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How simple should our writing be when creating marketing communications? Here is a back issue of Marketing Booster, the email newsletter that Richard Groom writes and sends free every fortnight to subscribers. You can subscribe here or read over 60 back issues using the back issues index page. In this issue, I've decided to throw down my thoughts about an issue that crops up on many of the writing projects I carry out for clients. The issue is this: should we teach granny to suck eggs? In other words: " How technical should our writing be? " What level of knowledge should we assume our readers have? " To what extent do we need to spell out the background information in our marketing materials? More often than not, people err on the side on NOT including basic, simple background information in their marketing materials. They are worried about patronising their readers and they don't want to 'teach granny to suck eggs'. I understand their point of view. You certainly need to consider your target audience's knowledge of the subject and write accordingly. But consider a recent purchase I made. I bought a new guitar. It's the seventh one I own and probably the thirtieth I have bought over the years. Before I decided which one to buy, I read a lot of magazines, web sites and brochures. I phoned and visited music shops. Along the way, I read or was told a lot of information. I probably already knew 80% of it, because I've been into guitars for years. But by and large, I didn't mind getting information that I already knew. In fact, I hardly noticed it was happening. Sure, when I was talking to people in shops it bugged me that they didn't try to find out my level of knowledge before explaining the models on sale. But when the information was in writing, I just skipped over the stuff I knew to reach the stuff I didn't. Or I read through the familiar information anyway. So although it sounds OK to adopt 'don't teach granny to suck eggs' as a core theory, my real-life experience suggests that it's not as simple as that. It raises the possibility that your readers won't necessarily mind reading information they already know. They might just be patient enough to seek out the new information. Because most people scan-read before getting into the detail, well written material with clear sections and headings will quickly steer people to the information they are looking for. And of course, the obvious danger of pitching material at too high a level of understanding is that you alienate and confuse people who might be genuinely interested in the simple background information. Copyright 2003 Richard Groom |