Adding words is easy.
But more words don’t necessarily add to more clarity.
As the Occam’s Razor principle implies, you should use as few words as possible to explain – and no more.
More words = confusion.
More words are likely to be filler fluff.
More words = potential to lose your reader or viewer or listener.
You, or someone else has to be kindly brutal, trimming the fat, without cutting into the muscle.
More is less, and less is more.
When someone asks “what do you do?”, they’re (mostly) not simply asking for a job description.
We want to know if your ‘what’ has a direct relevance to me when expressed as a why – and whether it is pertinent to myself or others I might know.
It may not be that you want their product or service.
But, if you’ve told your story, especially your first few words, well enough, we’ll remember you.
We’ll remember you because the story resonated, and was stored away for future reference.
We’ll remember enough, and we’ll retain a feeling of how I felt on hearing or reading your story – and enough of a feeling to look you up at the right time.
Now, it is unlikely that someone will buy immediately based on a great line. However, if those 2-10 words are backed up by evidence, come the buying time, you will be sought out.
Your story is your sell and your sell is your story…so make it absolutely clear why someone should care about what it is you’re pitching.
Advertising is often the art, or deception, of putting a gloss on what we do.
That is, trying to make a product or service bigger, or better sounding, than it really is.
There’s an inherent danger in this approach.
In the same way that if you tell a lie, you then have to remember what you said; telling an imaginary or made-up story about yourself means remembering a non-truth.
That’s tricky. It’s not authentic.
Not only are you trying to fool someone else, you’re trying to fool yourself.
But the thing is, we all have true, good stories about ourselves and our businesses which will appeal to customers.
Candour is respected by others…and it means we don’t have to remember what we’ve said.
W
Apparently in our general day to day speaking, we use about six metaphors a minute in conversation.
Now metaphors are the use of something to describe something to which it is unrelated.
Metaphors bypass our minds and appeal to our hearts (or gut!)
They are not about analysis, they are expressions which create powerful and lasting images and ideas.
They communicate both tangible and conceptual information.
Metaphors create synergies between an abstract idea and concrete picture.
If something is described as being ‘on target’ for example, it hits both the meeting an objective notion as well as an arrow (or dart or bullet) hitting a bullseye. Two different parts of our brain are fired up.
The ASB bank has/had a great metaphor with its slogan/value proposition, “One step ahead”.
So, use metaphors in you copy, in your story, in your first most important story.
Punchline – Million Dollar Messages…a metaphor in itself, and we can help create one for you.
We’re all complex.
And our individual businesses usually do many things.
Try telling that to a stranger though, and watch their eyes glaze over. That’s because we all crave understanding, immediately.
Sure, later on you might expand the small list of problems you solve.
But initially, at a cocktail party or as the first thing read on your website, you can only state one thing.
Expressing the essence of your business as a single statement requires surgical use of each and every word.
When you succeed in finding those words your one thing, it is a like a huge relief.
At the same time, your own Million Dollar Message can then shoulder all your storytelling’s heavy lifting – a North Star reminder for all web pages, social media posts, sales documents and white papers.
What’s mine?
Poetic clarity of value proposition in 2 – 10 words (which in itself is 10 words!)
Need help with yours – give Punchline a call?
Is ‘everyone’ your target market?
Extremely unlikely is the answer – unless you’ve found a way to sell happiness! Even then there’s likely to be people who are content to be grumpy.
So, given that everyone is not your customers, having a clear idea of who they are makes your messaging much more definable.
Whether your target is members of the general public who want a treat to eat, a business with potential gold in its unstructured data, or government departments wanting leadership development programmes – there are specific segments we’re all trying to appeal to.
When you know who the archetypical person is within your segment, crafting a story which answers their problems is much easier.
In narrowing down the potential customer, you gift yourself the language which is more likely to spark their interest.
So don’t try to appeal to everyone – make sure you’re selling the solving of a concern to someone in particular.
(And if you want help with such targeted stories, give Punchline a call. That’s our ninja skill).
It can be a tricky beast to uncover your why.
And while ‘to make a living’ may be part-truthful, it doesn’t differentiate you from 95% of other businesses out there.
If you’re struggling to provide a reason why someone might be interested in your product or service, try using ‘because’ after your ‘what’.
You might have to keep asking ‘because’ questions to gain a deeper truth or understanding…but persevere.
We make potato peelers because people need to peel potatoes.
…because a well-peeled potato is a beautiful thing.
…because potatoes grow in dirt and people don’t like dirty potatoes.
…because people would rather spend their time creating a dish than removing skin.
Keep digging, keep exploring; look for a reason or outcome which appeals to the heart.
Disclaimer: it is rarely I peel a potato these days. Its best nutrients, beyond its starch value, is in its skin.
As story simplifiers and message clarifiers, Punchline’s promise is to help you find your business ‘why’.
Give us a yell if you want a hand.
The story a business tells about itself heavily weights our opinion of it.
Indeed, purely based on its story we may or may not purchase its products or service.
We quickly read beyond its what…what it sells. This is the ‘head’ bit we readily take onboard.
We really want to know who the business is.
We want to know why we should buy. This is the ‘heart’ bit.
To appeal to our heart, to our emotions, a business needs to reveal its purpose.
That is, the reason it exists, and why you may be interested.
Xero makes ‘Beautiful Business & Accounting Software’.
Punchline ‘co-designs clarity of value proposition in 2-10 words’.
What’s your business purpose? Do you appeal to potential customers’ hearts?
If you, or a colleague is having trouble nailing your first story, give Punchline a call.
We’re powerful business storytellers.
Your first story after the business name, a value proposition, has to do a lot of heavy lifting.
And there may be a temptation, driven out of desperation, to merely state what you do.
But a business (or an individual for that matter) should always try to move beyond such a ‘what’ statement.
Potential customers want at reason to engage with you beyond the rational.
We need to be moved, to feel a visceral connection beyond your product or service.
One of the best ways to trigger an almost instinctive reaction is to include a metaphor in your value proposition.
A metaphor is a word or phrase applied to an action or object to which it is not literally applicable.
Put another way, a metaphor creates a picturable image around an abstract idea.
If we say something hits the target from say a product design point of view, we also see in our mind’s eye an arrow, bullet or dart centering on a bullseye.
There’s a mental synergy, a story enhancement, over and above the words themselves that multiplies the value of metaphors.
An insurance broker may not literally ‘help you sleep better at night’, but it’s a heck of a powerful emotive message to reinforce the protection gained from paying premiums.
So, if you can, get heart and soul words into your first story.
Emotion sells.
It’s all too easy to complicate the plan(s) we have for our business. ‘Strategy’ can often devolve to a knotty mishmash of ‘goin to’.
For many people though, a clear statement, in your first story, of who you are, what you do and why you do it – is also a very succinct business master plan.
It is clear where your market is, and where you expect growth to come from.
Your story is the plan to move forward.
Your story is your business future.
Your story is your strategy, and your strategy is your story.
Don’t believe me?
Check out this Forbes story on leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ben Horowitz who says both go hand in hand.
Does your first story have a clarity which reflects an intent…or do you need help to reveal it?