Have you ever been in a situation where a client (internal or external) keeps wanting to add "news" to a press release or material to a brochure or more stuff to the website? "It's important" they'll say. "We NEED to include this. It MUST be in there."

You then end up with a press release that is three pages or longer; a blog post that could double as a PhD dissertation; and a website that will give readers a headache. I will bet good money that everybody out there has come across this type of thing.

[caption id="attachment_2481" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/8699798577_912e0213ba_b.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2481 " alt="Rubber Stamp by Enokson on Flickr" src="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/8699798577_912e0213ba_b-300x51.jpg" width="300" height="51" /></a> Rubber Stamp by Enokson on Flickr[/caption]

But, the thing is it doesn't have to be that way. Most things are really not that important. The client only thinks they are, usually because someone else (a donor, a higher up, a PIA person) has some stake in that particular bit of information (or "content" as we are now referring to it).

<strong>Here's the bottom line: if you include all the so-called important stuff, nothing, and I mean nothing, will stand out. And then all your efforts will be wasted.</strong>

Instead of including everything and anything, as a communications person you will need to step in and do the following:
<ol>
	<li><strong>Prioritize.</strong> Among those important things are the ones that are extremely important, right?</li>
	<li><strong>Assign different information to different areas.</strong> Perhaps one important bit is appropriate to a press release and the other should go on the blog.</li>
	<li><strong>Edit</strong>. And then edit again. Be ruthless. Remove excess information if you want your message to be heard.</li>
</ol>
Thoughts? How do you handle lots of "important" information?