If you live in New York, you’re probably a frequent rider of the subway.
For someone who’s never been on the subway before, it’s easy to find it difficult.
Especially when you have to transfer between multiple trains to reach your destination.
First, you’ve got to check the map.
Then you have to figure out the route.
After you reach the first transfer point, you need to find the next train.
Difficult.
But what if you only needed to take one train?
It’d be a lot simpler, right? So why do we always try to put our audience on several trains? It’s no wonder our content doesn’t work as well as we’d like.
It’s time to pull the emergency stop.
Stop trying to cram everything into your emails, blog posts, articles, or whatever else. Make it easy for people to respond.
I’m not saying you should dumb things down.
What I am saying is:
1. People are busy
2. It’s easier to respond to one thing, than it is to respond to five.
For example…
Let’s say you send an email to someone with a bunch of questions — what’s in the reply? Usually, the answer to one, maybe two questions. It’s usually the answer to last question. Why is that?
It’s because the reader is remembering the last thing they read and forgetting about the rest of the stuff. If they make it to the end. What would happen if you focused on one thing?
One thing makes it easier to respond.
Too many thoughts equals too many trains to ride. We know how difficult that can get. By sticking to one thing at a time, we can focus on that one thing in-depth. Then guess what happens?
By the end of your content, the reader has something they can take away. Something they can remember. Maybe it’s an idea or concept they can share. Maybe it’s and action you want them to take.
One train gets you to your destination without difficulty.
You’ll notice something else too. Your content is more focused. You’re not all over the place talking about this or that. If it’s easier for you to stay focused when you’re writing — yep, it’s easier for your audience as well.
Too many trains makes it difficult for people to respond.
Simplify your content with this one-train concept. This allows you to be detailed and focused. It makes it easier for your reader to take something away from your content. You also don’t have to worry about people getting lost on the subway.
Here’s what you can do now:
Take a look at a piece of content. Do you talk about multiple thoughts at once? Break ’em up and write about each thought separately.
Still unsure?
Let’s test it. What one thing was this article about? If you know, share the post. 😉
Hey Dave—I think this is very valuable information! Thanks for sharing.
My question is–what about email newsletters? I send out a monthly newsletter (have only done 3 so far–the month of Nov, Dec, and Jan) where I dont interact with people as much? Would you suggest still only having one topic in my newsletters? or would you maybe suggest sending more newsletters? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks for your time and for writing this post!
Thanks Alli.
I usually do suggest keeping newsletter to one topic and sending more frequently. But like most things in marketing its a “depends” answer. And that depends is usually who is your audience and what are you trying to achieve? Once you answer those questions it gets easier to make the right decisions. Who knows? The right answer for you may be to send a digest of information once a month.
But whenever there’s a specific action you want people to take I’ve found it best to stick to one thing.
Hope that helps.
Good premise for the article and sound advice. However, I think you broke your own rule.
The suggestion is that we should only have one thing to focus on and also just one action, otherwise we get confused. I agree with all of that wholeheartedly.
But at the end of the article you ask us to do two things:
1. Take a look at past blogs, articles, emails, whatever……
2. You then pose the question “Have you ever felt overwhelmed by too many trains of thought?”
Surely it should be one or the other, not both…….
Just goes to show, sticking to one can be hard in practice….
Phil, thanks for the comment. And right you are. Looks like I’m going to have to modify that ending a bit. Thanks for pointing it out. 🙂
No problem, it is a very easy thing to do – I know I am guilty at times too.