Thread by @tommyismyname

Here is a simple thing I find missing in many articles that I edit... ready for it?

A thesis.

What is this article about?

Wrap the entire concept up in a single sentence and you're on the right track.

"When operations and marketing tech work together, profit happens."

"When SEO and Editorial are in sync, new reader will be found and retained."

"Using Instagram for product businesses works when you combine high quality pics with ___"

"Without a central thesis, content languishes and doesn't find it's footing."

The thesis is the spine which everything else connects to.

Without it, the best you'll get is all meat and no bones.

But more likely, you just a blob of fat thrown across the floor.

This, in my mind, is why many MANY articles in the online marketing/SMB/business advice space follow a similar structure.

200 words to ramp up the intro.

Subheader
Reiterate what the subheader just said
Retorhical question
Lazy answer
Bad transition
Subheader (repeat)

As the reader, everything needs to reinforce why I came to read you in the first place.

It's not as on the nose as giving constant reminders, but it is as simple as building every word written around a single problem or idea.

If that single problem or idea needs to have multiple approaches to fix, that's cool and can be addressed through "A-plots" and "B-plots" but more on that later.

For now, just focus on the single problem.

Going back to my very first thesis statement, "When marketing and operations tech work together, profit happens..."

The on the nose approach would be to address each concept in that order.

Marketing + Operations = Profit

But what if you attacked it in reverse?

"The challenge with profitability today is that marketing often promotes products that don't sell because martech and operations tech don't typically communicate together in an efficient way."

From here, the A-plot is about becoming more profitable, while the B and C plots...

Are about the benefits and inefficiencies of standalone marketing and operations solutions.

So long as your reader can see that you're continually working toward the promise of the thesis - "and this is what'll make you more profitable" - then they will remained hooked.

Deviation from that will cause them to lose interest and move on to something else entirely.