At the recent, inaugural #solopr conference, I really enjoyed the other speakers' presentations. One of those individuals, Tom Martin, served up a simple but powerful tip regarding content creation.
Whether you're blogging, part of a brand newsroom or just creating content - think in terms of cornerstones and not just cobblestones.
Star Wars as Cobblestones and Cornerstone
Star Wars offers the simplest way to understand the cornerstones vs. cobblestones concept. Each episode in the Star Wars franchise is a cobblestone. All six movies together are a cornerstone. George Lucas made one movie at a time. But he knew the entire story before he started with Epsiode 4.
Rock Solid Content Strategy
You can take two approaches to the cornerstone strategy, depending on your approach to content.
Star Wars Approach: Think the larger story through, as part of a larger strategy, but then produce this content in pieces. The other benefit to this approach? Your final piece, that aggregates each article into a larger piece of content, will benefit from reader comments and other industry news that unfold along with your ideas.
Reverse Engineer: Literally producing the entire story and then chopping it into pieces to distribute over time is a more traditional, long form approach. To be honest, it's working harder than smart...especially if you were to publish all of it immediately as a single, longform "white paper."
Regardless of how you employ the cornerstone/cobblestone approach to content, it ensures a steady pace of publishing relevant content. In fact, it's a concept I need to employ at this blog. My publishing frequency is guided solely by quality vs. quantity. If I'm not inspired, I don't write. This approach to articles on this blog would have a positive impact.
Kevin,
Thanks for the shout out... love the Star Wars analogy -- might have to steal that one from you!
Tom
Posted by: Tom Martin | 03/06/2013 at 01:40 PM
Pre-treat any remaining stains with a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water.
Posted by: carpet cleaning chandler | 04/03/2013 at 10:08 AM
star wars is good example :)
Posted by: Meganee | 04/16/2013 at 03:26 AM
Remarkable post. I’m really glad to read this article.
Posted by: Carmela @ Fax to Email Australia | 04/21/2013 at 11:11 AM
Very interesting
Posted by: Joel | 04/21/2013 at 07:21 PM
Mesmerize through the world, and stimulate through the short adventures in it. Great insight. Thank you!
Posted by: Michael t: @michaeluemura | 04/28/2013 at 01:01 PM
Okay!! I really liked this article and I think like George Lucas did we should go step
By step. And yes the quality is more important than quantity. Keep the marketing communications clear and brief.. Did I mention brief?
@Boop28Kim
Posted by: Kimberly | 05/21/2013 at 05:12 PM