How a Controlling Idea can Dramatically Improve your Content

Whether you are creating a website, writing a speech, building E-mail marketing campaigns, Writing Sales e-mails or Proposals, Creating Social media posts, or Internal communications campaigns. Without a controlling idea, you are going to be misunderstood, you are going to have less impact.

Video Transcript:

So, what exactly is a controlling idea? Well, all great stories have one of these. Books, movies, plays are all written around a single controlling idea. "Romeo and Juliet" for example is based on the controlling idea that love is worth dying for. In "Star Wars", the controlling idea is that tyranny must be resisted at all costs. But it's not just in fictional stories that you'll find a controlling idea. When Winston Churchill inspired a nation of Brits in the Second World War, his controlling idea was that evil must be resisted even to the point of death. Everything else in a story backs up this idea. And if you don't have one, people will lose track of what you're trying to say. How does this relate to your content? Well, when you're creating any piece of content, simple and concise ideas are much easier to understand. simple and concise ideas are much easier to understand. Whether you're creating a website, writing a speech, building email marketing campaigns, writing sales emails, proposals, creating social media posts, or even internal communication campaigns, without a controlling idea, you are going to be misunderstood and you're going to have less impact. Your controlling idea should be short, interesting, and memorable. Your audience needs to be able to repeat it. In order to define your controlling idea, I want you to ask yourself this question: What's the one thing I want people to get out of this piece of content? Brainstorm some ideas and then choose one. If you're writing an email campaign, you might want to A/B-test a few different ideas. But either way, repeat the controlling idea throughout your piece of content. Everything else you write or talk about should defend your controlling idea. Let's take a look at some examples of where these are used in everyday life. "Our produce is always fresh and affordable." could be the controlling idea for a local shop. Or, "Hiring a sales director will free up our sales team Or, "Hiring a sales director will free up our sales team to close more deals and increase revenue." That could be the controlling idea when suggesting hiring for this role for the first time. when suggesting hiring for this role for the first time. Whatever your controlling idea is, make sure it's obvious, it shouldn't be open to debate, it shouldn't be confusing, and it shouldn't require any explanation beyond the content to understand what it is. If you found this video useful, subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can refer back to it anytime you're creating a new piece of content and catch all of our new videos as they're published.