The LEMA Framework: How Anyone Can Create Truly Remarkable Content (Part 1)

This is what makes readers skip competitor content to click on yours.

Remarkable is that artwork you can’t forget.

It’s that cornbread you shamelessly ask for the recipe for.

It’s the piece of content that makes you scroll back up, dripping envy as you spot the author’s name and bookmark the URL.

…it’s content that makes readers automatically click on more results from your brand in search and social.

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Let’s try a fun exercise.

Open up your bookmark bar right now and study 3 to 4 articles. (Don’t go down the rabbit hole and forget me though! 😅)

Notice any recurrent themes with those articles you bookmarked?

The articles in my bar do some — or all — of these:

• Answer questions I didn’t know I had about the topic.

• Share answers I already had in a way that provides more context, or makes me feel smart.

• Doesn’t make my head spin trying to follow the logic.

• Says exactly what the author wants to say, giving full context instead of leaving me guessing what they mean, e.g. The red ball flew over the fence and knocked him off his bike vs The colored ball knocked him off the bike.

• Doesn’t ramble or repeat boring points.

• Includes examples I can relate to.

• Breaks down complex concepts using relatable metaphors or analogies

• Includes screenshots of in-app features they describe — they literally show, not tell.

• Tell me how to use a specific resource to do something — instead of just telling me what to do.

• Shared a novel idea, or coined a name for something I already knew 😅.

• Present a strong why that gets me to care about what they’re saying.

Here’s one example from my bookmark bar (shout out to dr. fio of Content Folks for sharing it with me!):

Snippet of Grow and Convert’s SaaS Content Strategy post

The author positions their idea as novel.

They tell me why I should care about this ‘novel’ idea.

I can literally see my SaaS business in the story. A hit and hit.

This email explains my LEMA framework for creating remarkable content that reads like your customer’s story.

The LEMA framework represents Logic, Explicitness, Memorability, and Actionability.

Tapping into logic allows you to create content that flows in a way that makes sense for your audience and their knowledge level. Infuse that with powerful examples, step-by-step tutorials, baked-in novelty, and writing that leaves nothing up to guesswork and you have a winner every time.

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1. Logic

Unrestrained, you could write 4k words about tomatoes.

• Whether they’re fruit or vegetable

• Their color

• Origin…

Logic restricts your scope so that you’re only writing what your audience needs to read, and in the order they need to read it.

It’s what structures and organizes your ideas, and holds your arguments together so that they’re persuasive.

It’s the precursor for Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive content aka thorough content void of those nagging repetitions you and I can’t stand.

When you make a point, what’s the next logical question that point raises? The what, why, how, when, where, and who…

Here’s an example:

Statement: You should read books. 

Logical question: Why?

Statement: Read books to expand your knowledge.

Logical question: How do books expand your knowledge?

To follow my target audience’s logic, I always ask 3 simple questions about them:

• What do they know?

• What do they want to know?

• What do they *need* to know?

The answers help me understand:

• Which concepts don’t need explaining (what they know)

• Which concepts to dwell on (what they want to know)

• Which concepts to position as novel (what they need to know)

Infuse logic from your headers down to your paragraphs if you want to keep readers on the page.

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2. Explicitness 

“What the heck are you trying to say?”

Explicitness helps to clearly and accurately convey the intended message to the reader.

😅😅

Compare the previous sentence to the paragraph below and tell me which you prefer.

Being specific helps the reader understand exactly what you mean — there’s no guessing. If you’re writing about Product Analytics, for example, and you want to talk about tools to use, instead of saying something like “use a tool that shows historical data”, explicitly say “use a tool like Mixpanel which shows historical data”.

An easier example:

❌ Create content that is easy to read.

✅ Create content with simple words people won’t google.

Explicitness helps the reader connect the dots, learning exactly what to do — rather than leaving with more questions.

As an added benefit, explicitness establishes your credibility and authority because you can’t make specific stuff up.

If you’re stuck, ask “what am I trying to say here?”. 

Answer. Then probe your answer until you’re satisfied.

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3. Memorability 

Novelty is memorable.

Coined concepts, for example. You’re likely on this list because of the LEMA framework.

But it’s nothing new, it’s just four letters packaged with conviction and persuasion, and positioned as new.

• The Skyscraper Technique

• Product-Led Content

• Pain-Point SEO

All these frameworks that shook/shake the industry share nothing new.

And it doesn’t have to be a coined concept either. Here’s something more powerful: conviction. Conviction is polarizing, but it’s also what reaches down into the reader’s mind and persuades them to think of your content as really good.

3.1 Novelty is memorable, but so is relatability.

If people can remember what you’ve shared, it means they found it interesting, understood it, or related to it. 

• Screenshots and graphics describe concepts in ways words can’t 

• Analogies draw parallels with familiar concepts

• Examples aid understanding with context 

I use them in my work as follows:

• Screenshots to show what in-app steps look like

• Examples to describe what a concept would look like in real life

• Analogies to introduce readers to more advanced concepts

• Custom graphics to map concepts

Here’s an example from my work for Float:

Write with conviction and include hard-to-replicate assets (yes, relatable examples drawn from authentic experiences are hard-to-replicate assets).

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4. Actionability

People read content because they want to do something. Your job is to make them do that thing so they can get results and remember you as the hero.

You inspire action when your content leaves users with an understanding of exactly:

• What their transformation could look like.

• What they need to do to achieve that transformation.

• How they need to do those things.

• And what tools they need to do them.

In this email for example. I start with the transformation you’ll experience with remarkable content — premium brand recognition that makes people skip your competitors’ content to click on yours.

I tell you to create content that is logical, explicit, memorable, and actionable to achieve that transformation.

And because this email is getting too long now, I’m going to save the how, and the resources for part 2 (the next email). 😅

For now, please hit reply and let me know if you found this helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Lily

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Coming Next: Building systems to create remarkable content at scale — part 2.

Want to create remarkable content for your brand in 2023? Let’s explore working together!