The other day I read an article citing a company's success and its “remarkable” ability to “churn out content.”

“Churning out content.” Like a company doles out blog posts and TikToks with as much joy as a Dickens-era orphanage doles out gruel.

No successful brand “churns out content.” Instead, it puts the needs of its audiences first; it views the ability to create content as a privilege.

Does it sound naïve or quaint to suggest that publishing is a privilege instead of a perceived right?

It's not naïve.

It's a necessary mindset that creates a breeding ground for great writing and great content. It's a point of view that says we value our relationships with our audiences. We put their needs first. We want to earn their trust.

I don't say that lightly: Every bit of content you create should be to please the customer or prospect—not your boss or client. (More on that in a few.)

We all have easy access to a publishing platform and a potential audience. We all have great power to influence, educate, entertain, and help—but also to annoy, irritate, misinform, and … sometimes … fritter away our opportunity entirely.

So the challenge for all of us is to respect our audiences and deliver what each audience needs in a way that's useful, inspired, and empathetic to the reader.

We talked about this Formula of Three in the Introduction. But in case you are the kind of reader who skips an Intro and wades directly into the chapters, I'm dropping it here, too:

• High-quality content is packed with clear utility, inspiration, and empathy for the audience.

Said another way, but as a math formula:

• Utility × Inspiration × Empathy = High-Quality Content

• Utility means it helps an audience. Readers will read what we write only if something is in it for them.
• Inspired means it's inspired by data or creatively inspired. Or both.
• Empathy means we understand the reader's point of view. Also: We make it easy to understand. We don't make the reader work too hard. We take as long as we need to tell the story well. (The length of the content is dictated by the kind of content we're creating.)

* * *

Write, rewrite, edit … always with your reader in mind.

As content strategist Jonathon Colman told me: “Start with empathy. Continue with utility. Improve with analysis. Optimize with love.”