5 steps to reduce your content

As a business owner, you LOVE what you do. You breathe it. Every aspect is important to you – every little nook and cranny, every small detail.

BUT…. is all of it important to your customers too?

I often see businesses and organizations so excited about everything they’re doing, they want to tell everyone about all of it. They want to make sure to include every last detail and nuance so the customer fully understands just how awesome it all is.

The thing is, if everything is important and exciting, then nothing is important and exciting. And if you include all of it? Well, then it’s just plain overwhelming and your audience won’t read it.

So… how do you learn to trim it down?

How do you go from this…

…to this?

1. Start by laying it all out

Put it ALL in there, like I did in the first image above. When I was working with this client, we knew the final version was not going to include all of that text; but by laying it into the document, we could see our starting point. We could see just how much we needed to trim out in order for the pages to look like we envisioned.

2. Ask questions

Keep asking questions to determine what actually needs to be included. Questions like:

• WHY is this important to include?
• Does the AUDIENCE care about this? (Not, “Do I want to TELL the audience about this?”)
• Is all of this information necessary for this particular marketing piece? (Should some be shared at a different time, perhaps further in the onboarding process?)
• Are these details necessary for understanding the message, or can some be trimmed out?
• Will someone from my team be present when this marketing piece is being used? (Rather than including all of the information in written form, consider using bullet points and fill in details through a spoken explanation.)
• How can I say this with fewer words? (Can you shorten/simplify sentences? Use bullet points instead of paragraphs?)
• Can I tell this part of the story with a photo, image, or graphic?
• Would it make sense to direct them to a website for more information?

Intentionally asking these kinds of questions will help you think through your content, and you will bring focus to what’s really important.

3. Zoom out and look at it

Without reading the content, determine if the page/spread of pages looks interesting. Do this by asking yourself more questions:

• Is there enough white space, or is the content all jammed together?
• Are there headings to break up the content into sections?
• Does the layout make sense? Does it encourage the reader to move their eyes from section to section in the order that you want them to?
• Is the font easy to read? (Read more about choosing fonts in this previous post about consistency in design.)
• Are the images interesting? Do they invite the reader in to read more about what the image is portraying?

4. Get an opinion or two

Have someone outside of your organization take a look at it. You want it to be someone who doesn’t know your product or service well; preferably someone in your target market, but that may not be necessary. Explain the context in which the piece will be used (mailed out, used in initial consultations with clients, etc.), then get their feedback.

• Does it look good?
• Does it make sense?
• Do you know where to go if you want more information?
• Do you know what you’re supposed to do next?
• Is there anything missing?
• Is there anything you don’t like?

5. Final product

That’s it! Being mindful during the content development and design process will result in a piece that engages your audience and helps them fully understand your story. Sharing in manageable pieces (rather than excitedly telling them everything in one breath) will make them WANT to come on your journey with you.

It’s how you get from here:

to here:

cover photo by pixabay.com user: janeb13