Overcome Information Overload handbook

Your audience is drowning in data. Here’s how to reach reluctant readers

In 1971, Americans were exposed to an average of 560 messages a day. Today, if you’re brave enough to get out of bed in the morning, you can count on facing 5,000 attempts to get your attention, every single day. That’s nearly 2 million messages a year.

Think about it: That means that when your newsletter, magazine, press release or brochure lands on your readers’ desks, it competes with 4,999 other things for your readers’ time, interest and energy.

Consider the numbers:

• The typical business manager reads 1 million words a week.

• Office workers spend 60 percent of their time processing documents.

• Managers have an average of 35 hours of backlogged paperwork on their desks.

• U.S. workers receive an average of 190 business communications — e-mails, phone calls, memos and the like — each day. Those communications interrupt employees’ work three times a day.

• “Employees fritter away 48 hours each year trying to unearth job-related information on bad intranets,” says usability guru Jakob Nielsen. “The resulting productivity loss amounts to millions of dollars for mid-sized companies.”

No wonder some 70 percent of American workers say they feel overwhelmed by information.

The results: Information overload can cause high blood pressure, headaches, blurry vision and exhaustion. It can slash audience members’ productivity, impair their judgment, frustrate them and cause a measurable increase in bitchiness around the office. It can even lead to depression and exhaustion.

The solution obviously doesn’t lie in more communicating. But making every message shorter and faster isn’t the whole answer, either. Seventeen approaches — both creative and strategic — can help you get the word out in this information-drenched environment.

With this handbook, you’ll learn:

• Why “just the facts, ma’am” isn’t the best approach for combating information overload
• How to tell whether your message is too broad
• Why more words may work better
• A traditional approach that isn’t the best way to get the word out. (You’re probably using it now)
• The cost you must measure to decide whether and how much to communicate
• What you need to know before you hit the “send” key. (87 percent of companies don’t know this)
• The most powerful tool for getting your message out now. (You may have dismissed it as fluff)

Reduce your learning curve

Ann’s learning tools are brisk and loaded with tips. In fewer than 32 minutes, you can be putting these techniques to work.

Learning tool details

36 pages. Digital learning tool (PDF). Get your order today — and pay no shipping — when you download this digital learning tool. U.S. $27 value — available only as a free bonus when you purchase Ann’s Cut Through the Clutter System, Writing That Sells System or Power Pack.

Serious about developing your skills? Get Ann’s Power Pack and save!