All posts by punchline

Why we’re afraid to be simple

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We all crave something as being simple. But we don’t want to be considered simple ourselves. A contradiction we live with. Photo by Fischer Twins on Unsplash

Unless you’re a psychopath it’s very likely you carry some ‘imposter syndrome’ on at least one of your shoulders.

We all live with the secret fear one day we’ll be exposed as not so clever or competent as we pretend to be.

The weight of our (self-imposed) expectations of ourselves forces us to be complicated.

Yet we crave understanding the core of something – whether it is of a business, a sporting team, a nation, a scientific theory, a philosophy or an individual.

The reason is because most of us struggle to hold more than one key concept about any of these subjects in our head at any one time.

Which means there’s a contradiction between how we like to simplify our understanding of something, and how we fear being thought of as ‘simple’ ourselves.

It’s all part of the wonderful complexity of the state of being human.

We crave simplicity because it makes our own life easier, but don’t wish to be defined with such an adjective ourselves.

Yet, as Albert Einstein said when describing a science theory, and which we should keep in mind when describing our business, “if you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

Simple’s good.

Don’t repeat your ‘what’ if your business name gives me a clue

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Each word is precious in your first most important story. Use them wisely. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Don’t repeat your ‘what’ if your business name gives me a clue

If, by luck or construction, your business name gives me a clue what you do…great start.

Doing so allows you greater freedom in playing with the next few words, especially to achieve an emotional connection with a potential customer.

If I know your company is ‘XYZ Accounting’ for example, I’m much more clear what your business is about compared to ‘QRS Numbers’.

XYZ has the opportunity with their next words to tell me why they’re special beyond their spreadsheets – they can engage my heart.

QRS will need to make it clear they’re not statisticians, or data managers. Their next story will need to make it obvious they’re accountants.

All of which is OK, and part of the constraints and challenges of unearthing a clarity of value proposition in 2-10 expressive words.

However, if your business name does make it obvious that you provide a particular service or product you don’t need to remind me in your first most important story.

Each word is precious in a Million Dollar Message – ‘spend’ them wisely.

Tech self belief and telling our stories

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Self belief by the NZ tech sector is helping grow it rapidly. It also needs to start telling its stories better

Just look what a growing sense of tech self belief is achieving…the 14th TIN report has just been released – and what wonderful reading it is for New Zealand.

Here are the combined ICT, High tech manufacturing and biotech industries cracking over $11 billion dollars in revenue, growing at more than 11% over last year, adding 4.7% employees to over 47,000 – in short, rip snorting ahead to be the third most valuable contributor to the NZ economy.

Dairy and tourism in front are in front of tech…but they have nothing like the scalability of these smarter sectors which have the potential to overtake these ‘olde worlde’ industries in the not too distant future.

Just as importantly, these tech roles are high paying jobs, screaming for talented people.

As TIN founder and managing director Greg Shanahan said at the Wellington launch, there’s many companies (not just a few standouts like Datacom and Xero) contributing to the sector’s growth, and everyone is reinforcing everyone else’s success.

Quoting the late Sir Paul Callaghan, “imagine what will happen when New Zealand understands this is something we’re really good at,” he says.

To that end, Shanahan conjectured that our tech industry must become more passionate about its storytelling.

Part of this is about selling a future which can’t be guaranteed, selling confidence, persuading investment backers that tech businesses are going to make growth and potential happen.

New Zealand’s in a Goldilocks zone Shanahan says. “Our businesses still talk to each other, and we have access to global markets.”

We just have to add storytelling!

Finding ‘who’ means unearthing your ‘what and why’

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Describing your who means you must unearth your what and why
To tell people who you are, you must understand your what and why Photo by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash

Describing ‘who’ you are means unearthing your ‘what and why’

Telling someone you’re a lawyer or dentist tells me a little bit about your business.

It is who, with a very small ‘w’.

Such a generic description doesn’t reveal your heart and soul however.

Using a broad descriptor for your who doesn’t provide an opportunity to engage a stranger at a deeper level, because they can’t determine the real you.

Showing the inner who of your business can only be achieved by telling me your ‘what and why’.

In theory, ‘what’ should be comparatively simple.

But many businesses do a number of different things. The art and science is deciding on the one thing that best represents your offer.

Your ‘why’ is a trickier beast. It needs to be a an eyebrow raising reason for a customer to be intrigued enough to want to know more.

It takes some self-reflection, time, and perhaps a neutral outsider to mold your ‘what and why’ that resonates – both externally for, and just as importantly, internally in a business.

Get it right though, and nobody has any doubt about who you are.

One letter change’s Metlink’s value proposition

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Your is a better value proposition word than our
The addition of ‘Y’ to our in Metlink’s value proposition would make it more appealing for consumers

The new, improved (irony intended) Metlink bus service relaunched in Wellington in early July.

With it they gave us a new slogan come value proposition.

“On our way”.

At first blush it is OK.

But, if it is their customers, including me quite often, who are the important people – the addition of one simple letter, ‘Y’, would make Metlink much more passenger facing.

“On your way”, as opposed to “On our way” much more appeals to my sense of self-interest.

You, and your are arguably the two most powerful words at the consumer/retail level. All of us want to know what’s in it for me.

Metlink’s been copping an enormous amount of flak for its new, arguably overall worse, service.

As well as personalising the bus journey, would ‘your’ instead of ‘our’ slightly soften the criticism?

