here), it’s a great way to be a part of conversations and build connections in your industry, even if you’re making the posts yourself. Even if you outsource the creation and dissemination of your thought leadership, it still shows that you’re invested in engaging and being a part of the industry you’ve chosen to be a part of.
If you’re thinking about building your personal brand and showing up more consistently online, definitely reach out to me! I’d love to help.
Khadijah Plummer Consulting 