When Writing, Should You Dumb It Down?

Of all the phrases I’ve encountered in my career, few frustrate me as much as “dumb it down.” I usually hear it as a command (“This is technical, so can you dumb it down for our customers?”) or a protest (“I don’t think I should have to dumb this down!”)

Both uses are offensive — and a clear sign that the speaker doesn’t understand human communication. In my experience, the phrase is most common among professionals and denizens of the corporate world’s C-level. It isn’t used by all of them — or even most of them — but by those who set themselves on a plateau above others.

Years back, I was working on a newsletter with an accountant whose own writing was as incomprehensible as the Internal Revenue Service Code. Yet he consistently resisted my efforts and those of his staff to rework his words so his firm’s clients would actually understand them. He didn’t want to dumb things down, because in his eyes, any simplification was an insult to his profession’s stature. As a result, his brilliant counsel was ignored and wasted because his clients just couldn’t grasp what he was advising.

When someone suggests that something needs to be “dumbed down,” he or she is actually insulting the audience for being less knowledgeable or less intelligent. The phrase demonstrates lack of empathy and respect for the customers, prospects, or other stakeholders who are the target (and who were apparently smart enough to choose your company).

Simply put, if people can’t understand what you’re trying to say, they can’t do what you want them to do. They can’t learn what you think they should know. Communicating with them at their level of understanding isn’t “dumbing down,” it’s being a kind, effective communicator.

Take the accountant I mentioned earlier. He’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve had the opportunity to work with, and his encyclopedic knowledge could help his clients minimize their tax burden and stay on the good side of the IRS. That’s why those clients hired his firm in the first place. Of course they don’t know as much about taxes as he does! That’s why people like us turn to people like him.

But he was far more interested in preserving the prestige of his profession than in actually sharing his knowledge. It’s a common malady among some professionals. Their first priority isn’t helping you; it’s ensuring that you’re appropriately awed and impressed with their superiority. That comes through loud and clear whenever they try to share information with mere mortals.

Compare Mr. Accountant to the automotive engineer who helped me explain a new gasketing approach to service technicians. Instead of providing a doctoral-level explanation of elasticity and similar properties, he reached into his desk, pulled out a rubber band, and explained how those properties worked. I understood immediately, and was able to convey his message to people who had never studied physics.

We’ve all had experience with skilled professionals who constantly adjust their own knowledge to the level of their audiences. We call them teachers. The average science teacher has amassed deep knowledge of her discipline, understanding extremely complex concepts at the graduate level. But when it comes time to explain those concepts to her classes — whether they’re juniors, seventh-graders, or grade-schoolers, she can’t use graduate-level language. She has to present the material at age- and developmentally appropriate levels.

Think of the best teachers you had in high school and college. I’m certain they were brilliant, but I’m just as certain that they never made you feel as though they were “dumbing down” their subject matter so you would understand it. That’s because they grasped that it was up to them to reach out to you at your level, not the other way around. In fact, they probably shared that material with you in a way that made you feel as though you were becoming smarter with each lesson. As your own knowledge increased, they gently added to the rigor to challenge you without overwhelming you.

You’re an expert in your chosen field. When it comes time to share what you know with people outside that field, remember your outstanding teachers and use their techniques as a model. Convey your information — whether it’s a new wrinkle in tax deductions, a caution resulting from a federal court decision, or a way to get more production out of a trusty veeblefetzer — at their level. And please wipe the phrase “dumbing down” from your vocabulary.

Scott Flood creates effective copy for companies and other organizations. To learn more, visit http://www.sfwriting.com, or read his blog at http://sfwriting.com/scotts-blog/ ©2016 Scott Flood All rights reserved.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Scott_Flood/96274

When Writing, Should You Dumb It Down?

Why Has Online Marketing Become So Powerful?

Offline marketing is great, but, if a business is to succeed these days, it has to embrace online marketing. It’s the process of promoting a business on the internet. It includes such strategies as email marketing, website design, social media, video marketing and search engine marketing.

Online marketing strategies have affected the business performance of both major brands, along with smaller businesses. So how has it become so powerful?

Your Customers Are Online

Regardless of whether you like it or not, your customers are on the internet. They look for service providers on the internet, they shop on the internet and they look at business websites. If you don’t have an online presence and you’re not doing any online marketing then you’re missing out on connecting with your customers.

