Dr. Seuss may just be the world’s best known children’s author, eclipsing even the giants of the genre such as Hans Christian Andersen, E.B. White, and Lewis Carroll. The entire empire built by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the Dr. Seuss moniker has virtually dominated its market niche for well over half a century, and continues to enchant children all over the world. The key factor of Dr. Seuss’ stories which makes them so attractive to children of all ages is the utter appeal and accessibility of the tales themselves, and it is in that aspect that the great children’s author has much to teach today’s online marketers.

The Cat In The Hat has only 236 different words

Dr. Seuss was an absolute perfectionist and would often spend up to a year on a book. That factoid is absolutely staggering when we consider that many of his works are around a thousand words total, which is barely longer than this article. He spent so much time on each work since it was not uncommon for Dr. Seuss to toss out over 95% of his words until he settled on the final outline and direction of his book. One of Dr. Seuss’ most popular stories is The Cat In The Hat. Although that simple little tale has enraptured generations of children and has been made into movies and television series, at the essence of the story itself is the fact that it contains just 236 different words. From that extremely short vocabulary, The Cat In The Hat has become a modern day classic which has reached across age groups to appeal to just about everyone.

Dr. Seuss presaged quick, dense information consumption

When you are confronted with the crafting process for your next brand campaign you might be well advised to keep the example of Dr. Seuss’ immortal feline hero in mind. The simplicity and sparse elegance which Dr. Seuss utilized to create his magical characters and adventures is one which definitely deserves emulation in our online marketing. Although The Cat In The Hat was written at a time when personal computers and the internet were only the stuff of science fiction, Dr. Seuss was able to presage this era and the current proclivity for absorbing content in very short, quick bursts that are as dense with information as possible.

The styles, skills, and insight of the poets

That definition indeed seems to echo the one which is applicable to the great poets of human history, which have for millennia strived to condense as much information and emotion as possible into the fewest words that will suffice to communicate the message which the poet is attempting to portray. Therefore today’s online brand marketer, in order to excel at the craft, needs to adopt the styles, skills, and insight which poets have harnessed since time immemorial, and which Dr. Seuss so masterfully embraced over fifty years ago.

Emulate Dr. Seuss in crafting your brand message

When you are confronted with the task of getting your brand message across to the prospective customer in a manner which is harmonious with their preferred manner of consuming information, you can certainly do no wrong in emulating Dr. Seuss. Think of all the amazing characters which Dr. Seuss created within those 236 different words: The Cat, the Fish, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the whole panoply of memorable and now immortal individuals. And now carefully consider how you can create an aura message about your brand with just a handful of wisely chosen simple words.

If you adhere to the best and latest research about online information consumption, you well know that you have no choice but to limit your vocabulary and your word length to the absolute minimum. That is where the Dr. Seuss example can come into play to the greatest extent. Think long and hard about how you can simplify each and every sentence without losing any of the important and driving brand message that you are conveying. When you can master that critical skill then you will be on the way to becoming a modern Dr. Seuss… of online brand marketing!