I’ve read a couple of articles in the last week that have been really good, detailed explanations of different circumstances, but have got halfway through and decided I didn’t have time to finish them. I found myself skimming through looking for some relevance.
Some things are complicated, and need lengthy explanations, but they can be made easier to digest by breaking them down. One way of doing this is to insert a short story to illustrate the point.
If people can relate to the situation in the story, they can understand the relevance of the explanation, and it seems a lot more real. Just make sure you cover these points:
- Who is the story about?
- What’s their situation/problem?
- What happens/how is their problem resolved?
- What should you do if you’re in a similar situation?
This is just as relevant to a product description or service overview as it is to a factual article.
So if you find yourself struggling to get your point across succinctly, think about an example you could use to show the principles in action.