Creating Content? Remember Your Purpose

Don’t ever lose sight of your content’s purpose.

It took two years to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the U.N. on Dec. 10, 1948. At 1,741 words, it’s about the length of a useful blog post.

The language is crisp and precise. There are no extra words. There is no SEO optimization. There were no keyword searches.

The process began after the creation of the United Nations at the end of World War II. Though the world was divided into Eastern and Western blocks, at the signing, there were no dissenters.

50 nation-states were ultimately involved in the draft. The declaration has been translated into over 500 languages.

It’s replicable and scalable. It inspired—and paved the way for—the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties. Better yet, the document is alive. It continues to be debated and used. The largely moral declaration was later given legal teeth.

The Commission on Human Rights—the group that drafted the declaration—was comprised of 8 male diplomats, yet was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of an American president.

When you’re writing, especially as part of a team, remember these things:

✔️ Words matter.

✔️ Process matters.

✔️ Inclusion and leadership matter.

✔️ Universal principles bind humanity.

✔️ Harmony > efficiency.

Above all, remember your purpose.

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Raised in a military family, Jessica Swanson brings a literal world of experience to her clients. With more than 20 years as a business journalist, editor, and copywriter, Jessica helps organizations connect with their stakeholders through storytelling, branding, and content marketing. She's especially excited about helping people build online reputations that will carry them wherever they want to go! Learn more about Jessica's services at jessicaswanson.org, and read her daily work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/contentbyjessicaswanson/.