13 responses to ‘dumbing-down’ writing

The most common objection my clients make to clear, concise writing is that making stuff easy to understand is dumbing down.

The question fellow writers ask me most often is “how do I persuade my clients being clear and concise isn’t dumbing down?”

Here’s what I tell them:

1. No one will ever complain that a piece of writing’s too easy to read

I’ve written for derivatives experts, lawyers, economists, Cambridge academics.

Not one of them has ever said: “Gee, I wish I’d had to concentrate more when reading that.”

2. In the words of leading junk mail writer, Andy Maslen: There’s no such thing as B2B-lish

Here’s why. Take a look at this list of just some of the things a non-business type would rather do than read your copy:

And here’s a list of things a busy executive would rather do:

Yep, you’ve got it. Business people are no different from the rest of us. So, talk to them as you’d talk to me.