CHOP CHOP!
We’ve heard how we should strive for quality over quantity since we were children, and while we’d mostly agree, our mind plays tricks on us.
When we write a blog post, or a sales brochure, or a case study, or whatever other content we’re creating to support our efforts, we tend to feel that if it’s longer, then it feels more…professional, worthwhile, exclusive, thorough, involved, and possibly will do the job of converting the reader…better.
It could be that we see the length as a representation that ALL the information is within, so we’d be answering every question from a user, and taking care of their signal or noises at once. Or perhaps we feel that because of the extra effort and length, it means we did a better job, and so no matter the results…we’re prouder of ourselves.
But…that’s not how we make our own decisions or select our reading material.
We may be amazed at the extreme length of a certain eBook, but we won’t choose it due to its length. We may wish to have a definitive guide handy for all the information, yet we’d prefer to actually read a summary, get a recap, or have a checklist handy for our actual day-to-day work.
And so will our audience prefer we don’t make them read and easily tell them What’s In It For Them. I mean, if you try walking in their shoes, you’d also appreciate getting the gist of the information quicker…even if to understand that it isn’t for you in the first place.
So go ahead and write that paper, get started with it, and then get it better by writing it all, and then edit to keep only the really important stuff that will help simplify your value, so you can multiply your results.
…and then edit some more.