Welcome to issue No. 064 of the Lever

Just finished a 730 word outline for my next feature article.

Which got me wondering, how do others outline longer pieces of work?

Not sure what they teach in journalism school, but this is how I do it:

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Before we get started, its important to remember that this is for B2B content.

That means it needs to be clear, not clever.

To do this effectively your argument must be laid out in a clear manner that leads the reader from A to Z.

It’s the sequencing of your points and ideas that create this path.

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Step 1 - Define the goal

Business writing needs to do help the reader do one of three thing:

1. Understand an issue
2. Make a decision
3. Solve a problem
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Because the goal of the piece impacts the format and structure this is the first step I always take.

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Step 2 - Nail the Intro

The introduction needs to capture attention, and quickly move the reader from a place of common ground towards a question.

The answer to that question of course being your clients solution.

I do this using the SCQA Method

S - Situation

Introduce an easy-to-understand situation that the reader can agree with.

“Our nations coastlines should be clean and accessible to all.”

Of course, right?

Get the reader nodding.

C - Complication

Next, introduce a complication.

“Yet every year, hundreds of old sailboats are abandoned and washed up on the beaches, creating an environmental hazard.”

Yikes! Our easy life just got more complicated.

You can see how this leads directly to the…

Q - Question

“Where do these come from? Why doesn’t the government do something? How do we get rid of these and reclaim our beaches?”

If done well the questions ask themselves, and here is the trick:

You don’t need to actually state the question in the introduction. But you want the question to be raised in the readers mind.

Writing it down explicitly for yourself in the planning stage helps to keep the piece focused.

A - Answer

The answer to the question will obviously be your clients solution.

Depending on the structure of your piece this can come early, then followed by supporting facts.

Or it can come late, with the argument layered in a “slippery slope” manner to keep the reader engaged.

This is the destination.

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Step 3 - Planning the Key Line

Think of a pyramid, with your Answer right on top.

Move down a layer. What are the big ideas that support that answer?

Write them down.

Next, for each idea, what data is needed to make each of those points true?

Every idea MUST be supported by supported by data.

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Step 4 - Draft a Working Outline

In this final step I like to create what I call a “working outline”.

This is the exact order of the sections that I see the piece taking, and includes some fully-written sections, starting with the introduction.

Because SQCA follows the traditional narrative format it is easy to now write the intro in full. It should only be a few paragraphs anyway, but do it well and the rest of the piece will be off to a great start.

With the Intro written I then create sections for each of the keyline items, in the most logical order. Each section will have a few sentences to capture the big idea, and then I’ll normally put the supporting bullet points below.

The sections might start with a heading if I have an idea for it, or else I’ll just separate them using three asterik’s (***).

And finally, with all of that in place, I finish with a final section called “Call to Action”.

The true measure of effectiveness of any piece of writing is the action it influences.

Just like any other copywriting you need to tell the reader exactly what you want them to do.

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Step 5 - Submit for approval

The final step in my process is to submit this working outline for the clients approval.

This does two things:

1. Makes sure it is inline with what the client wants
2. Protects me from spending too much time on the wrong thing
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I’ve learned this the hard way. There is nothing worse than submitting an entire, completed piece of work only to have to scrap the whole thing and start over.

By getting buy-in at this stage everything that follows is much, much easier.

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Ready For The Next Step

And that’s how I end up with a 730 word outline for a project that is probably only going to run to 1,500 words.

The great thing about doing it this way is that, once the client signs off on it, the piece pretty much writes itself.

All the heavy thinking and planning is done, and I’ve already got some of it written in full, so the rest just flows.

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P.S.

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In it I'll share all the systems, tools, and strategies I've used to deliver quality articles (for top dollar) to print magazines for the past 4 years - while working 9-5.

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