{"id":2793,"date":"2017-10-25T13:38:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T20:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/industry\/blog\/uncategorized\/creating-content-with-purpose-focus-and-structure\/"},"modified":"2019-11-18T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T17:32:58","slug":"creating-content-with-purpose-focus-and-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/industry\/microsoft-in-business\/business-transformation\/2017\/10\/25\/creating-content-with-purpose-focus-and-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating content with purpose: Focus and structure"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to content, getting started is often the hardest part. In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll discuss many of the challenges that come with getting a content marketing campaign off the ground\u2014building an editorial calendar, finding a narrative, and refining your brand voice. While those elements are key components of your content machine, as we mentioned in our strategy piece<\/a>, they need something to hold them together. Your brand has a huge library of knowledge, and determining which of your information assets make for valuable content can be an intimidating experience. During this ambiguous stage, it\u2019s important to nail down two elements for individual pieces of content and your campaign at large: focus and structure.<\/p>\n

Focus creates your parameters and reflects the strategy you\u2019ve already created. Who are you speaking to? What do you want them to feel, to know, and to do, after they\u2019ve finished consuming your content? What is the scope of your campaign? By articulating a clear intent for your content strategy, you further refine your end goal and weed out any unnecessary noise.<\/p>\n

If focus is your what, then structure is your how. Structure is the tactical element of the experience you\u2019re creating. How does each paragraph fit into your message? How does each piece of content benefit your overall campaign? A clear structure shapes your narrative so that each point leads to the next and helps bring clarity to your message. If your content marketing campaign is a journey, your structure is the road that leads your audience to the final destination.<\/p>\n

Guiding your audience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Together, your focus and structure guide the audience towards your intended take-away. Before we go too far, we\u2019re going to borrow a concept teachers have used for years called \u201cInstructional Scaffolding\u201d<\/a>. Scaffolding is an educational process that relies on slowly and systematically building knowledge. A teacher starts the semester with basic, foundational knowledge, before moving on to more complex ideas. For example, students have to understand what numbers are before they can grasp the concept of mathematics. Then, once they\u2019ve mastered the difference between 1, 7, 16, and so on, a teacher can introduce how those numbers can interact with each other\u2014addition, and subtraction, then on to multiplication and division. In marketing, we refer to a similar process with the sales funnel\u2014slowly introducing customers to broader offerings before moving on to more pointed messages.<\/p>\n

These foundational models work by shaping content around your audience\u2019s journey, and your content ought to follow a similar process. Start campaigns with broad-stroke concepts that speak to a wider audience, then slowly transition to more direct messaging and specific problems that you\u2019re specifically equipped to solve. The goal is to engage as many relevant readers as you can from the start by speaking to more industry-wide needs and interests, and then slowly inch towards creating more qualified leads over time.<\/p>\n

This process:<\/p>\n