Join a Smart Brevity editor to learn more about the muscle behind our style — and a tool called Axios HQ that makes using it a lot easier.
We're all slammed with too many words. Slacked words. Emailed words. Texted words. Words, words, words.
Both create an urgent need to evolve how we communicate. Smart Brevity is how we break through.
Axios HQ's formula for clear, effective communication
Understand the workplace comms crisis, leadership strategies to survive it and how Smart Brevity can help — all in one quick email.
It starts with data. We spent years digging into data, science and consumer trends and saw most folks are:
Then we built a format to fix that. Smart Brevity was born in a newsroom and perfected inside 300+ organizations big and small. The result: clearer updates, happier readers.
Let's start with how modern minds work. When we see new content — no matter the type — our brains ask two things:
If we can't get to "yes" in about 17 milliseconds, we move on. Smart Brevity leans into that, telling readers "What's new" and "Why it matters" first — always — so they stick with us. The result: stronger engagement and trust.
Whether we're reading 10 words or 10,000, if our eyes hit a big block of text, we zone out. Shut the email. Star the tab.
And it works for any form of communication. It's built on insight from eye-tracking labs and 5+ years of testing. The result: 50% shorter read times, on average.
Board of Directors Update
We presented on our progress toward our go-to-market plan in our most recent Board of Directors meeting, Wednesday, including strong product sales over the last quarter within the scope of our beta test, which will allow increased investment in key early growth opportunities across tech and marketing. Plus, with three new manufacturing deals close to closing, Ava’s team is proving their revamped sales pitch was the right move, which sets us up to light our sales pipeline on fire! She got great reactions in the room from the Board.
Back to growth opportunities, we’re updating the second-half roadmap with big investments in the tech team, particularly on the machine learning squad, marketing, to support Ava’s team as they work to capitalize on the early success we’ve seen with the new pitch noted above, and in some exciting new collaborations with firms doing work where we don’t have internal capacity but do have a strategic need to fold missing capabilities into our operations and offering.
This is really exciting stuff, and it’s not only Ava’s team that deserves major credit. We’re seeing historically high sales volumes, and that’s a testament to the whole company. Take a bow, everyone. We were able to “wow” the Board with a report including a 12 percent jump in revenue over the last quarter, which puts us an extraordinary 90 percent of the way to our overall goal for the second half. And that doesn’t include those three pending manufacturing deals. More on those in next week’s update, once we “seal the deal.”
If you haven’t taken time to review Ava’s new sales pitch, we encourage everyone to take a moment to do so. The new talking points went through a lot of pressure testing with focus groups and reflect our best case to date on why our solution is the best in the industry. The materials are available to everyone on the intranet, filed under GLOBAL >> SALES MATERIALS >> PITCH [NEW].
1 big thing: We wowed our Board
We stunned the Board of Directors Wednesday with our 12% Q3 revenue jump, which puts us 90% to goal for H2.
Why it matters: Higher revenue than ever means we can invest in growth areas that will speed up our go-to-market plan by months.
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New hires: We can now fill key machine learning roles on the tech team and fill out Ava's marketing team, too.
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Partnerships: We'll also finalize priority deals with two firms to expand key capabilities until we can bring them in-house.
How we did it: Testing, testing, testing. Our product speaks for itself, but it was Ava's new sales pitch — pressure tested over three weeks of focus groups — that got it into customers' hands.
What's next: We're closing in on two big manufacturing deals that should put us over the top for revenue goals — look out for more on those in our next update.
1. What is Smart Brevity?
Step inside the Axios newsroom for an introduction to the company and its Smart Brevity communication style. This video explores how it started, why it’s powerful and what you’ll learn in the rest of this series.
2. Win the War for Attention
We are writing, recording, texting, speaking more words than ever, and important messages are getting missed. This video explores how reader behaviors are changing — and why there’s an urgent need for our communication style to evolve just as quickly.
3. Audience first
So often, communication starts with what we want to say — rather than what our audience needs to know. This video explores a simple Smart Brevity exercise that can help reverse that thinking.
4. Three parts of a communication
Smart Brevity, in its written form, has three key parts. Say them first — and keep them focused — and you’ll see reader engagement grow. This video explores what they are and how to optimize each.
5. Styling for impact
About 60-80% of readers will scan — not read — what you send them, but strategic styling can change that story. This video explores the art of short paragraphs, bolding, bullets and white space.
6. A real-life before & after
The principles of Smart Brevity add up to one, simple checklist. This video explores a real-life Smart Brevity edit — so you can see how every step gets you closer to clearer, more effective communication.
7. How to put it to work
There is nowhere Smart Brevity has more influence than in day-to-day professional communication. This video explores how it impacts three key types: emails, press releases, reports.
In a free 1-hour webinar, a Smart Brevity expert will dig into the muscle behind our style — and the tips you need to apply it.
You’ll learn:
“We love the approach because it’s based on brain science. It helps us think about our writing differently — refining what should be there and omitting needless words.
We’ve totally changed our approach to content with help from the Axios team, and internally, we’re hearing a lot more people repeating our key messages.”
Head of Global Internal Comms, Takeda
Focus on your audience. Prioritize what they need, rather than what you want to say. Cut anything non-essential.
2. Grab their attention
Pick the most important detail you want readers to remember. Sum it up in one sentence, then say it first — always.
3. Write like a human
The words you'd say over coffee are the ones you should write. It's way more engaging than jargon.
4. Keep it simple
Subject-verb-object. Tight sentences and muscular words help readers see your point more quickly.
5. Stay scannable
Studies show short paragraphs, bolding and bullets help pull people in — and get them farther, faster.
💡 Cut read time and boost memory →
6. Enough is enough
Use as few words as possible. The greatest gift that you can give to yourself — and others — is time.
Learn more about the power of clear communication
Join a Smart Brevity editor to learn more about the muscle behind our style — and a tool called Axios HQ that makes using it a lot easier.
Leaders at Salesforce, Lyft, UPS and more explain the simplest, but most effective strategies they've used to level up workplace comms.
You could have the smartest team, strongest strategy, endless capital — but you're still set up to fail without clear communication.
Ready for smart, clear internal comms? We’d love to talk to you.