Unlocking the Secret: How to Snag the Skimmers

How many times do you start writing your [insert content piece – blog, e-book, video script] with a long, flowy introductory paragraph? How long does it take you to get to the meat of the content piece? And most importantly, when you do that – does your audience hang with it to get there? If you’re unsure, check this statistic: 43% of people admit to skimming blog posts . So, I’m a proponent of eliminating those “beautiful” introductions. This blog walks you through how to get to your point ASAP so you hook your readers quickly.

How to build the inverted pyramid

In 2024 speak, think of it as giving your “spoiler alert.” That’s right – tell your readers what they are going to learn in your first paragraph. And as I always say, answer the “so what?” for your readers in that introduction. You then layer your information; share important details next, in priority order, and then end with more background information. Keep in mind: many readers will NEVER get to your conclusion (or maybe even your second paragraph for that matter). If you look at my introduction here, I gave you the “so what?” with a statistic. And then I hit you with my spoiler alert – you’ll learn how to hook your readers quickly.

Snag the skimmers

What I see more than anything is that the asset’s set-up provides obvious information that a reader could find in a zillion other places. When it does that, you’ve missed your skimmers. There isn’t anything novel to make them linger longer on your piece. If you ever read your intro and say “Hmmm; most people in this industry already know that,” hit delete. One of my nephew’s responses to things we say to him is “I already know that.” It always gives us a good chuckle, but it also serves a reminder to really tailor the information we share with him (he’s a smart cookie!). He already knows the obvious. He has already remembered the reminder. Think of my nephew the next time you write.

Might take some finagling

This is where you will likely have to employ your emotional IQ, as this may be a push and pull with colleagues who tend to write otherwise or whose strength is not whittling all the information down to ONLY the key points. Lean into the tools you have. If you have a message map or message house, align your content to that hierarchy.

Test yourself

Here’s the test: once you’re in final draft mode, read each paragraph and ask yourself what the key point is from each paragraph and jot it down. If the point is wrong or the order is off, time to hit the cut, paste and/or delete buttons!

It works!

Harkening back to my days in journalism school, the inverted pyramid was the ONLY way to write a news article. It’s grounded in sound journalism, which IMHO, is where everything should start. And it absolutely passes the test of time. Every manager I had – Porter Novelli, GE, etc. drilled it into my team’s head even more … product packaging, sell sheets, web copy, etc. It always proved the best way to hook the reader with the brand’s/product’s/campaign’s value proposition.

[Headline improvement]

Part of this blog series is using ChatGPT to improve my headline. My original was “We Already Know That: Why and How to Snag the Skimmers.” Thanks to AI, I landed on a better one: "Unlocking the Secret: How to Snag the Skimmers."

For more back-to-basics content and communications tips, keep following along with my blog series. To get a refresher on my goal for the series, look at “Back to the Basics: Emotional IQ First, Tech Second .”