In 60 seconds, what would you say about your brand?
If you do an interview on TV or radio, you have at most 60 seconds to explain who you are and what your company does. And that goes for any business, from GE to the corner store. The broadcast anchor doesn’t want an exhaustive explanation, and they don’t care why your business is so innovative or different from the rest. They just want you to explain yourself clearly and succinctly so they can move onto other questions.
Give it a shot. Imagine you’re about to speak with Ali Velshi, Peter Mansbridge or Kent Brockman. They welcome you to their show and ask, “Tell me about your company.” What do you say?
Do you have a tight explanation that the audience will quickly grasp, and will establish your credibility? Remember the anchor is only a conduit. They’re asking the question to help the audience understand you, and they are setting the stage for the rest of their questions. If you bungle the first question, it’s going to be a rough interview.
Prepare your talking points
For 5 years I appeared on TV every month to discuss the job market. I had 90 seconds to talk about the labor statistics, what happened last month and give some direction on where the job market was heading. I had a lot of information to convey in a short period of time, but I also had to carry on a conversation with the anchor. I couldn’t simply regurgitate the labor report and my findings.
To get through these interviews, I used talking points. Instead of memorizing lines, stats and dialogue, I identified 2 to 3 key points I wanted to make during the interview. Before the interview I would ask myself, “What is the one thing the audience needs to know from me?” Once I found the most important message, I developed the supporting points. Together this formed my talking points for the interview.
Talking points are extremely helpful, because they are the essence of your message. In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to recite a canned line authentically. But with talking points you can adapt to the situation, and explain the idea in your own words.
Create talking points for your brand
If you could only convey one idea about your business, what would it be?
Isolate and distill the core message of your brand. Break it down in a way so that any person on your team can share it. They’re not going to use your words, but the meaning won’t be lost. That is a talking point.
Once you have the core message, identify a handful of supporting points that build out the story. Again, share the points with your team. If they can convey it in their own words and the meaning still stands, you’ve got a good message.
Nailing down your brand talking points provides you freedom. It makes it far easier for other people to remember your business and talk about it. It also keeps your brand’s story consistent. No matter who is talking about your brand, they will deliver the right message.
February 17th, 2012 
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Buzzwords and acronyms are like Wonder Bread. They may sound impressive, but they’re nutritionally deficient for your brand.
“We provide an industry-leading solution that delivers a high ROI and low total cost of ownership.” Sounds pretty good, and it might even be true. But there‘s not much substance here. Where’s the Simple Clarity?
Buzzwords, acronyms and jargon are needless weight on your brand. Use them too often, and your brand becomes sluggish and fat.
Buzzwords slow down your audience
What is a SME? A subject matter expert, or a small medium enterprise? Both. It depends on the context.
The challenge with jargon is it requires industry expertise and knowledge. The technology industry is littered with acronyms: IT, CRM, BI, CMS, SEO, SEM, DSL, and the list goes on. Every time you use jargon you are making an assumption about your audience. You’re assuming they know as much as you.
A good portion of your audience may know what you’re talking about, but others won’t. That’s a pretty big gamble. If you talk over the heads of your customers and prospects, then all you’re doing is talking to people with inside knowledge: competitors and industry consultants.
Jargon is hard to avoid
Buzzwords are deceptively easy to use. Google the term ROI, and you will find over 150,000,000 results.
Jargon is like fast food. It’s easier to buy a burger and fries at a drive thru than to go home and make a meal from scratch. But the nutritional value of the fast food meal and the satisfaction it delivers are dramatically lower. Jargon slips into our day-to-day communications, because it offers shortcuts for conveying meaning and elevating points.
ROI is a perfect example of this. It’s a frivolous term. Of course you will provide your customers a return on their investment. Why would they buy your products if you didn’t? ROI is an expectation, not a benefit or value proposition.
Take the Jargon-Free Challenge
It’s challenging to communicate without jargon. Take the Jargon-Free Challenge. For the next 14 days replace every buzzword and acronym with simple language – language that is universal, easy to understand and conveys explicit meaning.
It may take you a few more words, but think about your audience. If you can’t use jargon, you will naturally improve the quality and value of your communications. Your content will become simpler to understand, easier to share and more impactful.
Try the Challenge for 2 weeks, and let us know me know your results. Let us know what you discovered.
March 18th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Your customers are crying out for clarity.
We live in a cluttered world. We have so many options it’s hard to sort them out. We’ve filled our lives with stuff: smartphones, iPads, email, GPS, Twitter, Facebook, work, home, soccer practice, projects, vacations, and the list goes on. As a result, the average North American is feeling rushed, hurried and short of time.
Your customers don’t have time to sort out your value proposition, your services or what makes you different. They don’t have the bandwidth or time to learn your business, and build “relationships” with your people. They just want to get to the facts, and work with a company that makes their lives just a little bit easier.
Your customers want you to be simple, clear and concise.
Answer 3 simple questions
1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. Who do you serve?
No fluff. No pomp. No buzz words. Just give 3 simple answers in a way that a 5 year old will get.
Kindergartners are great. They have enough communication skills and world knowledge to understand the core elements of business. They know what a police officer is. They know what a fireman is. The even understand what the President of the United States of America is.
Try it. Go tell some kindergarteners about your company. See how they react. See if they get it. If a kindergartner gets you, than any one of your customers will understand you.
Clarity leads to differentiation
It’s amazing how many companies can’t clearly articulate who they are, what they do and who they serve. You can visit their websites, and leave confused. You read pages of text, watch videos, review case studies, and after all that you’re still not sure what they do. That may be mind blowing, but consider it a blessing.
The better you can articulate your services, your brand and your value proposition the more you will differentiate yourself. It’s a real treat to find companies who are clear thinking and communicate effectively. It makes it so much easier to evaluate them, and decide if they can assist you or not.
Let the competition flail around with a lousy message while you win business with simple clarity.
Customers buy when they get you
Clarity reduces buyer resistance. The more time it takes for customers to figure you out, the longer it takes them to buy. Worse still, if the message is too muddled, they’ll go elsewhere.
Help them cut through the clutter. Give them the facts, get out of their way, and they’ll reward you with the sale. Pretty simple.
February 3rd, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Microsoft used to have a great purpose, “to put a computer on every desk and in every home.” In 1975, people didn’t own personal computers. It took great forethought and energy to chase such a big hairy audacious deal.
Today, Microsoft’s mission reads, “At Microsoft, our mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.”
Where’s the purpose? Where’s the energy? What is Microsoft actually fighting for?
The same can be said about RIM. The Blackberry was built on the idea of putting your personal assistant in your pocket: email, calendar, notes and to-do lists. Pretty clear cut. I get it, I want it.
Here is how RIM describes itself today, “RIM is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information, including email, phone, short messaging service, Internet and intranet-based applications.”
Based on their current vision are you surprised Apple and Google are taking so much of RIM’s market share?
Make your purpose simple
Too often mission and vision statements get too complicated. Simple doesn’t seem sexy or impressive, but it’s impactful. A clear, simple purpose provides your team a measuring stick for making decisions: will this decision get us closer to our purpose, yes or no? Simple Clarity drives action.
Southwest Airlines was founded on the idea of making air travel as affordable as taking the bus. This was a tangible, measurable purpose. When an employee brought a new idea or suggestion to Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines’ CEO, he would ask, “How will that make flying more affordable for our customers?” If the suggestion didn’t fulfill the purpose, it was discarded.
The simplicity of Southwest’s purpose saved them oodles of time. They weren’t chasing innovations and ideas in air travel. They were chasing a clear purpose, and innovating to fulfill that goal. Decisions could be made, because they knew what was important and what was out of scope.
Your purpose is more than money
People don’t get up in the morning and think, “Man, I can’t wait to get to work so I can help my CEO buy another Ferrari.” They go to work to contribute value. They go to work to contribute to something larger than themselves. Working for a paycheck is the same as working for the weekend; pretty meaningless stuff.
Big hairy audacious goals based on money are hollow. Goals like, “to be a billion dollar company” or “to grow sales by $25 million in 5 years” are not actionable. They may sound good at a strategic planning retreat, but what do they mean to your front line staff? How do they translate into action?
RIM seem to have defaulted their purposes to money. What are they fighting for? Why do their employees come to work? Are they just working to catch up with Google and Apple?
Finding your purpose isn’t complicated
You don’t have to look for grandiose ideas or concepts. An effective purpose is simple, straight forward and actionable.
To find yours ask 3 simple questions:
- Who are you?
- Who do you serve?
- Why do you serve them?
Consolidate these questions, and you’re on your way to developing your organization’s purpose.
