That's too much, man.

Can there be one go-to formula for simplifying something? Probably not, but here's my attempt. Let's say you are faced with an overstuffed piece of communications, that has a kitchen sink of information, needs hierarchy, and is attempting to talk to multiple audiences. How could you quickly clarify? Try this two phase approach:

Phase 1: Simplify
Answer the questions below in a separate, empty document:

1. Who is this for? Even if you have multiple audiences, pick only one for this exercise.
2. What do they value? Identify their top 1-3 needs that your product fulfills.
3. What is it worth to them? Place a measurable value on what your product can do for them (ie., amount of $ saved, amount of time saved per month, etc. This can be conjecture for now.)
4. Write a value statement based on steps 1-3.
5. How does it work? Outline a simple step-by-step to walk your audience through your product. Try to keep it to as few steps as possible (3-5).
6. Identify a call to action--what do you want the person seeing this document to do? Contact you? Sign up for a demo? Etc.

Phase 2: Apply

Take the content you've created in Phase 1, and input it into a new document. You should have the following:

• Value statement for specific audience (1-2 sentences)
• Measured value: 1-3 measurable outcomes
• Step-by-step of how your product works (3-5 steps)
• Call to action-what should your audience do right then?

In this case, here's how it shook out with a before and after:

Front and back before

Front and back after

How would you systematize simplification?