Speak little, say much, get heard

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead” wrote Mark Twain. However, modern day’s business communication has to be more than short, it needs to be instant.

Consumers have lost what little patience they might have once had. We all expect, if not demand, instant gratification. Whether that is information, entertainment or some personal gratification it had better be instant or I’ll change channels. Hence long copy and insane sales text’s will switch someone off and not on. Of course, if we want further information it should be there, but not at the loss of key communication.

We teach clients that the initial 10% of any communication will define whether the visitor clicks and reads further, or not. Therefore this message has to be all about the visitor’s ‘pain factor’ and what they’re trying to find by being on your website or looking at your marketing.

The next 50% is supportive information justifying their trust that what you have is what they are after. Again this has to be short, to the point and helpful. The last 40% is critical. Where you can write long copies and spend hours ensuring the grammar is correct, even though the most part may probably not even be read. It’s this stuff; articles, white papers, case studies, technical data, product specs, etc that the visitor likes to see. Purely as it is gives further support that you actually know what you are talking about. How could you possibly have written all of that stuff if you didn’t know what you are talking about? However will anyone actually read it apart from a seriously sad person? Probably not, it’s too long!

As George Orwell writes in his essay Politics and the English Language “Probably it is best to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meaning as clear as one can through pictures and sensations. Afterwards one can choose – not simply accept – the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impression one’s words are likely to make on another person”.

This means that you must take time writing and rewriting your business communication. Say in two words what others are saying in 20. Employ a copywriter they are worth every penny. Yes you may have English ‘O’ level (showing my age) and be very good at brain dumping stuff onto a page. However, a good copywriter will break down what you’ve written and hopefully write it in half the words.

For instance this article may have just read ‘People have no patience to read long articles so focus on reducing it… will lead to more sales’. Hmmm, maybe I should get a job as a copywriter.

Where could you tighten your key business communication and shorten it? You never know someone might actually read it.