Easy. Why simplicity in your marketing message is a sign of strength, not laziness.
There’s a temptation, particularly for experts, to demonstrate their expertise through complexity. To use the language of their industry. To layer in the subtlety, the technical detail, the caveats and qualifications that show how thoroughly they understand their subject.
Effort is the enemy of engagement #
The reader doesn’t experience this as expertise. They experience it as effort. And effort is the enemy of engagement.
People are busy. They are processing enormous amounts of information every single day — emails, social posts, news, notifications, conversations. When your message arrives, it has a fraction of a second to signal whether it’s worth their attention or not. A message that requires work to decode rarely passes that test.
Make messaging easy #
The answer is disarmingly simple: make it easy.
Easy to read. Easy to understand. Easy to act on. Easy to reply to.
This doesn’t mean dumbing down. It means respecting your reader’s time enough to do the hard work of simplification on their behalf. The clearest communicators are almost always the deepest thinkers — they’ve simply taken the extra step of translating their thinking into language that lands without friction.
Jargon is the most common culprit. Every industry has its own vocabulary, and that vocabulary is useful internally. Externally, it creates distance. It signals that you’re speaking to yourself rather than to your reader. The moment someone has to look something up or ask what you mean, you’ve lost them.
Our trust account #
Stephen Covey described trust as an account. When the balance is high, communication becomes easy, instant, and effective. Simple, clear messaging is one of the most reliable ways to build that balance — because clarity signals confidence, and confidence builds trust.
Make it easy. For them, and for yourself.
“When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant and effective.” — Stephen R. Covey
Thank you for reading.
PS: I create small, digestible guides on Gumroad for business owners who hate aggressive tactics and prefer relationship-led approaches. New resources are added regularly. For longer reads on lead generation and the human side of sales, follow me on Medium and join the daily conversation on LinkedIn.
Please see the links below:
Gumroad: https://richardbulldomican.gumroad.com/
Medium: https://medium.com/@richard-bulldomican
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardbulldomican/
