Friday Deep Dives (How to Create Outstanding Content)

Welcome to the 11th issue of Friday Deep Dives, a monthly newsletter by Dozie Anyaegbunam, where an industry expert or I go all in on one question on content marketing from you all. I'm glad you're here.

Happy Friday, superstars,

On today’s Friday Deep Dives, we’ve got the smart-as-a-whip Lily Ugbaja talking about creating outstanding content.

Let’s dive 🌊

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 29 seconds.

Hey there, Lily Ugbaja here!

I'm excited to share my LEMA framework with you for writing outstanding content that editors (and users) will love.

I've written over 200 articles for 20+ clients in the last four years, including big names like WordPress, Hubspot, and Hotjar. And guess what? Only four articles needed edits I couldn't make from my phone.

The LEMA framework is how I achieved that, and in the next few minutes, I’ll show you how you can use it too.

So, what is LEMA, and how can it help you write better content? Let's break it down.

• Logical

• Explicit

• Memorable

• Actionable

L for Logical

It's easy to get carried away and write everything you know about a topic. But if you’ve never heard of a snoozefest (an incredibly dull event), that’s how you create it.

If I’m searching for “how to fix a dishwasher,” I know what a dishwasher is; I don’t care when it was invented; I don’t want to know how to buy one. If I need to read all those things to get to what I’m looking for, I will cuss at the writer.

Logic helps you narrow your scope and write only what your audience needs to read - in the order they need to read it.

To follow your target audience's logic, ask three questions about them:

• What do they know?

• What do they want to know?

• What do they need to know?

The answers to these questions will help you understand which concepts to expand on so you keep your readers from guessing. You can focus your article on what they want to know and not dwell on what they already know.

E for Explicit

Explicit content leaves little up to guesswork. It’s detailed and specific.

If you’re writing about Product Analytics, for example, and you want to talk about tools to use, instead of saying something like “Use a tool that shows historical data,” explicitly say, “Use a tool like Mixpanel, which shows historical data.”

An easier example:

❌ Create content that is easy to read.

✅ Create content with simple words people won’t google.

M for Memorable

If people easily remember what you've shared, they understand it.

• Screenshots show what in-app steps look like

• Examples describe what a concept would look like in real life

• Analogies and metaphors introduce readers to more advanced concepts using concepts they already understand.

• Custom graphics visualize complex ideas.

Use these tools wisely to make your content memorable.

A for Actionable

People read content because they want to do something.

Sometimes they know what that is, and other times they don't. Clear content leaves users with an understanding of precisely what they need to do, how they need to do it, and what tools they need.

For example, in the screenshot below, I tell readers to:

• Discover drop-off points (what they should do)

• Use Google Analytics to do that (the tool they need)

• Go to the Behavior tab on the left… (how they should do it)

Use screenshots and examples to show people how to act.

That’s it, folks!

To learn more about the LEMA framework, go to marketingcyborg.com.

Please feel free to connect and ask Lily any questions you have on LinkedIn.

If you found it helpful, let me know in the comments or by email. If you have a question you would like me to explain in-depth, send it in. And even if I don’t have the answer, I’ll find someone who can answer it properly.

Thanks for reading to the end. You all make writing this newsletter worth the trouble.

Be good out there. If you can't be good, be careful.

Dozie.

PS: If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing it on LinkedIn or with a friend.