Whenever I hear the phrase “more with less,” I remember a colleague years ago in a meeting grumbling, “You can never do more with less. You can only do less with less.”
While that is the case with budgets and FTEs, it’s also true that fewer words can have a bigger impact. That’s where Smart Brevity can help.
Why it matters
In an era of information overload, it’s more important than ever to communicate in a concise and impactful way. Smart Brevity, created by the founders of news outlet Axios, is the ability to convey complex ideas in a simple and straightforward manner, using language that is both easy to understand and persuasive.
Ways that Smart Brevity can help
- Increased attention and comprehension: When you use clear and concise language, your audience is more likely to pay attention to what you’re saying and understand your message.
- Improved communication and collaboration: Because it distills text to key points, Smart Brevity can help break down barriers and foster better communication and collaboration between team members, clients and other stakeholders.
- Enhanced credibility and influence: When you can articulate your ideas clearly and persuasively, your organization appears more knowledgeable and trustworthy.
- Increased productivity and efficiency: Most writers agree that it’s harder to write shorter than longer. But eventually, you’ll develop a cadence and need less time to write each article. Shorter word counts also translate into less time conducting interviews and research.
- Stronger impact and memorability: When you can convey your message in a concise and memorable way, it’s more likely to stick with your audience and have a lasting impact.
How Smart Brevity increased one team’s impact
In my capacity as a content director recently, I was charged with greatly increasing productivity and impact in a short time period among the members of a creative team. After team members read the Smart Brevity book and took a training course with Axios, I tasked them with immediately deploying its principles in content development. The result: increased efficiency, better audience engagement and enhanced brand recognition.
Here’s how we did it:
- Eliminating unnecessary details: Smart Brevity helped us identify and remove irrelevant information, ensuring our stories focused on the core message and resonated with the audience.
- Highlighting key moments: By concentrating on critical turning points and emotional peaks, we crafted narratives that were more engaging and memorable.
- Structuring the story: Smart Brevity’s emphasis on clear structure helped our team organize our stories effectively, leading the audience on a journey with a satisfying conclusion.
- Using active voice: By replacing passive voice with active voice, our stories became more dynamic and engaging, capturing the audience’s attention.
- Employing concise language: We replaced jargon and complex sentences with clear, concise language that everyone could understand, regardless of their background.
- Writing with vivid imagery: Smart Brevity encouraged us to incorporate vivid imagery and sensory details, making our stories more immersive and bringing them to life for audiences.
By boosting efficiency in writing, our team’s storytelling went from good to great, leading to supercharged productivity and impact. I encourage anyone who wants to improve the results of their storytelling to explore Smart Brevity and discover its transformative powers.
Hydrangea Studio 