Do you ever wonder why people tend to forget about the basics? Remember those times in your elementary days when your English teacher is teaching you about the 5 wives and 1 husband. You might think that these 5 Ws and 1 H are pointless. But knowing how content marketing is so powerful nowadays, you should no longer think that these are pointless because they are not. Even the experts at any digital marketing Philippines would appreciate revisiting these 5 Ws and 1 H.

 

 

5 Ws

What

Ask yourself: What is the goal of your article? What message are you trying to convey through it? What are the key takeaways that you want your readers to learn from it? The answers to these questions will be your guide in structuring your article. You might observe overarching sub-topics and recurring key points that you may want to categorize together to avoid redundancy.

Where

Next, ask yourself where do you plan to publish the article. If you are going to publish it on various platforms, make sure that the article conforms with the editorial guidelines of each platform. Also, make sure that your chosen platforms are the most suitable for the type of content that you intend to publish.

When

When do you plan to publish the article? A pressing issue since timing is key. The creative process differs from one content writer to another. Some writers create great contents even under pressure while some writers require a long process in marinating ideas. Sometimes, an article is facts-driven that it must be published right away. That is, some articles need to be published immediately, so establishing timeframes and deadlines is critical.

Who

This is perhaps one of the most important questions to answer. And that question is: Who are you writing for? In writing a valuable article, you need to define and understand your target audience first. It will be easier to optimize the contents if you have a good grasp of your reader personas. As such, the overall tone, language and message can be customized based on who will read the article.

Why

Why are you writing an article in the first place? For one, articles must be relevant enough for others to notice and read them. Thereby, an article should cover a topic of interest. If we are going to rephrase the question, it should be: why readers must read this article? Surely, the answers will increase engagement.

 

1 H

How

Aside from asking ‘how do you want your readers to benefit from the article,’ consider asking how can you improve your article? How can you make it of better value to your readers? For example, identify your target audience’s day-to-day concerns and write about them. Anything that can demonstrate understanding and empathy will be 100% appreciated. Remember that readers interact with contents that can relate to more personally.

 

It is every content marketer’s responsibility to push contents out the door and for the world to see and read. These marketers often put a premium on creating sound editorial calendars. However, they do not always see the results that they expect from their contents. Perhaps, the problem lies with the lack of clear story and message.

Engaging the audience is a serious task, and no content marketer can do it without creating quality contents that tell a good story. With this, ponder on the 5 Ws and 1 H first before you write your contents. Ask the questions and let the answers guide you in writing the content that truly resonates with the needs, goals, desires and wants of your target audience.

 

Image credit: WPMUDev.org