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Hey Reader,

"What do you think?"

My client was referring to post 14 in his LinkedIn drafts doc.

We were on a call, and I was reading it for the first time.

I finished and furrowed my brow.

The post was informative and educational. It was clearly written by someone with years of experience who knows their shit. But it wasn't...memorable.

"It's got bones," I said. "But, I'm curious, why'd you write this?"

"Well..."

My client excitedly began to tell me a story.

I sat there completely engrossed in his narrative for the next five minutes.

When he finished, I had the biggest smile on my face.

"That's a good f*cking story — and we're gonna wrap that into this post."

We spent the next ten minutes intricately weaving his story into the narrative. New hook. Blended second line (wrapped the story into a strong sentence that we didn't want to remove). New paragraph after that. Minor edits throughout the rest.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, for two big reasons:

1. Stories are powerful: Most educational content, no matter how informative, is super boring. A story, even as short as two paragraphs, can breathe life into an otherwise "meh-perceived" piece of content.
2. Editing is crucial: He'd written this the day before, took time away, then came back. He felt like something was "off" but couldn't put his finger on it.

Knowing what to ask yourself when your content feels like it's missing something (and how to make changes based on those answers) can take your content from "might get read" to "I couldn't stop reading this."

So, what exactly are those questions you should ask yourself?

I've already given you one above:

• Why did I write this?

If your answer to that is, "I dunno, just felt like it" you need to go a level deeper:

• What motivated me to want to share this?

You don't usually put words to paper for no reason.

Your answer will likely range from anything as simple as "It was top of mind" to "It's part of my expertise so I figured I should share it" to a full-blown story of something that motivated a "teachable" moment.

Cool. Step one, done.

Next, ask yourself this:

• Why will my audience care?

A step further:

• What's the takeaway or big lesson I want them to walk away with?

If your answers are "they won't" and "dunno," your idea isn't strong enough, and you need to rethink it.

Cool. Step two, done.

Now you've got:

• The reason you wrote the post
• The takeaway you want readers to walk away with

Ok, so, how can you make changes based on these answers?

Read your content again (after some time away) and start with the takeaway:

• Is my takeaway clear?

A takeaway is absolutely crucial because it helps the reader understand:

• “How can I implement this in my life?”
• “What should I do next/How do I get started?”
• “What’s the key lesson I’m walking away with?”

If your key lesson isn't clear, your content will be less memorable and actionable. I wrote more about starting with the end here.​

If it's not super clear, edit it. For example:

"B2B influencer partnerships are broken, and we need to fix them."

That's not bad. It's clear, but it could be more specific and memorable. We could edit it like so:

"B2B influencer partnerships are broken, and we need to fix them. It should feel like the company has truly partnered with an influencer, rather than rented space."

ZING.

(By the way, this is my favorite kind of edit example because we haven't removed anything, we've expanded it! Editing is not all cutting, people. Not by a long shot.)

Next, we return to our first question:

• Why'd I write this post?

If your post is feeling a bit stale, there's likely an opportunity to wrap a story into it.

My client's story was all about how he was on a call with his client's team and that interaction made him realize: "Oh my, there's some tension here, and because I've been doing this for decades, it's quite obvious to me what's going on, even if it's less obvious to them."

So, he left that call and wrote a post to teach people who may find themselves in that very same situation how to a) avoid it and b) fix it.

But, because he left that fascinating story out of it, the post came across as a bit boring, a bit preachy, and a bit "ok, so?"

By adding the story to it, we accomplished 3 things:

1. Readers could vividly picture themselves in a similar situation, which makes it far more relatable and relevant
2. We were able to set up the lesson as a solution to the problem we just described (via the story) rather than diving right into the "what" without giving readers the context in the form of "why should I care?"
3. We were able to transform the hook into an, "Oh my, what happened next?!" moment (curiosity is an incredibly powerful lever to pull in your hook)

​You can watch me explain the 9 principles of what makes a great hook in this free webinar I gave for the TOFU community last month.

That's the power of a strong story. It pulls you in, makes it incredibly easy to relate to the pain described, and helps you understand a) that you need to solve it and b) done well, how to solve it.

To get meta, this newsletter today is an example of everything I just walked you through.

I started with a story, which helped you visualize the problem, then gave you a solution with clear ways to take action on it right now.

I love getting meta.

Now, go ask yourself some questions and get editing :)

Cheers,

Erica

PS. I launched a new offer last week called Content Sparring 🥊 and wanted to share it here in case you missed it.

It's for experienced writers, either solopreneurs, founders, or in-house marketers, who want to "spar" with someone as experienced as them to:

• Stay on top of their game
• Get out of the “my content feels stale” phase -Identify bad habits they’ve developed (due to noone editing them for years) and fix ‘em
• Ping pong with someone as good as them on strategic content decisions (I’m thinking about writing about this, here’s why, here’s how I’m thinking of approaching it, what do you think)

That client I described above? He's a fractional CMO and we've been sparring for the past month.

He comes to our calls with fully written posts or fleshed-out ideas, and we spar on them, which usually involves me asking a bunch of questions and then us editing the content together.

Since launch, I've got 4 active clients, 5 more who said "yes," and calls booked with another 7 people.

If you're experienced and want to spar, reply here with the 🥊 emoji before I run out of space and throw up a waitlist.

Check out my 3 courses that 1500+ people have taken, loved, and gotten meaningful results from:

1. Long to Short: Turn one long-form piece into a month's worth of posts. A step-by-step system to repurpose, remix, and remaster your best ideas.

2. Hooked on Writing Hooks: Turn your ideas into content that actually gets consumed. Learn to write scroll-stopping hooks on social without resorting to clickbait nonsense that feels inauthentic.

3. Content Editing 101. Kill decision fatigue and build confidence as a writer and editor. A look inside a professional editor's workflow & best practices. Packed with lessons, examples, and a roadmap so you can stop second-guessing your writing & editing decisions.

Each course is AI-powered 🪄

You can go through them manually or use AI to play, get it done faster, and test your new skills in real time. My friend & prompt genius Rob Lennon wrote all the prompts and bots for the courses.

What'd you think of today's email? Reply and let me know.

Erica Schneider

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