Your Competitors Are Online

If your competition is using online marketing and you’re not, then they are probably getting your business. In order to be competitive and to let your audience not know that you exist and why you’re better than your competition, you need to be marketing on the internet.

You Don’t Have To Spend A Fortune

Offline marketing can be costly and takes time to set up. Online marketing is quicker and less expensive. You can promote your business on social media in a very cost effective and targeted manner. You can email your database whenever you want, for free. You can directly target your customers needs and wants with search engine marketing.

It’s Easier To Evaluate And Monitor

Online marketing can be tracked by using analytics that is just not possible with offline marketing. You can create unique pages to drive traffic to and see exactly where, when and what your prospects click on. You can also test and change tactics without increasing your expenses.

There Are Many Strategies

Different online marketing strategies work differently for different businesses and niches. For instance, content marketing is an effective way to deliver useful content to build trust with your target audience. There is no financial cost to content marketing but it does take time. In contrast, an online marketing strategy like pay-per-click advertising where you pay money to reach a certain target audience does cost money, but the results can be almost immediate.

It’s Not Just For Big Business

A small offline business can find it very difficult to compete against the big corporations in traditional offline media. However,a prospective customer can only look at one website at a time and, if you have the right online strategies in place, that website can easily be about your business.

Success in business is mostly about marketing, especially online. Great marketing can sell an average product but poor marketing cannot sell a great product. To learn more about building a successful online business you can get access to a FREE Online Business Marketing Video Series at http://www.jonallo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jon_Allo/1079948

Why Has Online Marketing Become So Powerful?

How to Make Money Online Fast In Today's Economy

Are you a victim of today’s economy, and in desperate need of a dependable income?

The need to learn how to make money online fast is all too common for many people today. There are several reasons why this issue resonates with so many.

These reasons include, job loss, paychecks too small to cover living expenses, the desire to spend more time with your family, the desire to be your own boss.

And maybe the most powerful reason of all is the desire to create the lifestyle of your dreams, based on financial independence.

Of course, there is a secret to making money online fast. And the secret is to have laser-like focus on your objective.

Bruce Lee summarized this “secret” in a powerful quote:

“The Successful Warrior is the Average Man, With Laser-like Focus.”

Notice that Bruce Lee did not say the “exceptional man.” He states clearly that the average person, meaning any man or woman can be a “successful warrior,” a successful online entrepreneur. All they need is laser-like focus.

So how Do You Achieve Laser-like Focus?

The starting point is to define your objective. Do you want to supplement your current paycheck? Do you want to spend more time with your family? Do you want to be your own boss? Or, do you want to create the lifestyle of your dreams?

You must answer these questions with complete honesty. After all, no one is listening. This is all in your private world.

A couple of these questions overlap a bit. However, it’s important that you answer them as you truly feel deep inside, because this will be the driving force that will propel you to success.

Once you’ve identified you true motive, you can do some research to identify a profitable business model that you can develop the laser-like focus on.

Profitable Business Model

Without a profitable business model you will fail online. This may sound harsh, but it’s true.

There are numerous profitable business models you can choose, such as Internet marketing (teaching people how to make money online), affiliate marketing, blogging, providing services, such as writing quality content for online entrepreneurs.

This last one is excellent for people who need immediate cash to cover bills, or to provide the limited working capital necessary to get an online business off the ground.

Educate Yourself

Once you have identified your profitable business model, you can research how best to educate yourself on your chosen business model. There are countless courses available online. Many of them are junk, which is often characterized by nonsense hype.

However, there are a number of reputable, successful online marketers who offer proven training courses in your chosen business model. Be very selective in your choice. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, 9 times of 10, it is.

Personal Business Coach

For your best chance at early success, get a successful, personal business coach. They don’t come cheap, but if you want to achieve success fast, this is the surest way I know.

An experienced personal business coach will save you time AND money in the long run, because they will guide you past many pitfalls and false starts. These are not only wasteful, but they can be heartbreaking. They may cause you to give up.

Are you beginning to see now how your laser-like focus can ensure your success making money online fast, not matter what your starting point is?

