Tips for writing a tipsheet
Service stories aren’t news articles. Which means that the inverted pyramid isn’t the right structure.
Instead, use the feature-style story structure, and organize your piece like this:
Introduce your piece in the intro.
1. Illustrate your point in the lead. Grab attention by showing instead of telling, as in this piece on 7 steps to service stories.
2. Summarize your story in the nut graph. Now that you’ve grabbed reader attention by showing, it’s time to tell folks where you’re taking them.
3. Give context in the background section. Summarize “Why these tips now?” with research or broader context.
- Journalists and bloggers love tip sheets . …
- Social media channels run on ‘Top 10 ways to …’ listicles. …
- Customers and clients will read the tip sheet you write today for years to come …”
- Tip sheets position your organization as the expert in the field …
Develop your story in the body.
Here’s where you list your tips, using an alphabetical, chronological or hierarchical structure.
How to write how-to stories
Here are seven ways to make the most of your next tip sheet:
- Find a topic. Explain how to save on taxes, file for Social Security, grow a great lawn, reduce gas consumption or do whatever it is your organization helps people do. …
- Organize tips logically. Choose alphabetical, chronological or hierarchical structure. …
- Use the language of service stories. How-to language — like top, 10, you, most, best and, of course, how to — has been a mainstay of service journalism for years. …
- Put a number in the headline. Numerals sell stories. That’s why coverlines on best-selling magazines are packed with numbers, from “6 Steps to 6-Pack Abs” to “101 Best Cheap Eats.” …
Come to a close in the conclusion.
1. Restate your point in the wrapup. Now that I’ve shared this information with you, this penultimate paragraph suggests, we can only agree that …
“News you can use to live your life better” is the currency of most successful content marketing and PR writers.
2. Illustrate your point in the kicker. Leave a lasting impression with a concrete, creative, provocative final paragraph.
Investor’s Business Daily’s motto is, “Don’t read it. Use it.” Shouldn’t that be your motto too?
How long should your content be?
How long should your blog post be? Your mobile headline? Online paragraphs? Sentences and words?
Learn to write readable content-marketing pieces that don't overwhelm readers — even on their smartphones — at Get Clicked, Liked & Shared, our content-writing workshop.
You’ll learn the most effective length for content-marketing pieces, online paragraphs, sentences and words. Then you’ll analyze your message with a free online writing tool and get tips and tools for meeting those targets.
Plus: Entice visitors to read more of your story by hitting one key on your keyboard more often. And learn to avoid using one “unretweetable” punctuation mark.
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