Technical Experts Need to Get Better at Telling Stories

Startup and technical business leaders often don’t tell their innovation stories well. They rely too much on industry jargon and complex detail. This is a huge opportunity loss. When you’re doing good work, you want people to know about it. So whether you’re drafting website copy, a marketing brochure, an online article, or a press release, follow a few rules. Don’t obsess about dumbing down your message. Jargon clutters your message and confuses the reader. Clear, straightforward writing is important to giving a broad audience an understanding of your work. It’s not easy to tell straightforward stories about complicated topics. But the solution isn’t to cram all the ideas into one story or release. In fact, given that readers’ attention spans are getting shorter, it’s essential to follow this rule: Keep it simple. Build your narrative from the foundation up – one idea at a time. Consider hiring professional storytellers to make the world-changing things you do mean something to regular people. You don’t need a PhD in a scientific or technical field to write about innovations in that field. Seek out writers who have crafted op-eds or articles for a variety of publications and show dexterity in messaging.