I confess, I am obsessed with traffic. That’s because after years of frustration trying to get traffic to my websites, I’ve discovered the power of some easy, time-tested methods for FREE, and low-cost traffic generation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Juan_A_Rademacher/1128355

How to Make Money Online Fast In Today's Economy

The Right Way To Begin Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is a lot like offline, traditional marketing. For example, when using online marketing, you can reach your customers through online banner advertisements instead of the conventional offline marketing methods like door to door selling. You can also run your online business website without any physical, brick and mortar presence at all. If you sell digital goods then there is also no overhead costs.

You can use online advertisements to hyper target your potential customers based on their gender and browsing habits and many other traits. This type of advertising gives the best bang for your bucks because your advertisements will only be shown to your targeted audience. If you advertised in a traditional newspaper, it may have 500,000 subscribers. You are paying your share to reach all of them. But your target audience may only be 1,000 of those people. It is far better for you to use online, targeted advertising where you are only paying to reach your target audience.

Your website will also be available to your customers 24×7 throughout the year and can be accessed by anyone around the globe. The e-commerce transactions will be carried out with the help of online payment systems. These payment systems are reliable, secure and convenient for your customers.

Do Your Research – Find what products are in demand. You can look for the top-selling items in Amazon.com or eBay.com. You can also compare the price of your product across the e-commerce websites in order to fix your profit margins. If it’s a digital product then your investment will also be less.

It’s a good practice to actually buy and test any product you are selling so you can accurately analyze the pro’s and con’s of the product. If the product meets your requirements, then you can write an honest review about it. If you did not do your research, then your recommendations would be flawed.

If possible test and analyze to see the frequency of the sales and also the refund rates of the products you are planning to sell. You should be able to find some online forums and boards related to the items you are selling. In this forums, you see what others are saying about these products and evaluate the demand of the item. If you are re-shipping a product after purchasing it offline, you should start small and then scale up your business as you begin to reap the profits. This helps to minimize losses.

You also need to do keyword research for the product you are selling. This will aid you in your advertising efforts. In the case of physical products, you can get additional sales by focusing on mistyped keywords. You would be surprised by the number of hits you will receive because somebody mistyped the product name! Instead of being sent to your competitors site – they end up at yours!

Check your competition – You should check on the competitors in the market you are looking to enter. You should never enter a hyper saturated market where a lot of sellers are trying to sell the same product. In such a market you will probably not survive without a huge expenditure in advertising dollars. Instead, look for a market where there are fewer competitors but high demand for the products. But beware! Having no competitors is also a bad sign.

Create Content – You need to create the right type of content for your audience. You should write a review of the product you bought or you can create a video that shows how to set up the product as well as its pros and cons. Load these videos to YouTube and link them to your website.

By creating the right quality content that complements your research, you should be able to sell your products with ease. Your reviews should be honest and, if possible, try to provide coupon codes to your customers so they can save money on the purchase. Once your customers trust your products, trust your reviews and trust you, then your content will get more likes and shares – all of which will lead to more sales!

Create a professional website – If you are selling your own product then start by selling your items on e-commerce sites. Once you start making money, you should then create your own professional website. A professional website will help you to increase your profit margins. With your own, professional looking website, you will also be able to “brand” you name and your products so people will remember you.

Advertise Effectively – Use social media to advertise instead of search engine advertisements. If you are using your creativity to market your product then you can reach a lot of people online through social media. The cost of advertising through social media is also cheap. You will also need to build up an effective social media presence and answer your customer queries through these platforms. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are all good places to start.

I will have more articles that will discuss how to effectively use social media advertising, email marketing and list building. So keep an eye out for these informative articles!

On my website, http://www.bobthibodeau.com, I am helping those who are new to Internet Marketing not make the same mistakes I (and countless others) have made getting started. I also help those marketers who are struggling in an area of getting their business going. I offer no promises – just plain, straight forward training and assistance for those who are serious about making a serious, online income.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Robert_Thibodeau/2198393

The Right Way To Begin Internet Marketing

Seven Internet Marketing Tips to Improve Your Productivity and Make More Cash

Internet Marketing Tips 1

Establish very clear targets for your business and for your monthly, once a week and day-to-day tasks. These must be very specific, in writing, have a day for conclusion and be quantifiable and measured. It aids if you write them down, read them daily and consider them in the present tense; as though they have actually been completed.

Internet Marketing Tips 2

Invest 90% of your time on cash making activities. Those consist of advertising and marketing or generating leads, interacting with those leads, interacting with people already on your list or in your organization, and developing content. The material you put out on your blog or in your write-ups or video clips is exactly how you establish value and draw in folks to you. Your success or failure with these activities will certainly determine whether or not you make money online. Fancying up your blog header is not always a cash making activity so don’t spend a lot of time in that sort of activity.

