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What we want to be known for

It’s a very noisy world. And we’re not gonna get a chance to get people to remember much about us. – Steve Jobs

It is indeed a very noisy world and I think Steve Jobs’ take from 1997 has only grown in importance since back in the days when he said those words to introduce the “Think different” campaign.

The world is not going to remember much about us. Which is why we need to make sure that it remembers the right things. The things that we truly stand for and that we are proud to be associated with so that it fuels our motivation and inspires our actions.

This is not to be confused with a fancy sounding marketing slogan. Fancy is great. But it’s not the point – let alone the starting point.

The starting point is that people need to be able to find an anchor in our message.

To achieve that, we don’t need fanciness but clarity: Clarity about what we want to be known for and why that would matter to our audience.

With that clarity, we’ll be in a much better position to find the best wording that turns that clarity into a fancy slogan.

First comes clarity about what we want to be known for, only then comes the genius marketing plan, the communication strategy, and the actual implementation.

When everything’s important, nothing’s important

This is the blueprint of most presentations, reports, pitches, websites, you name it.

Everything’s important. And therefore, nothing is important.

The thing is this: If you don’t pick what’s important you’re asking your audience to do it for you.

You might not be too happy with their choice.

Better to find the courage to do it yourself.

In one sentence

Many great products can be described in one sentence:

  • “The notebook for creative people.”
  • “The fastest acceleration of a production car ever.”
  • “The headphones that let you work in silence.”
  • “The blackest black paint.” (Black 3.0)

Here’s a simple test: Can a customer (not you) describe your product in one sentence?

PS: If not, then my new course “Crack the Clarity Code” might be for you. It’s launching today and you can get 10% off using code “IwantClarity” when you order in the first week.

Sweat the details: What it really means

Focusing hurts. It means letting go of details. Details that we care about. Details that we feel we can’t possibly leave out. Details that are crucial to the conclusion that our product is superior to other offerings.

Here’s the catch: If you feel that you can’t leave it out because it would hurt your message too much, your audience will happily do it for you. There’s no way they will recall all of the 53 details that you’d like to share with them because you can leave none of them out.

There’s no doubt that the reason you are extraordinary at what you do is because you care. You sweat the details. You connect the dots.

But when it comes to communicating your product, there’s a crucial difference as sweating the details means something completely different.

It means condensing the details into a clear and concise message that’s the perfect summary of your details. A message that represents the details but is not just an enumeration of all the facts. Ideally, it’s a message that’s distinct from any other message because it’s only these details that lead to this message.

And so, focusing empowers.

Kind of remarkable

The Blue Man Group is kind of remarkable. Actually, it’s two kinds of remarkable: “built in” and “on top”.

Built in remarkable is the way they play the drums. They are highly skilled to get fascinating sounds out of unusual musical items (mostly drums). It makes for a remarkable show that people speak about (read: “make remarks about”) long after.

I call it “built in” because there would be no show without these elements. You can’t make a drum music show without playing some kind of drums.

But there’s another remarkable component to the Blue Man Group, the kind that I call “on top” remarkable: the blue skin color. They could make the same show without the makeup. But they choose not to. It’s built on-top of the actual product to make it even more remarkable.

So remarkable, in fact, that you can’t speak about the Blue Man Group, without mentioning that they are, well, blue men.

And thus, just because it’s on top doesn’t mean that it’s not essential. In fact, the Blue Man Group came to be because the three founders drew the attention of MTV due to their blue masks. The blue faces helped spread the word much more easily. The group understood that there was no shortage of remarkable music shows but a shortage of blue men making remarkable music shows.

Here’s the best part: once established, on-top remarkable becomes something that others can’t copy. While there are a lot of great music shows, there is no second Blue Man Group (other than their own worldwide shows, of course).

What kind of remarkable is your product?

Status boosters

When you pass a new information along and when that information is in line with your reputation then the mere act of passing along can boost your status, e.g. …

You can be the first to know something, boosting your status as the person who always has the lastest info.

You can be the one who knows the research behind some finding, boosting your status as the person who others can trust.

