After Michelangelo sculpted his statue of David in Florence in 1504, he was asked how he created such a masterpiece? “It’s simple. I took away everything that wasn’t David,” he replied. Viewing the magnificent more than four metre David, it’s obvious Michelangelo is being slightly disingenuous. But his ‘simple’ idea to remove the unnecessary bits … Continue reading Simple is better…but hard to achieve
Category Archives: messages that matter
Many of us, myself included, are often guilty of over-wording our message. We use two words when one would do. We use generic words when our story screams for a metaphor. We use little known words that can embarrass people because they don’t understand their meaning. The key to creating your own Million Dollar Message … Continue reading Making your story simple yet profound
Most of us will have been at a function, and asked someone “what do you do?” “I do many things,” the reply. “You do many things and therefore nothing,” you tell yourself in your own mind, and instantly detune your listening. Now, it may indeed be the case that a business does do many things. … Continue reading How do you answer “what do you do?”
Do the first few words you use to describe your company accurately reflect who you are? Are you able to hold your hand on your heart and honestly say “this is us?” Or do you have a degree of embarrassment that your first message is closer to fiction than reality? Because the simple fact of … Continue reading Lipstick on a pig, versus naming your pet pig
A couple of 13 year olds were in the same room as me, where the television happened to be on. (Of course, normally they’d be head down over an internet device of some kind and wouldn’t be seen dead watching some ‘old’ technology). An ad came on, though I wasn’t looking at the time so … Continue reading And sometimes those sales messages fail to land
Once, the following terms were new and fresh. But, as everyone starts using them, abusing them, they become overused, they become ignored. These words actually make it harder for people to understand you – which is ironic because they originally were meant to do the opposite. Audit, tax and advisory services firm Grant Thornton recently … Continue reading Use these words at your peril (or…how quickly terms become overused)
We all have different concerns, issues and requirements we’d like solved in some way. Many of us are selling products or services to answer such concerns. And the simple fact is, we may have only one chance to alert a person you’re the one who can be of use. How do you ensure you’re exactly … Continue reading Messages that matter dissolve resistance
Never, ever, believe anyone who says that creating a tagline or slogan or positioning statement is easy. It can’t be since it is a massive challenge to condense your message to a succinct 2 – 10 words that express your heart and soul and value proposition. Crafting a what, how and why proclamation takes mental … Continue reading PledgeMe starts its story (tagline) perfectly
Mevo, a pay-by-the-hour electric car startup (though pretty well-funded) based in Wellington’s Biz Dojo, has excellent messaging – I can’t fault it. Its message starts with its name – Mevo. This looks both novel and familiar – and is in fact the word move, with the ‘e’ and ‘o’ reversed…hence Mevo. In eight words it … Continue reading ‘Own the journey, not the machine’ – Mevo’s message hits all the right buttons
The billboard I walk past often first got me interested when The Good Taste Company’s dips, endorsed by chef Michael van de Elzen, used the term “My great tasting dips are good from scratch”. Originally, it was the ‘good from scratch component that took my fancy Good from scratch is very close to, though obviously different to … Continue reading Good Taste cook themselves a million dollar message