Why marketers should use the inverted pyramid
This useful tool isn’t just for journalists. Here’s how—and why—you should apply it to your next email campaign.
Take a page from journalism 101: Increase link building and outreach response rates by using the inverted pyramid.
When I was a communications major with a concentration in advertising, I shared a lot of classes with journalism students. I’ve since forgotten the majority of the AP Stylebook and can barely speak much less write, but there’s one lesson that stuck with me—the inverted pyramid.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, the inverted pyramid is a journalism technique in which the writer frames an article with the most important information at the top, details in the middle, and general information toward the bottom.
Most readers won’t get through an entire article, so the point is to provide all the facts as quickly as possible. People will read through the details if they’re truly interested in the subject, but if not, they still walk away informed.
The “most important information” usually means the five Ws:
And, sometimes “how.”
While this structure can kill creative license, I think the inverted pyramid should be the standard for link development and outreach emails.
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