You can be the one who knows the latest innovation, boosting your status as the one who knows all the cool stuff.

You can be the one who knows the latest gossip, boosting your status as the person who is well connected.

You can be the one who knows where to find the best deal, boosting your status as the clever trader.

You can be the one who knows a life hack, a path forward, a new idea, or many other different things … boosting your status in all sorts of different ways.

Aligning with this status boost is one of the most reliable ways to get others to pass our message along. What would it be for your message?

What would Taylor tell their colleagues in the coffee lounge about it?

In many companies, it’s the most valuable office space. It’s the place where connections are made and ideas are born. It’s where information is passed on: The coffee lounge.

A common remark that’s made there goes something like this: “Have you heard about X? It does Y! It relates to our problem Z!”

Ans so, one of the most useful questions you can ask yourself when working on the message that you want people to pass along about your product is this:

“What would Taylor tell their colleagues in the coffee lounge about it?”

Taylor won’t share what’s important to you. She will share what feels important to her. Most importantly, she will decide what that is. And she will pass it along using her own words.

You’ve had your chance during the pitch to make your point and tell your story. But then, it’s Taylor’s turn to decide to bring it into the coffee lounge and pass it along.

The good news is this: If you’re aware of that, you can craft your story accordingly.

So, what would you like Taylor to tell her colleagues? Why would she? Your task is to bridge that gap.

The risk of passing a message along

When we tell our story, the ultimate result is when people pass our message along. But let’s face it: Passing anything along is kind of a risk for our audience.

Think about yourself. When, for example, you recommend something to someone, you’re extending your credibility to the thing that you recommend. That’s why we recommend only things that we feel comfortable with ourselves.

It doesn’t stop there. We intuitively understand that, ultimately, the person who asked for our opinion needs to be happy with the thing we recommended to them. And so, we put one extra layer of carefulness on top of our recommendation. Because what if they don’t like it, right?

It would be a threat to our status.

On the other hand, the more someone can be sure that the thing they pass along will boost their status, the more likely they are to actually pass it along.

Will it boost your audience’s status when they pass your message along?

Tesla’s marketing

The easiest way to get people talking about your product is to start with a product that’s worth talking about.

That’s why, for example, the new Tesla Plaid S accelerates from 0—60 mph in less than 2 sec – or 1,99 sec to be more precise.

It’s the fastest acceleration for any production car ever sold. And it gets talked about a lot. It’s what spreads the word about Tesla’s updated Model S.

Tesla excels at this kind of marketing. It’s easy to overlook that this is by design: a clear focus on messages that spread.

Rather than mentioning the acceleration as one technical feature among a thousand other things that could be said about the car … rather than mentioning it as bullet point 3 on slide number 17, they started with the message and made it the key pass-along phrase: this is the fastest acceleration ever built in production cars. Even more: they designed the car so that it can accelerate that fast. The message is not an afterthought after the car was built. The car was built with the message in mind. It’s by design.

What’s worth talking about for your product? How can you make it the centrepiece of your communication so that it can spread because you made it super easy for your audience to pass it along? How can you build your product so that it becomes worth talking about?

Hoping that something sticks

A common approach to communication is to throw a bunch of things at the audience and hope that something sticks:

We have this and that. And this. And also this. And that one, too.

Also, don’t forget these top 17 features of our offering …

Here are 23 awards and 13 testimonials of happy clients to prove that this is, in fact, great …

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and our YouTube channel. Also listen to our podcast and become a fan on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Because you never know who exactly is in the audience. So, it seems sensible to include something for everyone. If this message doesn’t stick, then maybe that other one will. Or the third one. Or the 24th. So, we throw all of it at our audience and hope that one will stick.

Of course that never works. Because when you’ve got 24 message – or even just five – it’s going to overwhelm any audience. Each of these messages will be weaker than if you focused on one strong message. And put everything that you say under service of this one message.

It’s a difference to say 24 things that – step by step – lead to a strong message or to say 24 things each of which is their own message that compete for our audience’s attention.

I’d always prefer one message and to make it resonate so strongly that it leads to change.

Spread the Word

Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz