Why “be clear not clever” is terrible advice

You hear this all the time from digital marketers online.

“Be clear not clever,” so on and so forth…

Well I’m here to tell you this is dead wrong.

To be clear, I think most people who say this are trying to get at a very important point that needs to be made in marketing today, but unfortunately, they’re just going about it the wrong way.

Just because someone says this, doesn’t mean they’re wrong about everything else…

But it does mean they’re wrong about the clear vs. clever debate.

Here’s why…

In nature, clever wins.

And so goes the same for business too (at least according to the legendary Gary Halbert).

“What’s true in nature is true in business too.”

To prove my point, we’ll look, none-other, than to the clever-witted coyote.

The great American Coyote has successfully survived hundreds of years of highly targeted extermination campaigns from U.S. settlers, farmers, ranchers, and even government agencies who’ve attempted to annihilate this species through poisons, trappings, shootings, bounties, and more…

No surprise there, they’ve done the same to indigenous people too, but that’s a story for another day.

Anyway…

The federal government conducted massive death campaigns against the coyote using strychnine, compound 1080 (an odorless, tasteless toxic compound), and even aerial gunning.

All the while, coyotes survive.

Why?

Because they’re clever.

When their populations are threatened, the females produce larger litters, they change their feeding habits or become completely nocturnal to avoid detection, instead of shrinking their population, eradication attempts caused them to expand across the entire range of North and Central America. They even adapted to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City which most people never expected.

Wildlife biologists confirm…

Coyotes are one of the most resilient carnivores on the planet Earth.

One of the reasons you see coyotes, not wolves, featured on the cover of my Inbox Influence email marketing crash course.

Email isn’t the cockroach of the internet.

It’s the coyote.

As much as you try to destroy it, it will only expand.

Author of Coyote America, Dan Flores description of coyotes “cleverly outwitting” annihilation isn’t just a cute metaphor, it’s grounded in real ecological and evolutionary evidence.

What’s true in nature is true in business too.

If you want to survive, even thrive in the face of annihilation…

It’s clear.

Be clever.

And over the past 5 years I’ve made a pretty good living for myself and my clients by writing what I like to call “Clever Emails”.

So if you want to learn to do the same inside the Email Sales Accelerator, just click the mystery link below to join the waitlist (and you’ll given the chance to join us very soon).

https://kevinhood.me/accelerator

Best,

Kevin Hood