Less is more or the more the better?
In our quest for effective communication, we often advocate for conciseness, following the principle ‘Less is more.’ However, over-simplification can sometimes lead to a lack of clarity and misunderstandings. The key lies in the value-content balance. Content that adds value to your audience is beneficial, but when it becomes information overload, it’s time to scale back. This article explores this delicate balance, offering three strategies to gauge when to elaborate and when to be succinct, ensuring your message is impactful yet clearLess is more or the more the better?
We often encourage our clients to be concise. Less is more! we say.
Yet, sometimes, some, take our advice to the extreme. Their communication becomes so concise that it loses clarity, which leads to misunderstandings.
So, when should we keep adding more content, and when does it become redundant?
The answer is in the value-content graph.
As long as the content adds value to your audience – the more the better!
As soon as more content becomes too much information – less is more!
The lesson is simple: when adding more content doesn’t add more value – This is where you stop!
How do we know at what point more content turns into too much information?
How much to say? When to stop?
Here are 3 ways to help you decide when content = value and when content = TMI:
- Be your own editor:
look at all you want to communicate and ask an important editing question: “What will happen if I don’t include this?”. How not sharing this data will impact my desired result? How is this data relevant to this audience? Will my message be clearly understood without this data? Your answer to these questions will tell you if you need to say less or more. - Apply the rule of 3:
The power of three. Three is the smallest number that creates a pattern. People remember patterns. You can find it everywhere in marketing slogans “just do it”, famous quotes Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered. Julius Caesar) and stories (goldilocks and the three bears).
So, if you are not sure how much to say, go for “the top 3 critical issues” or “the 3 most important…” or “3 things to remember…” it is an easy way for you to structure a message and easy to remember. - Leave them wanting more:
Instead of “data dumping” on your audience (Pushing information), why not simply ask them: “do you want to hear more?” Should I elaborate?” “Do you need clarification?”
Now leave it up to them to decide. If they ask for more (pulling information) then you know for certain that more information is valuable. Surely hearing “tell me more” is better than “move on”…
So as Walt Disney said “leave them wanting more” – keep it short and let them ask for more.
So here as well, I chose to share with you three valuable tips, if you would like clarification or to discuss this with me I’m inviting you to reach out to me 😉, I’d be happy to connect.