Internet Marketing Tips 3

Produce routines for every little thing you do. Similar to the way you have a specific routine for the various exercises you perform in a physical body building routine, so too ought you have detailed regimens for your daily tasks as you set about marketing your business.

Set regimens for when you rise in the morning, when you go to sleep, when you handle email and return telephone calls, and all the other things you do. These all support the formation of great habits and if practiced continually will boost your online marketing performance in all areas.

Internet Marketing Tips 4

We cannot manipulate time; it marches on with or without us. We can however take care of how we use our time. This is closely associated with Marketing Tips 3 as previously noted, however, it is not simply a routine. Specify exactly when you will embark on a certain task as well as the quantity of time you will devote to that job. This is applicable to actions pertaining to your emails, phone calls, creating material, working out, etc.

You might think about using Google Calendar or a similar tool to keep you on track. When it’s time to move to the next scheduled task, having a timer on your work desk that will sound an alarm at the appropriate time can be effective.

This in fact is probably one of the most vital of the online marketing tips I have. Since it’s easy for you to lose track of time when you are immersed in one job, without some method to help keep to your schedule you may find at the end of the day you have actually not finished other essential tasks.

Internet Marketing Tips 5

This is among my preferred bits of marketing advice. It is essential to get into the proper frame of mind before commencing your advertising and marketing activities for the day. It is additionally among the marketing tips that many individuals ignore. Mindset or attitude is often not given enough importance as individuals develop their business building and daily marketing plans.

Lots of people consider it useful to get some cardiovascular physical exercise early in the day to help get themselves primed for action and energized. While doing these workouts, they often picture the tasks they have actually planned for the day and see themselves efficiently completing them. Then they undertake some personal development by reviewing publications, tapes or videos regarding elements of effective attainment of objectives in all areas of their lives. They are, after that, well prepared for a day of max performance.

Internet Marketing Tips 6

Choose one, at the most 2, marketing approaches to be utilized in developing your business. Take command of the chosen advertising and marketing technique, master it and do not go on to an additional method until you acquire the production and success you want.

Advertising approaches you can utilize include things like video advertising and marketing, blogging, article marketing, social networks and so on. Choose one approach you are comfortable with and adhere to it. Your performance will certainly suffer and you will definitely not acquire the level of income you want if you neglect any of these internet tips. Not taking note of this particular one may cause your marketing initiatives to be scattered and ineffective, even if you are meticulous about doing the work. Jumping from one thing to another is counterproductive.

Internet Marketing Tips 7

The last of my tips deals with your individual life. Make time for friends and family. You possibly invest a great number of hours on your company which takes some time away from your family members. It is extremely important for you to arrange time for your family and friends. You likewise should have time for leisure and entertainment. Unless you do so you’ll burn out and your connections with family and friends will deteriorate. That will not aid your efficiency and application of the various other tips I’ve talked about won’t be as efficient as they could be.

To be successful with any business you have to be a self-starter with a great deal of dedication to being as efficient and productive as possible. It is necessary to be diligent, well organized and persistent if internet marketing success is to be obtained. I am hopeful this series of comments about some of the more vital things you can do to make the most of your productivity has been of help to you.

You can get access to an on-line training, advertising and marketing system that provides all the technology, training and online marketing techniques required to develop an effective internet marketing program by clicking the links below or contacting me. I look forward to helping you succeed.

Internet marketing can be overwhelming. There are many elements and processes required to get your product or services in front of the right people; your potential customers and partners. You need to be proficient at keyword research and the numerous marketing methods that can be used to get your promotional material noticed by your preferred audience. In addition there is a plethora of marketing systems to be found, many of which entice the uninitiated with promises of easy money and effortless marketing that will allow even the complete novice to sell their products online almost immediately.

The truth is effective internet marketing requires tools, training, time and guidance. I searched for a marketing platform for some time before I found one that provided all I needed to get my products an opportunities exposed to the right people. Using it I am am able to attract the right people and to provide them with value, whether or not they purchase my products or join my company. That platform is MyLeadSystemPro.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Terrence_Neraasen/1444573

Seven Internet Marketing Tips to Improve Your Productivity and Make More Cash