Publishing content regularly — and striving to improve with each new creation — is a proven way to figure out how to serve your audience and meet your business goals. Recently, I had trouble finishing a draft of a post and realized that my other responsibilities were distracting me from getting clear on the message I wanted to communicate. So today, I’m going to share the simple solution that helped me complete the article with ease. No, that subhead isn’t a new spin on: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” It references one of my recent posts, The Coffee Shop Is Sexier than The Bar. I initially wrote down a lot of ideas for that content, but when it was time to create a solid draft, I was stuck. How to earn the attention of people “who don’t have time to read” People quickly navigate away from content that contains too many ideas. Then, as you draft and review your content, make sure every part of it answers that question. A long post could be clear and crisp; a short post could be clear and crisp. Even the busiest readers will make time for focused content, regardless of length, because they know they’ll get a payoff for their investment in it. This tip may seem obvious, but … So much writing advice fails to take into consideration that content marketers are people who have other responsibilities.
Publishing content regularly — and striving to improve with each new creation — is a proven way to figure out how to serve your audience and meet your business goals.
But I have other things to do besides writing content, and you do too.
Recently, I had trouble finishing a draft of a post and realized that my other responsibilities were distracting me from getting clear on the message I wanted to communicate.
So today, I’m going to share the simple solution that helped me complete the article with ease.
Why is the coffee shop sexier than the bar?
No, that subhead isn’t a new spin on: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
It references one of my recent posts, The Coffee Shop Is Sexier than The Bar.
I initially wrote down a lot of ideas for that content, but when it was time to create a solid draft, I was stuck.
My go-to remedy when I feel blocked is to ask myself questions. I said:
If I’m calling the post “The Coffee Shop Is Sexier than The Bar,” every part of it needs to answer the question, “Why is the coffee shop sexier than the bar?”
My other musings needed to be cut out and (potentially) saved for other articles.
With that minor outlook shift, it felt like the floodgates opened … every sentence that was appropriate effortlessly stayed and I saw what didn’t work.
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