Smart Brevity

Suggested by careercutler: everything you wish you could ask. Priority: I want to see how to communicate briefly and efficiently. Direct and brief, straight to the point, but a bit too promotional; the tone did not fully land for me, and I skimmed the end. In short, be brief. People do not have time

Very focused on capturing attention, especially in emails and headlines, with clickbaity techniques. Nothing wrong with that but make sure to use it in the right context.

Notes

• Delete! Before hitting “send”, try to delete even 50% if you can.
• Use BLUF (Bottom line up front). Give the main takeaway first. Context after.
• Make the “why” clear. You need to tell your reader why they should read the rest.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Authority → Be the expert, or find one. Brevity → Stay short, not shallow. Humanity → Write like you speak. Clarity → Style text for impact.

Intro

THE BOTTOM LINE: All of us confront an epic challenge: How do you get anyone to pay attention to anything that matters in this mess? OUR ANSWER: Adapt to how people consume content, not how you wish they did or how they did once upon a time. Then, change how you communicate, immediately. You can do this quickly by adopting Smart Brevity.

Do more with less, go straight to the point and stand out from the ocean of noise.

The core

Structure is

• A muscular tease (clickbait) for the title
• One strong first sentence, a “lead”
• Why it matters (the key!)
• The choice to learn more, go deeper

Tease BEFORE Hey, there are some new plans for the weekend to discuss re: birthday party AFTER New plan: trampoline park First Sentence BEFORE Sorry for the late change of plans but there has been so much chaos in pulling Jimmy’s party together, especially with the weather this past week. The good news is we found a place to take all of the kids, that new trampoline park. We will do this Saturday at noon. AFTER We’re moving Jimmy’s party to the new trampoline park this Saturday at noon. Why It Matters BEFORE The only hitch is it’s a little farther than we originally planned. The first spot we were looking at was a 30-minute drive, but the trampoline park has a lot more space, so we picked it even though it’s about 40 minutes away. Just flagging for planning purposes. AFTER It’s about a 40-minute drive, so you might need to leave a little earlier than we first thought. Go Deeper BEFORE The place is located at 1100 Wilson Street by that sushi restaurant we visited that had those awesome spider rolls. Ha ha. It starts at noon, and our session ends at 4 pm. Feel free to stay or go since we have the instructor and we will serve lunch and drinks. I will stay and read or worry. They should dress to play! Shorts and shirts, oh and socks required … see you soon and sorry again. AFTER • Arrive @ noon, 1100 Wilson Street. • Pizza & drinks provided. • Pick up kids @ 4 pm. • Dress to play. Socks REQUIRED. EXAMPLE #2 Tease BEFORE Board of Directors Update AFTER We wowed our Board First Sentence BEFORE We presented on our progress toward our go-to-market plan in our most recent Board of Directors meeting, Wednesday, including strong product sales over the last quarter within the scope of our beta test. We were able to “wow” the Board with a report including a 12 percent jump in revenue over the last quarter, which puts us an extraordinary 90 percent of the way to our overall goal for the second half. AFTER We stunned the Board Wednesday with Q3’s 12% revenue jump, putting us 90% to goal for H2. Why It Matters BEFORE Strong product sales will allow us to increase investment in key early growth opportunities across tech and marketing. We’re updating the second-half roadmap with big investments in the tech team, particularly on the machine learning squad, marketing, to support Ava’s team with our new pitch and positioning, and in some exciting new collaborations with firms doing work where we don’t have internal capacity but do have a strategic need to add expertise. AFTER Higher revenue means we can invest in two areas that will speed up our go-to-market plan by months. • New hires: We can add key machine learning roles on the tech and marketing teams. • Partnerships: We’ll finalize two deals to expand our skills and strategic thinking. Go Deeper BEFORE If you haven’t taken time to review Ava’s new pitch and positioning documents, we encourage everyone to do so. The new talking points went through a lot of testing with focus groups and reflect our best argument to date on why our solution is the best in the industry. AFTER Our product speaks for itself, but it was Ava’s new pitch, tested over three weeks of focus groups, that got it into customers’ hands. • Please review Ava’s materials on the intranet

The road to Smart Brevity

They discovered that no one was reading their thousand words on newspaper: Roughly 5 percent said they valued longer stories the most. Listen to the customer and data, not the voice inside your head. If they read 200 words, let’s give them the best 200 words.

Audience first

If you try to speak to everyone, usually you reach no one. Singling out the person you want to reach clarifies things big-time. We hide our insecurity in additional words: Your message is lost, your sincerity is in question and your competence gives me pause, because you’re all over the place

• Focus on ONE person you are targeting.
• Plot out ONE thing you want them to remember.
• Then write it down.
• And stop. Tip: Talk to someone else (or yourself - no one will know) about the point you want to make

Be worthy

The typical person spends just 26 seconds on a story or update. He calls it “time on text.” The rest is wasted.

In a world full of noise, people reward you if you respect their time and intelligence. This truth is universal. The opposite is true too: They find you annoying if you chew up their time.

Do a real gut check. Is this point or detail or concept essential? If so, is there a simpler way to convey it?

Grab me!

Focus on headlines: first 6 words (enough for a phone) are the key for grabbing attention:

• In 10 words or less, write the reason you’re bothering to write something in the first place.
• Write it in the most provocative yet accurate way possible.
• Short words are strong words. A general rule: A one-syllable word is stronger than a two-syllable word is stronger than a three- syllable word.
• Strong words are better than soft and soggy ones.
• Active verbs ALWAYS.

One big thing

Pick up only one thing people should know, and do it in ONE sentence. People when read are thinking

• WTH is this
• Is it worth my time? So, skip all the anecdotes and useless wording and just go straight to the point. and then ask If this is the ONLY thing the person sees or hears, is it exactly what you want to stick?

And then if there is a problem immediately provide your next step.

WHY IT MATTERS is the strongest one

Emojis

What’s more minimal than emojis? A sentiment in one character. They can stand out in the inbox and, if used sparingly, can convey your message and catch the attention

Mike’s Tips & Tricks

You choose the ingredients, not the readers. So show them in the right order and with the right tools

Being selfless is selfishly beneficial → if you are picky, people will know that what you say matters

The art of the newsletters

Some sparse advice, I think the best are: max 1000 words and 200 for item, start big, add personal touch and end funny. Also, opening rates are higher in the morning and you should send updates on Monday

The art of the speeches

Some simple tips: anyway keep it short obviously, your objective is to not fail

1. Win before you begin → don’t copy others, attention must be on you
2. Remember your audience → you will be lucky if they will remember one point, they will mostly check their phone. BUT, try to make it short and fun, like if you run into a neighbor, that’s the length
3. Distill your point in ONE SHORT SENTENCE
4. Hit them over their head with your point (“The one thing I want you to remember today is . . “)
5. Use the “why it matters” and confirm it with a couple of stories

The art of social media

You have even less time, a blink of an eye to catch attention. Catchy titles, emoji, catchphrases. Keep it short. Also images should be kept minimal!