Killer Introductions
How to write an introduction that earns trust and attention.
Rubbish introductions lose readers. Killer introductions hook readers. No matter what you want your writing to achieve, if you want your audience to keep reading – your introduction must be killer.
What is an introduction?
Your introduction is your 10-second elevator pitch. It’s the most important part of any content, whether you’re writing a blog, documentation, or an entire book.
Why?
Because the strength of your introduction determines if your readers will stay the course, read your content and follow your call to action.
What should I include in an introduction?
A killer introduction is not complex. In fact, it has just three simple elements
- It clearly identifies the intended audience – who benefits from reading.
- It promises that intended audience what they will learn from reading.
- It provides a touch of intrigue – this is the ‘hook’, the golden nugget that compels your audience to read on.
As a reporter, I learned to summarize my entire story in a single sentence. Just one. That’s the key to a killer introduction. In a matter of seconds, it should tell the reader everything they need to know about this piece of content, so they can make an informed decision on whether to invest their time reading it.
Your killer introduction must hook your reader. If they can’t stay hooked because they’re time-poor (they might have lost wifi signal, or their toddler might have just woken up) then your introduction must tell them everything they need to know, so they can take action later.
How do I figure out what hooks a reader?
You need to find a touch of intrigue to hook your readers, and it’s not hard to uncover.
Turn your writing on its head – don’t write your introduction first. Build the rest of your content, get your structure right and work on your motivating conclusion. Then sit back for a minute and let all your hard work and knowledge swirl around in your head.
Now imagine you’re about to catch up with a good friend for a glass or two of wine and you’re bursting with excitement to tell them about this piece of content. (Seriously, give it a go – who doesn’t love wine!) What’s the first thing that comes to mind?
That first nugget of information is the basis for your introduction. You’ve just identified the most enticing offering that will hook your readers – the touch of intrigue.
What does a killer introduction look like?
Here’s an example: This year in review introduction was written by one of my favourite Developer Relations Advocates – Niall Deehan of Camunda:
The Gregorian calendar year of 2019 is coming to an end, so I thought it might be nice to look back over all the fun things we’ve been up to and recap how the Community has progressed this year. I’m going to do this using the awesome power of statistics!
This introduction instantly hooked me:
- What is the awesome power of statistics?
- I’m a community member, so for me, this is going to be an interesting opportunity to learn about community progress in the past year.
This introduction promises a learning experience, a chance to look back at 2019’s achievements and hints that it will be funny. Niall demonstrates that you can also be yourself in your introduction – it can be witty and engaging.
Let’s break this introduction down and see how it covers the three key elements of a killer introduction:
The Gregorian calendar year of 2019 is coming to an end, so I thought it might be nice to look back over all the fun things we’ve been up to and recap how the Community has progressed this year. I’m going to do this using the awesome power of statistics!
- Identifies the intended audience: this is a blog from a Camunda Developer Advocate, directed at the Camunda community.
- Promises what the audience learns from reading: This blog will reflect on community progress and activities in 2019.
- Provide a touch of intrigue: What is the awesome power of statistics? Tell me more about this mystery. Niall’s reference to the Gregorian calendar, rather than simply to ‘2019’ also adds a witty touch to an introduction that could otherwise read like any end-of-year review.
Your killer introduction doesn’t have to be word perfect, but it does need to be short. This is your elevator pitch and you have seconds to land it. Capture your readers’ attention with those three simple elements: identify your audience, make your promises, provide a touch of intrigue.