Just do it?…most of us can afford aspiration

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You probably can’t afford to have an aspirational slogan. But do use novel yet familiar words Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash

If you’re Nike, with millions of dollars to throw at advertising, you can afford to promote an aspirational slogan.

“Just do it” is a psychological reminder to be and stay active, with added sweat.

Naturally, Nike hopes you’ll carry out such athletic activities in their kit.

Their messaging is an oblique reminder of their brand.

And, in pushing the JDI mantra for 25 years, it is synonymous with who they are.

Most of us don’t have the luxury of an advertising budget to position ourselves around an inspirational statement – something that doesn’t tell a website visitor what it is we’re promoting, nor why they should be interested.

While we’d all like to pronounce our passions over and above our product, we must ensure our story relates to what we sell.

So, leave the aspirational value proposition to the big boys.

Concentrate instead on a combination of novel yet familiar words which when used at a BBQ, elicit a raised eyebrow, rather than a knotted forehead.

It’s a headline…shouldering lots of heavy lifting

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The first words on your website are like a headline, and have to shoulder a lot of heavy lifting. Make them fit for purpose Photo by GMB Monkey on Unsplash

The start of your website story is directly equivalent to a headline.

And while the first words a stranger reads may not be news as such, this is how we should treat them for a visitor.

It is the statement that encourages them (or not) to find out more.

It is the encapsulating summary of the webcopy, videos, blogs, white papers and all other communications collateral on your site.

It is the one thing, above all others, you want someone to remember…and ideally even repeat to others.

Your business headline must, if nothing else, immediately inform me of your purpose as well as the reason I should remain interested in what you’re selling.

This first, most important story, isn’t a place for puns, is not a time to assemble generic words which provide no meaning.

Your first words, like a headline, need consideration, reflection, correction and refinement.

In fact, because your business headline isn’t trying to convey news, the way you describe yourself has a power that echoes inside and outside your company.

Your headline has to shoulder lots of heavy lifting – make sure it is fit for purpose.

Why generic words are meaningless

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The use of generic words is hopeless for your first, most important message. Avoid them. Photo by Émile Perron on Unsplash

Imagine you read, “XYZ company, delivering creative solutions collaboratively, while empowering intelligent customer synergies”.

Do you have a clue what they do?

Have any of the words they’ve used to describe themselves provided points of difference compared to competitors?

Would this first statement encourage further exploration of a website?

The answer is unlikely – unless of course mediocrity flicks your switch.

Of course no one would (hopefully!) use such an assemblage of these generic words to describe themselves.

But you do see a fair sprinkling of what are essentially meaningless words polluting businesses first messages.

Such empty words are used out of laziness, frustration and desperation.

They’re employed when people don’t think deeply enough about what they’re trying to express, and also forget the immense resource that is a thesaurus.

The use of generic words also means there’s no metaphor on which someone can picture what you provide.

There’s no term to connect with a heart, appeal to a soul.

Yet businesses continue to use such hollow words.

If you’re trying to craft your own Million Dollar Message, your best bet is to ban meaningless words before you start, totally eliminate them as starters.

You’ll be doing yourself and your potential customers a giant favour.

Brainstorming is the wrong answer to the right question

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Brainstorming is a waste of time
Questions, and more questions are a much better way to an answer than brainstorming Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

So, if you’re looking to create your first, most important story, how do you go about it?

Or, you’re looking for the name of a project or report, what process should you use?

Alternatively, you’re wanting to give yourself a dynamic campaign title, and need a way to nail the caption.

Many people adopt a brainstorming process.

They come up with a multitude of ideas and options; and whittle away from there.

There’s two things wrong with this brainstorming approach, especially for unearthing your first story (or Million Dollar Message as I call it).
It won’t reveal the authentic you
It will lead to a fictionalised, idealised version of who you are

The other trouble with brainstorming is it takes you down pathways, wrong pathways. These tracks take you in the wrong direction, and because of the inherent process of brainstorming, make it difficult to do a U-turn.

You feel as if you’ve invested so much intellectual capital in the story idea you’re pursuing, that to turn back is to indulge in mental treason.

The right answers are questions – deeper explorations of what, why, who, when, where and how.

By digging, and digging further, you unearth the one central truth of the aspect which makes you special, and discover the clothesline on which your first message hangs and to which all your messaging will have a North Star reference point.

So, don’t brainstorm. Question storm (and if you’d like some higher education reason to adopt this philosophy, check out this Harvard Business Review article as well).

Your value proposition only needs two things

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Your message needs to be both distinctive and desirable Photo by Marc Sendra martorell on Unsplash

What makes a slogan, tagline or value proposition valuable?

Simple…it only requires two components.

Those two are – what makes you distinctive and what makes you desirable?

It needs to be as succinct and poetic as possible, expressing why you’re just that little bit special, in words which are novel yet familiar. And if you are able to incorporate a metaphor, as it can shoulder a lot of heavy-lifting, so much the better.

Of course, unearthing such a term is the real trick.

There’s precious few words with which to impart an account of yourself, to make a suggestion to a potential customer on why they should pause.

The best way to approach the refinement of your first message is to remember it is your authentic story.

And, at the heart of your business there is One Central Truth of who you are. It is the key idea behind what your message has to be.

You can make them bland and forgettable, or distinctive and desirable…and risk having someone say “tell me more.”

Your call.