People remember one thing about a business. If you tell them ten things, they remember none.
Last week was about the five things a customer sees: your name, your first screen, your reply, your product and your bill. This week is about the words you put on them. Most businesses use too many.
Think of the last long voice note you received. Four minutes. You played it at double speed, or you saved it for later and forgot it. Now think of a message that said, "Meeting moved to 4. Same place." You read it in two seconds and you did not forget it.
Customers treat a business the same way. A short, clear message gets read. A long one gets skipped. People are not lazy. They are busy, and your message is one of hundreds they will see today.
People repeat one sentence
Ask a friend where to eat tonight. The answer is one sentence. "Go to that place by the beach. The grilled fish is the best in town."
Nobody says, "They have 60 dishes, good parking, friendly staff and fair prices." All of that may be true. It is too much to carry.
This is how most customers reach you. Someone they trust says one sentence about you. So the most useful question in branding is a simple one. What is the one sentence you want people to say about you?
If you do not choose it, your customers will choose it for you. Or they will say nothing.
A small card teaches the lesson
A business card is small. You cannot fit everything on it, so you have to choose.
Some people do not choose. Their card has three job titles, four phone numbers, a list of services and two logos. You look at it and you still do not know what this person does.
The best card has a name, one job and one number. You understand it in two seconds, and you know when to call.
Treat every space like that card. Your shop sign. Your Instagram bio. The first screen of your website. Each one has room for one clear thing. Give it that, and leave the rest out.
Louder is not clearer
You know the truck that drives through the neighbourhood with a loudspeaker. You can hear it from three streets away. You still cannot tell what it is selling.
Many businesses do the same thing when their message is not working. They make the letters bigger. They post more often. They add more colours and more words. A megaphone makes you louder, not clearer.
If people did not understand the message when it was small, they will not understand it when it is big. Fix the message first. Then decide how loud to be.
Cut it in half
Here is a simple way to fix it. It takes one hour.
Open your website on your phone, or pick up your flyer, or read your bio. Read it out loud to a friend, the way you would speak to a customer in your shop.
- Cut every line you would not say face to face. If it sounds strange when you say it, it reads strange too.
- Cut every line that repeats another line. Keep the shorter one.
- Cut every line you copied from a competitor. They have it. Your customer does not need it.
Most pages lose half their words this way. Nothing important is lost. The one thing you wanted to say is now easy to find.
Keep the rest for when they ask
Saying less does not mean knowing less. A good shopkeeper puts one or two things in the window. The rest of the stock is inside, on the shelves, ready for the customer who walks in and asks.
Do the same with your words. Your prices, your history, your full list of services and your answers to common questions all have a place. Put them one step behind the first message, where an interested customer can find them.
The first message has one job. It makes the right person stop and come in.
Start here
- Write your one sentence. What you do and who it is for. If a 12-year-old cannot repeat it, make it simpler.
- Cut one page in half. Start with the page or post most people see first.
- Use the same sentence everywhere for a month. On the sign, in the bio and in your replies. The same words each time.
The test
Ask three customers what your business does. Do not help them. If all three give the same short answer, and it is the answer you chose, your message works. If they give three different answers, or one long answer, you are still saying too much.
Say less
The more you explain, the less they believe. People who are sure of what they offer do not need many words.
So choose your one thing. Say it clearly. Then stop one sentence earlier than feels safe.
OmaraniFounder, Basata StudioAll articles