What is the curse of knowledge in marketing?

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias, an incorrect way of thinking which the brain uses to process information and make decisions, where becoming an expert in something makes it harder to remember what it's like not to understand it in the beginning. In marketing, this shows up as business owners writing content from their own advanced understanding of a topic, using language and assumptions that make sense to them but confuse the audience they're trying to reach.

How do I know if my content is too advanced for my audience?

Signs include comments that are polite but lack proper engagement, engagement mostly from people in your own industry rather than potential clients, slow or minimal account growth, and a lack in enquiries and sales. If a stranger with no background in your industry would need the post explaining to them, it's pitched too high.

What's the difference between educating your audience and connecting with them?

Educating is telling them what to do or showing them new concepts and topics. Connecting makes them feel like you understand what they're going through, before offering them any advice at all. Content that only educates might get a few saves, but will mostly be forgotten. Content that connects with people first will get attention, and lead to them taking action.

Why do people scroll past content that has good advice?

Good advice that's pitched at the wrong level doesn't register as being relevant to them, even when it's accurate. If someone can't immediately see themselves and their exact situation in what has been written, they will assume it's not meant for them and keep scrolling, regardless of how useful the advice would be for them.

Why Your Social Media Content Goes Over Your Ideal Client's Head | Curse of Knowledge

You’re just too damn smart!

Someone could read ten of your posts in a row, but still not be able to say what you do or help clients achieve, because you’ve written your caption in a way that anyone outside of your industry wouldn’t be able to understand it.

I say it all comes down to one thing: you're speaking from your Level 10 of expertise, but your audience only has a Level 1 of understanding.

social media messaging for service-based business owners — Why do experts struggle to post and connect on social media?

There's a name for it: **the curse of knowledge**. When you've been doing something for a long time, you simply just forget that not everyone knows what you know, and what now seems basic and super obvious for you, is really complex for someone else.

The way that I explain this to clients, is that when you bring your expert mindset over into your content, you start talking about things from your Level 10 knowledge of it. But your audience is sitting there with their Level 1 understanding, often not even fully aware of the problem they've got yet, and you've just confused the hell out of them by bopping them over the head with concepts they've never even heard of.

This cursed knowledge shows up in the industry words you use without thinking, the acronyms you throw about, the assumptions on what others understand or already know, and the complexity of how you speak about things. None of that makes a lick of sense to someone who is reading your content for the first time, and only realised yesterday that they’ve got the specific problem you solve.

But I want to show my audience I’m an expert - how do I do that without confusing them?

We all want to be seen as experts in our chosen areas on our socials, and this often leads to something I call ‘credibility anxiety’.

It’s where we feel like we have to explain our topics in depth with every technical term we know, just to prove that we’re super smart and know all the things. We get caught in this assumption that if people can’t see how clever and professional we are, they’re not going to want to invest in our services. We also hide anything that makes us seem like a real person - our personalities, mistakes we’ve made, things we’ve learnt, things we’re struggling with, etc.

This makes you rock up all suited and booted in your posts to wow ideal clients with your intelligent professionalism, and your posts then become about you and everything you know, not about your clients and their problems.

That doesn’t create the trust that you’re trying to build.

Before you can show them your expertise, you need to create content that allows ideal clients to recognise themselves and their issues in what you’re saying, by speaking directly to what they’re feeling and experiencing there and then.

Social media and marketing rewards those who are making their ideal clients feel seen and understood first, not those who make clever sounding content with lots of big words.

What are the signs your social media content is too advanced for your audience?

Most of your engagement comes from other people in your industry, not from the potential ideal clients you want to attract
Your account is growing very slowly or not at all
Content doesn’t reach many non-followers, and is mostly seen by those already following you
Your posts lean heavily on named frameworks and methods, rather than on what someone's feeling
Using terminology that only makes sense to someone who’s already heard of it
Your content sounds very clever, but it isn’t clear why someone with that problem needs to stop and pay attention to what you’re saying, or reach out to you for help
There’s no attempts to connect with your audience on a personal level
Your content is a bit boring and overly professional - nothing there to entice someone new to the subject or help them understand what’s going on

How do I make my social media content easier to understand?

Your content needs to shift to focusing on meeting your ideal clients where they’re at right now.

How is the problem showing up in their everyday lives?
What is it making them think or feel?
What have they been trying to do to fix it or work around it?
What will their life look like once the problem is gone?

Start your content there, then show your expertise by explaining it how you would to Aunty Jane over Sunday Lunch - you know she wouldn’t have a scooby what you were on about if you talked about it how you think about it.

Explain it to her as clearly as possible, breaking down anything complex/technical as you go instead of bamboozling her with that brilliant brain of yours.

Find out which level you're speaking to your audience at

I created a quiz to help you work out which level you’re speaking at, with advice on how to improve at each stage so that your content doesn’t get trapped in Level 10 language forever.

Take the quiz and find your level

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias (an incorrect way of thinking, which the brain uses to process information and make decisions), where becoming an expert in something makes it harder to remember what it's like not to understand it in the beginning. In marketing, this shows up as business owners writing content from their own advanced understanding of a topic, using language and assumptions that make sense to them but confuse the audience they're trying to reach.
Signs include comments that are polite but lack proper engagement, engagement mostly from people in your own industry rather than potential clients, slow or minimal account growth, and a lack in enquiries and sales. If a stranger with no background in your industry would need the post explaining to them, it's pitched too high.
Educating is telling them what to do or showing them new concepts and topics. Connecting makes them feel like you understand what they're going through, before offering them any advice at all. Content that only educates might get a few saves, but will mostly be forgotten. Content that connects with people first will get attention, and lead to them taking action.
Good advice that's pitched at the wrong level doesn't register as being relevant to them, even when it's accurate. If someone can't immediately see themselves and their exact situation in what has been written, they will assume it's not meant for them and keep scrolling, regardless of how useful the advice would be for them.

Why Your Social Media Content Is Going Straight Over Your Ideal Clients' Heads