Simple & Easy
Several years ago, I learned to play some piano...
My teacher (who is also my good friend) taught me an important lesson.
Most people want to listen to simple & easy music.
Famous music that you hear on the radio, YouTube, Spotify and other platforms is generally extremely simple.
The most famous songs on Earth are some of the simplest ones. Even beginner musicians can play them with a little practice.
Why are those songs so famous then?
They're easy to consume and remember.
If something is too complicated and "advanced" most people click away.
Pokemon Theme Was a Killer...
My music teacher often told a story when he was playing piano at parties, weddings and many events.
Since he was a real professional, he knew how to play even some of the most advanced piano pieces.
BUT if he played some of the most advanced songs, most guests seemed to get bored.
Once he played the Pokemon Theme (or something extremely simple), everyone became so excited. It was something relatable and simple.
People didn't want to see his ultra-advanced piano skills. They just wanted to hear something simple.
What Do People Want?
Easy.
Simple.
Straightforward.
Relatable.
This doesn't only apply to the music industry but to other industries as well.
Most people don't want to know the "advanced stuff". That's only for a few "geeks" who are on top of their games. For an average person, you must explain things as you'd explain to a 7-year old.
Whether your industry is
- Fitness
- Growing a business
- Music
- Tech tutorials
most people will want things explained in the simplest way.
I think this is a challenge for most people because once we become great at something, we forget to explain things in a simple manner.
We start playing those advanced piano pieces while our audience just wants to listen to the Pokemon theme over and over again.
Practical Example from Finance Gurus
One good example of using this strategy in a powerful way is Graham Stephan on YouTube (and other finance gurus Dave Ramsey, David Bach, etc.etc.).
Graham Stephan skyrocketed his channel from 0 to 3 million YouTube subscribers in a few years and is now earning millions of dollars per year. Over $5,000,000/year or something like that, and it's rapidly growing.
If you have ever watched his channel, it's mostly the same thing repeated over and over again:
- Live below your means.
- Invest into index funds.
- Repeat.
Of course, there is also some other content but 80% of his videos that I've seen are basically saying the same thing.
And he's definitely not the only one doing that.
Most finance gurus repeat the same mantra:
- Live below your means.
- Invest into index funds.
- Repeat.
You can find numerous best-sellers saying that same thing. People love to buy those books.
Is it simple? Yes.
Is it easy-to-follow? Yes.
Is it the best plan for everyone? Probably not. But most people aren't looking for the best plan. They're just looking for the simple answers that they can implement.
Anyways, that was just the one quick practical example...
I challenge you to think about practical examples in YOUR industry.
People Want Simple & Easy
Remember that next time when you're planning & creating your content.
Simplify things.
Explain things like you'd explain to a 7-year-old.
It's Your Time!
- Roope "Trying to learn to be simple" Kiuttu
PS. I think one of the challenges is that once we become good at something, we think that we must share the most advanced things since we've learned them.
It would be nice to "play the most advanced piano pieces" since we've practiced them for endless hours. But we must be humble and "play the simple Pokemon theme" because that resonates with the audience.
We've spent all that time and put effort to learn all kinds of fancy things. So, why not share it?
Because that's not what most people want. They don't want too advanced stuff.
They want simple & easy.
How can YOU apply this to your own business?
Share with us in the comments below! :)
Recent Comments
29
Hi Roope
Thanks for this insight.
As an ex-professional musician I would say that when playing full time the ‘bread and butter’ came from a majority of simple pieces that people could sing along with or dance to.
There are a couple of riders to this though:
1. Constantly performing simple music became boring and it was important to find ways to keep energy levels up.
2. One way to keep energy levels up is to include occasional ‘self indulgent’ virtuoso pieces in a programme. It was the self indulgent renditions that people remembered (for years) and came back for.
A balanced programme was what worked best. I’m not sure how this relates to blogging?
:-)
Richard
I'm not going to lie. I too like the pokemon theme! 😁
In other words, it's what you said, something simple that is easy for the audience to remember like, writing a poem, or writing some lyrics, which would be the way to start for me as a way that I am telling a story based on my real life experiences.
Myra
Amazing read, you just make think to go back to basics and be simple as am facing a though challenge in blogging and publishing my site.
Thank you so much,
Experience has taught me that you are right. My niche is fishing equipment. People just want to know if a bait works. They aren't even interested in techniques to retrieve it. Simple, direct and useful seems to be what people want.
Yes your right first rod i bought was a 2 sectioned rod with doc spratley hooks and an average reel with a non floating line and the very first time i dropped it in the lake i caught a trout😎👌 real simple but it worked and the lake was also stocked😁
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Make simple and easy post and articles with simple pictures with or ALT tags. With videos straight to the point.
You are right though consumers want simple and easy. If it’s memorable then they will come back to complicated can’t navigate to at clothes will click off. Eye catching pieces for your audience to remember.
Cheers,
Mathew&Deloris;