The Curse of Knowledge.

Have you ever read something in full only to realize you have?no idea what it said?? ?

"Our end-to-end, vertically integrated SaaS platform facilitates seamless omnichannel orchestration, enabling organizations to optimize customer engagement through dynamic, real-time data synchronization." ?

For many B2B brands, especially technical ones, this isn’t just an accident, it’s a pattern. The deeper you are in your expertise, the harder it becomes to communicate it in a way that others actually understand quickly.

This is the?Curse of Knowledge.

"When complexity is all you know, it’s easy to think that’s what everyone knows, too." —?Me.

When Expertise Becomes the Barrier

In his book,?Simple Marketing for Smart People, Billy Broas highlights how experts often struggle to communicate effectively with their audience because they assume they share their level of understanding. This leads to complexity that alienates potential prospects instead of attracting them.

Your prospects don’t have the same context, experience, or insider knowledge you do. But if your messaging assumes they do, you’re unintentionally pushing them away.

Clarity > Complexity

Technical depth and industry jargon don't necessarily signal authority. The reality is they often create barriers. If your audience has to work too hard to understand what you’re saying, they won’t stick around.

Unclear messaging creates complexity. And complexity kills understanding.

Shift the Perspective The key to breaking the Curse of Knowledge??

Meet your audience where they are.

1. Simplify Your Message: Strip away unnecessary jargon and focus on the core benefits of your offering.
2. Understand Your Audience: Research and empathize with your customers to tailor your communication to their level of understanding.
3. Educate Thoughtfully: Provide information that builds the necessary beliefs in your audience, guiding them to see the value in what you offer.

By aligning your messaging with the customer's perspective, you create a more engaging and effective communication strategy.

Take our complex example above. If we wanted to make it easier to understand we might say something like:

"Our software helps you reach customers anywhere by syncing data and automating tasks."?

Or if we wanted to distill it down even further:

"Reach more customers, automatically."

In a crowded market, clarity?wins. Clarity makes it effortless for prospects to see the value they provide.

So, break the curse.

Get out of your own way.

Make clarity your competitive advantage.

Sláinte, ?

Eric

Marjoram ?

Three ways I can help your B2B brand:

1. Reality Check: Get a fresh perspective on how your brand is really seen.—using existing resources like sales materials, website, and any available customer interactions.?
2. Message Framing:?Clarify your story. Highlight your value. Stand out and get noticed.
3. Website Reframing:?Turn your website into a lead-generation machine—without starting from scratch.

Not sure where to start? Let’s figure it out together:?Book a free consultation.