Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

21Keep It Simple—but Not Simplistic

Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.

—Woody Guthrie

Business—like life—can be complicated. Products can be intricate and concepts may seem impenetrable. But good content deconstructs the complex to make it easily understood: It sheds the corporate Frankenspeak. It conveys things in concise, human, accessible terms.

A bit of wisdom from my journalism days: No one will ever complain that you've made things too simple to understand. Of course, simple does not equal dumbed down. Another gem from my journalism professors: Assume the reader knows nothing. But don't assume the reader is stupid.

If you think your business-to-business concept is too complex to be conveyed simply, take a look at the very first line of the Economist's style guide (www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction): “The first requirement of The Economist is that it should be readily understandable. Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.”

Here's where the marketing department can really help add value in a business context, because simple means making it easy for the customer. It means being the customer's advocate. As Boston-based content strategist Georgy Cohen writes (in the context of creating website content), “The marketer should be identifying (and ruthlessly refining) the core messages and the top goals, then working with the Web professionals to ...