Kill all your darlings... Brevity as the New Clarity

ur Brains are Full

We're overwhelmed.

We have decision fatigue.

Our days are long and there are endless demands on our time.

Sales and Marketing copy is challenging to write, even when you are trained for it. This is the Information Age and there is just so very much of it.

Public Speakers learn the lesson of Brevity or they never reach the big stages and the top fees.

One of our dead presidents, Woodrow Wilson is credited with popularizing the 10 minute speech.

"If I Am To Speak Ten Minutes, I Need a Week for Preparation;

If an Hour, I Am Ready Now"

The above quote is attributed to President Wilson. Although it is also credited to Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain.

There is a lot of Truth in the quote.

If you really want your audience to understand something, it must be short and direct.

What is our capacity to remember?

I won't embarrass any of us with the stats.

Our Brains are full and overworked.

If you want people to remember something, go for their hearts. Activate their senses. Motivate and Inspire them.

Tall order, right?

So, "kill all your darlings?"

Another saying attributed to many but popularized most recently by Anne Lamott.

She uses it in many contexts but I heard her teach this concept for editing. The hardest thing for a writer to do is AXE their own words.

And, if it moves you away from clarity... Get out the axe.

I worked with a PhD a few years ago, a Rocket Scientist turned Health Care app builder. When we started working on his About Section things became really intense.

Academia is NOT about Brevity. He LOVED all of his published papers, CVs, Formal Bios, etc. He gave me over 10,000 words and tasked me with writing his About Section.

2600 characters, including spaces.

Yikes, that was challenging. But he loved the end result.

It broke his brain to even consider the task. He wanted to pull out the essence of who he was, what he had to offer and what he was trying to do (fix the Health Care System).

Clarity Converts

And, Brevity is the New Clarity

What does someone experience when they read your About Section?

If is isn't crystal clear and client-focused, why would they work with you?

Who do you serve?

What problem do you solve?

What differentiates you?

I 100% understand that the Digital Platform is a challenging place to write for. "But Angela, I have 4 Target Audiences."

Write separate copy for each audience. They'll figure out if it's for them - or not.

One of Einstein's most famous quotes is -

“If you can't explain it to a 6-year-old, you don't understand it yourself.”

Go ask your best clients. They know what you do.

Too many words will drive your prospects away and inspire them never to return.

All those features you want to tell them about? Axe them.

How you do what you do? Axe it.

Good copy focuses on the benefit. What will your client be able to do once they've worked with you?

What problem are you going to solve for them?

How much money are you going to save them, make for them?

Kill all the things you want to talk about and start focusing on what your clients are interested in.

until next time...

Angela

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Angela calls herself The “Accidental Entrepreneur,” having moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with her shiny new MBA and dreams of being a CMO. Instead, she started her own business. Angela is the #LinkedInBadass sharing her expertise in Business Development, Professional Branding, Visibility & Optimization on LinkedIn. Without a website, she built her entire vibrant business using free LinkedIn! She is a former Rock Climbing Guide and lives in Marin where the hiking and the weather are fabulous. Being from Wisconsin, she is a diehard Packer Fan and shareholder. ???? #10 LOVE