Think about the last time you met a great sales person. How about the last great public speaker you saw… or a memorable conversation that left you engaged for hours later. Everyone can pinpoint a few of these individuals; people who can get their message across in a way that conveys meaning and imagery extending infinitely deeper than the individual words they chose to use.
Communicate
Case in point I had the pleasure of seeing some excellent speakers yesterday (Seth Godin, Mitch Joel and Dan Heath). Their messages stay with me, and yet I can’t remember a single individual word they said. I’m left inspired and thinking about big ideas; not because they flashed a sophisticated vocabulary, or read from a perfectly crafted script (or overly produced powerpoint slides) – but rather they conveyed trust, authenticity and incredible value based on their ability to communicate.
It’s not just speaking
Certainly, public speaking is a venue where establishing trust and hooking into an audience through authentic communication is necessary for a message to be properly delivered. The same is true of delivering any sort of presentation or inspiring a team of co-workers or employees in a meeting. Having a message that makes sense and resonates at a human level is infinitely more important than using insider jargon and fluffy business metaphors.
But this concept extends well beyond speaking, and weaves its way through any marketing material that uses language to convey meaning.
It’s always tempting to craft artful prose in a style that convincingly and unequivocally establishes the justification, not simply for the mere existence of the incredible product or undeniable service that your firm delivers, but, as well, for the sheer brilliance of your offering that renders it a life changing and truly universe altering experience.
Huh?
Or you can write things that make sense.
Take your audience into account
You may have all afternoon to slave over your web or brochure copy, and weeks to tweak, modify, proofread and publish. You might have the budget to trademark your fancy acronyms and establish funny names for your service to differentiate it from your competitors.
Your audience has a few seconds to find you… while cradling a phone to their ear, listening to regrettable hold music, organizing how to get their kid to soccer practice, and figuring out what they’re going to eat for lunch.
As your potential audience punches their question into a search engine, ask yourself – will they be searching for aspirational, life-changing copy – or are they searching for what they need… your stuff, in common language. Do they want your product to be differentiated using your fancy, made up names… or are they comparison shopping between several vendors, looking for similar specs to make an informed purchasing decision?
If they find your information, will they be able to quickly understand it. Can your flowery prose be broken down into quickly digestible chunks of information? What is the average reading level of your customer base? Not sure? The American average level has been reported as being as low as 7th-8th grade.
Remember, what you think sounds amazing and undeniable, might simply be confusing and unintelligible to the world that lives outside of your marketing fishbowl. The video below says it all – are you communicating, or simply making stuff that sounds good?
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