As a senior content marketer, it's important for me to stay up to date with the latest content marketing creation trends and best practices. Recently I was doing some content marketing training when I came upon a piece of advice that really stood out to me. The training resource I was using recommended writing blog articles with a very specific approach that completely contradicts the way I write content for my clients. |
Bad Content Creation Advice
The advice that was given in the training course was to always write an introduction and a conclusion paragraph for your article last after you've written the body of the article. As someone who does not use that approach, I was really curious about what the reasoning was there. I went back and rewatched that section of the training to try to get a better understanding of why they were recommending this as a best practice. The instructor explained that an introduction and conclusion should be written after the rest of the content of the article because that's the only effective way to summarize what you've actually said in the article. The rationale was once the meat of the article is done then you can write an introduction explaining what you are going to cover in the article and in conclusion wrapping up what you have already covered. However, I think that this approach is entirely backwards.
A Better Approach to Content Marketing
When I write an article, the first two things I write are the introduction and the conclusion. The reason I do that is because I see content as a journey. If effective content is meant to provide something of value to the reader, you should take them on a journey – either storytelling that they can reflect on and learn from or actionable tips and advice. In my opinion, you need a map for a journey. If you just set out on a journey with no idea of where you're going to go you might get somewhere eventually but that's more out of sheer dumb luck than it is good planning. So, for that reason I will write the introduction and the conclusion before writing the rest of the article.
I want to know before I get started where I'm planning on taking the reader and then when I'm done where they will find themselves now because of that journey. If content is meant to teach and help and inspire the reader it doesn't make sense to throw some topic or advice at them and then figure out what you said. Instead, I want to make the promise first. I want to enter into a contract with the reader by saying “You're giving me your time and I promise that in exchange I will give you something of value.” I will teach you how to do something or provide a new way of looking at something or explain why something is important or tell you about a new trend or walk you through a series of steps or broaden your perspective. By writing the introduction first I'm making a promise to the reader of what I intend on giving them because I always want to value their time as much (if not more than) my own. And then at the end I want to know that I've accomplished what I set out to do.
An Old School Perspective on Writing
Growing up I was taught to write in a linear fashion – an introduction, then the main part of the article, and then a conclusion. My 7th grade social studies teacher used to say, “Tell them what you're going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you already told them.” I definitely don't think that level of repetition is the best approach to take when it comes to content marketing. But I do think that process aligns more closely to the ideal approach than the training's recommendation of writing an article and then creating an introduction to tag onto the front and a conclusion to tag on to the back because this errantly recommended approach feels like it treats both as a meaningless requirement instead of a chance to create connection and compel your reader to take a desired action.
How to do it Right
The best approach is writing the introduction and conclusion before the rest of the article so you can create effective and compelling content to showcase thought leadership and effectively market your products/services. Write the introduction first so that you know what the aim of the article is and what it should accomplish. Then, write the conclusion so that you know where you need to bring your readers. And lastly, write the article with the wisdom to get them there.
When you need content written to support your marketing and sales efforts, use this approach yourself, or hire an experienced content marketer to create it for you. This is the approach I use to write highly effective content for my clients, so I know it can work for you as well!