clarity
Multifamily Blogging
As you have likely noticed lately I’m writing very short pieces on a fairly broad range of topics with great frequency. For the why-behind-the-what (at least at the time); here is a piece I did earlier this year. But the more I think about it I believe in my heart of hearts that people rarely read full pieces anymore. Even when they read books they don’t read the entire book. They don’t blogs word-for-word. Nor, believe it or not, they don’t even read tweets to the end.
Easy Reading
Easy is the theme of the week. Despite the under-current of the mindful movement – people don’t have time, they don’t make time or they don’t care to put the effort into long form reading anymore. It’s a shame but it’s true.
Results
I have seen my daily stats go up threefold since the beginning of the year. Now I realize that is in part to the frequency with which I am posting. But take that out of the equation and I’m still up over last year at this time. I think that is in part because people know that I’m writing very brief pieces so they will take the time to actually read them.
Translation
For those property management companies that are well into their content practices or for the new kids on the block – Write with Brevity and Clarity in mind…
Your writing for the easy read Multifamily Maniac,
M
Multifamily Monday: 1 = 1
We have all heard it before: K.I.S.S – The keep is simple saying that rings out in/across every boardroom, clubroom, round, square and oblong table around the world. Nothing novel here but that is the point of our Multifamily Monday blog post. We get right to the point of oft remembered but oft not practiced truths.
Get to The Point
When communicating information, we often think that backdrop or off topic analogies are going to really bring our point home. Not so much. Especially in an attention deficit economy. Few listen/hear anymore and often draw conclusions well before you have reached your second sentence. So start with the punch line and follow with the build up. Hit the crescendo and follow with the introduction.
Tell Them What You are About to Tell Them
There is a truism in public speaking that makes sense here; it goes something like this, tell them what you are about to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you just told them. It’s a frame of reference so that the audience knows what they are about to learn. It helps them track the broad topic as the stories unfold. The key being that they know what the punch line is well before it is communicated in length.
Take away: Keeping it simple starts with giving away the punch line…
Your, practicing brevity and clarity, multifamily maniac,
M
#apartmentmarketing: Clarity
Clarity trumps persuasion. – Dr. Flint McGlaughlin
I have written about the subjects of brevity and clarity on a number of occasions. The concept came to me from a senior leader at Equity Residential some years ago and has stuck with me ever since. At the time I had the propensity to provide reports that were beyond the time necessary to digest them and I had the knack of going on and on in my descriptions of strategies and results. That is despite all the customary body language queues that would have guided me otherwise; had I been paying attention to them.
Principle: Brevity and Clarity
When thinking about apartment marketing, exercise the principle of brevity and clarity in your print ad copy, website copy, brochure offerings [if you still do this sort of thing], Facebook posting, blog posting and the such.
It’s not sage or unique advice but nevertheless a good reminder; we live in an attention economy. As such, we have to be compelling in our remarks and mindful of the clarity in our brevity.
