the importance of creating content with purpose

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin....

Once upon a time there was a tech company. This tech company decided that they wanted to create a "cybersecurity guide" and they hired a copywriter to write it for them. They provided a brief which detailed the elements that they wanted to cover. The trouble was that they wanted it to only be 10 pages long.

Now if you know anything at all about cybersecurity, you'll know it is simply impossible to write a guide to cybersecurity in 10 pages. The brief that the tech company provided contained a LOT of different elements, with very little direction. Looking at it, the copywriter couldn't determine what the purpose of the content actually was, let alone make sure that the guide would provide enough information to be a valuable asset for the company. Aghast and knowing that she couldn't do the project justice, especially since they were dead set on only having 10 pages, she went back to the tech company. You see, she'd done quite a few projects like this and she had some ideas that would help...

1️⃣ First, the tech company had to define the purpose of the asset. The copywriter couldn't figure out who the guide was for and what it intended to achieve.

2️⃣ Defining the purpose of the asset would enable them to narrow down the brief to be more specific. With a more targeted approach, and less to cover, it would be possible to talk about each section in more detail rather than just providing a top-level view that doesn't really add any value to the audience.

3️⃣ Doing this would create a much stronger and more valuable asset that would benefit the tech company rather than being content for content's sake.

The tech company really appreciated the direction that the copywriter had provided. They worked together to define the brief to be more specific and targeted and the copywriter produced a guide that had purpose and that really provided value for the audience while also serving as a successful lead gen tool.

The tech company was happy. The copywriter was happy. And they all lived happily every after. THE END.