There’s a uncomfortable truth that many marketers struggle to accept: the average person doesn’t think about your product, service, or industry the way you do. And assuming they’re operating at your level of knowledge and sophistication is one of the fastest ways to ensure your marketing falls flat.This isn’t about being condescending or dumbing things down. It’s about being effective.
The Curse of Knowledge
When you work in an industry day in and day out, you forget what it’s like to be a beginner. You use jargon without thinking. You skip over explanations because they seem obvious. You assume people understand why your product matters.
But your customers don’t live in your world. They’re busy thinking about their own problems, their own lives. They’re scrolling quickly, distracted, making snap judgments. They don’t have the context you have, and they’re not going to work hard to figure out what you’re trying to say.
What This Actually Means in Practice
Marketing to a general audience means being crystal clear. It means:
Using simple language.
If a fifth-grader couldn’t understand your headline, rewrite it. Technical terms, industry buzzwords, and clever wordplay often create barriers rather than connections.
Explaining the obvious.
What seems self-evident to you may be completely foreign to your audience. Don’t skip steps. Don’t assume prior knowledge.
Showing, not just telling. Abstract concepts don’t stick. Concrete examples, visual demonstrations, and specific scenarios do.
Repeating yourself. People need to hear things multiple times, in multiple ways, before they sink in. What feels redundant to you is often necessary for comprehension.## The Intelligence SpectrumHere’s the thing: intelligence isn’t even really the issue. Plenty of highly intelligent people know nothing about your domain. A brilliant surgeon might be completely lost when it comes to understanding software pricing models. A talented teacher might not grasp financial terminology.
It’s not about intelligence; it’s about familiarity, attention, and motivation. And most people have very little of any of these when it comes to your marketing message.
The Risk of Overestimating
When you overestimate your audience’s knowledge or engagement level, you lose them. They bounce from your website. They scroll past your ad. They put down your brochure. And worst of all, they often don’t even realize they’ve missed something valuable because you failed to communicate it in a way they could grasp.
The best marketers are translators. They take complex ideas and make them accessible. They anticipate confusion and prevent it. They test their messages on people outside their industry and watch where those people stumble.This doesn’t mean patronizing your audience or being boring. Clarity and simplicity can be elegant. They can be compelling. They’re just rarely clever in the way marketers want to be clever.If you want your marketing to work, make it easy. Make it obvious. Make it impossible to misunderstand. Your audience will thank you by actually paying attention, and more importantly, by buying what you’re selling.