The brutal truth: You lose readers in 8 seconds with weak writing.
With shortening attention spans, every word must earn its place.
7 proven techniques to make your message impossible to ignore:
1/ Front-load what matters
↳Put your most important point in the first sentence.
↳Follow with 'why this matters' immediately.
↳Skip the warm-up - get straight to the point.
2/ Embrace white space
↳Break long paragraphs into digestible chunks.
↳Use bullets and short sections to guide the eye.
↳Give your key points room to breathe.
3/ Edit, ruthlessly
↳Remove redundant words and phrases.
↳Cut unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.
↳If a sentence doesn't add value, delete it.
4/ Think like your reader
↳Answer 'Why should I care?' early.
↳Focus on what your audience needs to know.
↳Make every word earn its place.
5/ Use action words
↳Replace passive voice with active verbs.
↳Choose strong, specific words over weak, vague ones.
↳Make your writing dynamic and engaging.
6/ Master the format
↳Use headlines that tell the story.
↳Keep paragraphs to 2-3 sentences max.
↳End with clear takeaways or next steps.
7/ Optimize for scanning
↳Embrace formatting for key points.
↳Break up content with subheads.
↳Make it easy to get value at a glance.
These insights are inspired by "Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less" by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz, and brought to you by Omar's Desk.
PS: Brevity isn't about saying less but being remembered more.
