John Q. Consumer vs. Homer Simpson
H.L. Mencken said, “No one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public.” One of my early mentors said, “When I write copy, I imagine Homer Simpson sitting on his couch. He’s reading my letter after a long day at the nuclear plant. Not a smart guy. A dumb guy. DOH!”
There’s truth there. But then again Mencken was a bitter, angry cynic, and I’d have a hard time classifying the early mentor as Mr. Generosity. Everything I ever saw him do was ruthlessly calculated.
Still there’s just a whole lot more to writing copy than assuming that “people are stupid.” You have to do better than make up something they’ll “go for.”
This much is always true:
“Plumbers won’t understand if you write like a college professor – but professors will understand if it’s plain to a plumber.” Dr. Luther Brock said that, and he was right.
Simple is not dumb. Simplicity is the real mark of genius. E=MC2 may be the biggest discovery of the 20th century. Yet it’s so short, even people who know nothing about science recognize it.
Plus I bet you can find one senior in every high school classroom who can give you a decent explanation of what it means.
Do you need an expert who really knows a subject? One who can explain it well? Steve Manning says: find someone who’s written a children’s book about it.
Once I wrote an Ethernet book. My goal was to strip away all the usual techno-speak. My job was explain computer networks in plain English. If the Amazon reviews are any indicator, I succeeded.
Here’s the deal: It doesn’t matter whether your audience is Homer Simpson or a bunch of nuclear physicists. Either way, if you can’t reduce your idea, product, technology or offer to a simple, pithy, straightforward soundbyte… you don’t have a good idea, product, technology or offer.
You should be able to explain your idea to a 9th grader, and if possible, a 4th grader.
Perry Marshall
Grade level of this blog post: 5.6 (Click here for a free tool you can use)
346 words
About the Author
Entrepreneur Magazine says: "Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world's most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax."
He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.
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