Idea: Be Brief, No Matter How Long It Takes

For centuries, series of great thinkers have created their own versions of this truth:

“It takes far more time and effort to
be short and precise than
to be verbose and confusing.”

Here’s a partial list of those who have said it various ways: Blaise Pascal, John Locke, Martin Luther, Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, Woodrow Wilson and Mark Twain. We could go on, but we took them at their words and edited out about a dozen more.

Bottom Line: If you want customers to understand what you’re saying, start devoting more and more time to writing fewer and fewer words.

The Idea Email is distributed free, once every two weeks, by Hammock, the customer media and content marketing company. Please share this with friends and colleagues who can subscribe here. We respect your privacy, and each mailing includes a one-click unsubscribe link. We typically feature one or more companies and organizations in each Idea Email. If any company we mention has a relationship to Hammock (as a current or former client, for example), we will include a disclosure.