The worst openers for your next blog post or white paper, and some good ones

The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. — William Zinsser

So I’ll cut the crap and just give you several examples of the worst ways to start your blog post, white paper or any other marketing material.

Bad examples

• We live in a world of big data.
• It is difficult to imagine a world without the internet or mobile devices.
• Digital technology is transforming the world.
• More and more, information drives the business.

These openers are obvious, trivial. They are cliches. They don’t inform us about the content of the paper.

Good examples

• Digital disruption isn’t an isolated event but is something that has repeatedly happened over the last three decades, with different waves occurring across different types of industry segments. (Sounds like a thesis at least)
• While digitalisation is advancing both socially and commercially, the reality is that its full potential has yet to be fully harnessed. (Now I want to know everything about its potential)
• Digital data is doubling in size every two years. (It’s a good way to show how fast digital data is growing instead of just saying that it’s growing)
• The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to offer business value that goes beyond operational cost savings. (Really? I want to know more)

These openers are dragging us into the story, saying, ‘hey, there’s something interesting for you in this paper, read on’.

Your takeaway

In the first sentence, just cut the crap and get to the point: what is it you are going to say in this paper?

Mikita Cherkasau is copywriter and CEO at Your Extra Marketer, a small content marketing agency with a single focus on IT.