I enjoy narratives, explanations, details, wordsmithing, and the subtleties of the English language. I am a natural writer and I am also a natural reader. Sadly, that puts me in about 6.85% [an invented and unreliable statistic] of the populace of the English-speaking nations. I must discipline myself to distinguish between the art of writing and the art of communications. Hence, this article.
Effective messaging requires maximizing impact in minimal time. This means a employing a tremendous economy with words, reduction of narrative, breaking things down into sharp, brain-piercing pieces, and either providing numbered lists or bulletized lists. These later are preferred.
Here are the facts, and what to do about them:
1. Today’s reader is riddled with information hitting us from every side.
2. Traditional and online media assault our senses to the point of sensory shutdown.
3. Consequently, today’s reader is strongly attracted to numbered lists.
4. A numbered list promises a starting point, a conclusion, and milestones along the way.
5. A numbered list contains the fewest possible words.
6. A numbered list feels memorable, portable and doable.
7. A reader who would have glanced at your headline and then moved on will often give your message a second look when they see a numbered list.
8. Information in paragraphs feels casual and intimate.
9. Information in a numbered list feels authoritative and useful.
9. Information in a numbered list feels authoritative and useful.
I wish that I could tell you more, but then, I'll simply make you forget about the significance of what you've just read.
Douglas E. Castle for The Sending Signals Blog and the Mad Marketing Tactics Blog.
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