3 Quick Ways To Expand A Tip (And Upgrade Your Advice Into An Article)

Ahoy Digital Writers!

Today, I’m going to show you how to expand your “niche tips” so every piece of advice you share is 10X easier for the reader to apply.

Here’s the thing:

A tip without context is like a key without a label.

It has potential, but without knowing which door it opens, your reader wanders around aimlessly trying every lock in sight. Context provides the label for the key, guiding the reader to the right door and saving them time and effort by making the tip immediately actionable.

And when your reader knows what to do and they can see how it benefits them it makes the writing more valuable to them.

So, here are 3 simple ways to effortlessly expand any tip (with or without AI) and how you can assemble them together into an article with a single prompt.

Tip Expansion #1: Benefits

Before sharing any tip, ask, "What's in it for the reader?"

Start by spelling out the benefits. Why should your reader care? Benefits transform generic advice into something your reader can see improving their life.

For example, if you're advising writers to outline before they write, you’ll want to explain that outlining can cut their writing time in half because they won't face the dreaded mid-article "What comes next?" panic. Ultimately, you are making their writing process faster, less stressful, and more enjoyable.

The mistake writers make is assuming the value of a tip is known and, therefore, unnecessary to explain.

So, they skip right over the benefits.

Even if it is common wisdom, like "outlining helps you clarify your thoughts," it's still helpful for the reader because it reinforces the point and helps them "see" the benefits, which compels them to buy into your advice.

Look at any piece of writing you've bookmarked. The articles, tips, and stories you save are a mirror. They reflect your desire for improvement. Why do you think you've saved all those fitness posts? They help you reap the benefits of living a healthy life.

Always expand a tip with benefits.

If you want a quick way to write a section that explains the benefits of your advice, then give this AI prompt a try. (It’s exactly how I wrote this section using Claude. But this will work with ChatGPT too.)

To show you how this works, let’s expand each of the tips from one the 7 short-form pieces of content we created in the HBR 30 Elements Of Value Pyramid post.

Benefit Expander Prompt: