The Curse of Knowledge is an odd phrase. Since when is knowledge a curse? When you want to communicate the benefits of your products or services to your customers, it can be a curse. You tend to talk and write at the level you understand, but perhaps it is not as clear to your customers.
This is especially true in a lot of the industries that we help. There is so much to learn in engineering, construction and financial services that you tend to overwrite, under explain and get in the weeds quickly.
So how can you avoid this?
Write to your audience. Who are they? Have you completed a customer personae? (If not download our Guide to Buyer Persona’s here) Write to their familiarity with your industry and their need in mind.
Start with topics that they care about. Most likely it will be a benefit that your product or service provides. Find the solution that you want to highlight and share with your customers.
How sophisticated are your audiences? Don’t make assumptions. Talk to your actual customers. Make it part of sales and customer service to help with your buyer personas
Silo: Don’t just run your ideas of a message past 5 people who have all been in the industry for 10+ years. Find someone who is new to the industry in your company. Then run your message by them.
You aren’t trying to sell to the converts, you are trying to sell to people who don’t know as much about your solution as you do.
Remember, possible buyers will have different levels of knowledge related to your solutions. Some may be very well versed in your industry, while others may be new needing smaller and more broken down information.
Education: Create content and information that educates your prospect. That means that you will need various different pieces of collateral dependant on your prospect’s level of understanding in the solution.
For instance, you could have an introductory e-book to help them move down the path. Then a comparison guide for finding the right solution to their problem.
The guide is to lead your prospect further down the funnel by educating them.
The key to good business writing is to know who you are writing to and what they want. They want to solve a problem. Help them and you help yourself.
Want more information about how to build success buyer personas? Download our Guide to Building better Buyer Personas.