Thoughts? What’s your take?
October 12th, 2010
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Metaphors are very powerful communication tools. They act as a lens, and get people to consider ideas or concepts in new ways.
You create metaphors by combining two disparate ideas or concepts. For example, Seth Godin coined the term, “Permission Marketing.” This is an interesting metaphor, because it’s so easy to understand. Both words carry a lot of meaning on their own, but when they’re combined their collective meaning changes.
Metaphors are very powerful tools of persuasion, because they get people to think about concepts and ideas differently. When Seth talks about permission marketing, the metaphor acts as a lens. It focuses his audience, and they automatically associate what he talks about with the metaphor. It gets people to question “traditional” forms of marketing, and consider how they can engage customers differently.
Lead with your metaphor
Metaphors are only persuasive when you lead with them. If you place the metaphor at the middle or end of your argument they have little to no impact.
If Seth told you all about his new marketing strategy, but concluded his description by saying, “I call this permission marketing.” The value of his metaphor would be lost. He would have spent all his time explaining how marketing has changed, and how buyers are willing to share information for items of value, and how companies need to engage their customers differently. But as the listener, you would have to use a lot of cognitive horsepower to figure out his argument.
When you place the metaphor at the beginning of your argument it acts as a lens. It helps the audience focus on the idea and make new connections. The audience links the rest of your argument back to the metaphor, and this makes it a lot easier for them to understand the argument. This makes you much more persuasive.
Anchor your ideas in metaphor
Seth Godin uses metaphors masterfully. Look at the titles of his books: Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, The Dip, Linchpin, and so on. By framing his ideas in metaphor, Seth enables them to spread. He packages the idea, gives it purpose and makes it transferable.
We can talk openly about permission marketing for two reasons. First, the metaphor makes the concept very easy to understand and discuss. In fact it is so easy to get, you can talk about it without even reading the book. Next, that ease of understanding made the idea very portable. People talked about it, debated it, analyzed it and shared it. Seth planted the idea in the marketing community and it spread from there.
How are you using metaphors? Take a look at your brand, your value proposition and your marketing messages. Where do you place the metaphors? Do they focus your arguments? Do they resonate like Seth’s? If not, this is an amazing opportunity to make your brand even stickier.
September 18th, 2010
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Nothing in life is guaranteed. We know that. We accept that. That’s life.
So why do organizations try to sell on ROI (return on investment)? It’s as if they can predict the future, and guarantee their customers will have specific results. It just doesn’t work that way.
Pushing ROI is a flawed marketing strategy. Yes, customers are looking for results, but that’s not how they evaluate a product or service. What they really want to know is:
- What do you do?
- How do you do it?
- Why do you do it that way?
- What outcomes should we expect?
- How will you handle it if the outcomes don’t work out as expected?
Customers want “Simple Clarity.” Clear answers to simple questions.
Simple Clarity speaks to your lizard brain
Our brains can process a lot of information, but our decisions start with a gut reaction. Gut reactions are formed in our amygdalae or lizard brain. This is our old brain that was formed to protect us from poisonous snakes, saber tooth tigers and anything else that wanted to eat us. When you jump with fright, that’s your lizard brain kicking in to protect you. It’s the part of the brain that controls your reflex responses.
Gut reactions are an important aspect of your buying decisions. When you feel good about something, it’s far easier to make a decision. But when your gut is saying “no,” you second guess everything. Marketing has to create a positive gut reaction by speaking directly to the lizard brain, and making it feel comfortable with the solution.
Your lizard brain has the language skills and attention span of a 5 year old. If you’ve ever talked with a 5 year old, you know what it’s like to hold their attention. You have to speak to their level, use words and metaphors that will resonate with them, and be attentive to their needs. If you aren’t, you’ll lose their attention and they’ll be off to the next thing that catches their interest.
Simple Clarity commands credibility
Do you really know what you’re talking about? If you do, you can be succinct. You can be direct. You can answer any question simply and clearly.
The same goes for your corporate communications. When you eliminate the buzz words and convey exactly what you do, how you do it and what you hope to achieve, you gain a lot of credibility. Very few companies can clearly articulate their value propositions with Simple Clarity. Why? Because it’s hard to refine a message down to its very essence. But when you do your sales will increase, because your customers will get you. They’ll have clarity.
September 17th, 2010
Posted by Jeremy Miller
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