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 … Continue reading No really, what’s your business’s one thing
Category Archives: messages that matter
The worst possible brief for the lucky person who has the task of putting your messages down in words, is ambiguity. Trying to nail the first story, or 1001st, but not being clear what the one key idea is you’re trying to say is dead-on-arrival stuff for a writer.By being clear what it is you’re … Continue reading Do your copywriter a favour, only give them one idea to illustrate
The worst possible brief for the lucky person who has the task of putting your messages down in words, is ambiguity. Trying to nail the first story, or 1001st, but not being clear what the one key idea is you’re trying to say is dead-on-arrival stuff for a writer.By being clear what it is you’re … Continue reading Do your copywriter a favour, only give them one idea to illustrate
If a website has an ‘About’ video, 90% of visitors will view it. But don’t make the mistake of trying to put too much in it. A script for a 90 second video will be about 10-12 sentences long – with the pictures supporting this written/spoken narrative. Ten sentences means you only have the opportunity … Continue reading Why your video can only tell one story
All businesses are telling their stories all the time. But it can be a mightily difficult task to retain coherence in all those stories. (Different people tell different stories in different ways). It is very easy to go off on a tangent as you illustrate your different products and services. Such tangents are natural good … Continue reading The huge value of a messaging ‘North Star’
Adding more words to a message is easy. It usually adds up to simply being more noise. The ability to remove unnecessary, extraneous words, which add nothing to a narrative, is the main trick we need in our writing. What we leave out, the stuff that’s superfluous to the story, is how we demonstrate clarity … Continue reading Musicians play the notes, maestros play the pauses
The great default word – solutions – should never be used in your value proposition, or Million Dollar Message. (Actually, there is one place is can be, race to the end if you want to know where). For a start, all businesses provide a solution in one way or another. So, to use it in … Continue reading ‘Solutions’ is not the solution (even if it feels like it should be)
Many of us, myself included, are inclined to say yes to requests for help. Even though we don’t really want to, or have the capacity, to help, we hum and haw, and say maybe or yes. Being at a recent group meeting where one of the participants found it equally difficult to turn down help … Continue reading Why you should “say no quickly”
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 … Continue reading Don’t repeat your ‘what’ if your business name gives me a clue
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 … Continue reading Why generic words are meaningless