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
Category Archives: million dollar message
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?”
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
Restricting yourself to 10 words, tell me about your business. Have you described why someone should be interested in your product or service? Have you given me a what and a why? Is part of the heart and soul of who you are evident along with your value proposition? Does what you say sound fresh, … Continue reading If you’ve only got one chance to tell your story…
Ever been at a function, say a BBQ, and asked someone what they do…their story business-wise? Some people come back with, “well, we do lots of things.” Immediately you begin to switch off. That person has irretrievably lost their best chance to pique your interest. They’ve frittered their golden opportunity for you to ask “tell me … Continue reading Why you can only tell one story (at a time)
Far too often, as if they’ve pulled terms from a cliche-word-generator, an organisation’s first most important message is meaningless. Their 2-10 word opening story – as a value proposition, slogan, tagline – fails. It fizzles instead of flying, is a three cent mess, rather than being a Million Dollar Message. And instead of inspiring more … Continue reading The seven words your value proposition, slogan or tagline should NEVER have
As a value proposition ‘Ours not mine’ is a pretty emotionally powerful set of three words. Its Million Dollar Message is self-evident. So hats off to the national organisation which also has a great tagline in ‘Giving nature a voice’. The poster lines a design company’s window display I regularly walk past. It may be … Continue reading Forest & Bird nail a value proposition with ‘Ours not mine’
Do all the political parties have a random cliche slogan generator to create their key message? After all, this is their value proposition. Or, is the brief to be so bland that people are bored into voting for them? Even ‘at least the election has got more interesting’ Jacinda Ardern has not taken the opportunity … Continue reading Are these the most boring political slogans ever?