When I hear marketers advise
to dumb down a message
so it appeals to everyone,
I cringe.
Why?
Because that’s lazy marketing,
and a dumbed down message
does NOT appeal to everyone.
What DOES appeal
is a message with layers.
We do this in romance writing
all the time.
The average romance writer
has an above average education,
and an above average income.
One of my biggest fans
is literally a rocket scientist.
Yet this high powered woman
doesn’t always want to read
deep, deep, deep,
so we layer,
giving our reader an option
to read deep or shallow.
An example of this
is using a pun in advertising.
John Deere Tractor’s slogan
“Nothing runs like a Deere”
can and will be taken completely literally
by some prospects,
yet it still works
(or in this case, runs).
You can be clever in marketing
if you ensure the message
works on a literal, basic level also.