Core Principles
- Position products and services to help people survive, thrive, be accepted, find love, achieve an identity, or bond with a tribe (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
- That’s the only thing people care about.
- Get to the point.
- If you confuse, you’ll lose.
- Customers make buying decisions not based on what we say but on what they hear.
Clarifying Your Message
- Identify what the customer wants.
- What problem we are helping them solve.
- What life will look like after our services.
Customers ask three key questions:
- What do you offer?
- How will it make my life better?
- What do I need to do to buy it?
- “Alfred Hitchcock described a good story as life with the dull parts taken out.”
- There needs to be something at stake—show people the cost of not doing business with us.
- Make sure you tell customers that you care.
- Can I trust this person?
- Can I respect this person?
Leadership & Storytelling
- Always remember, people want to be taken somewhere.
- Everyone wants a happy ending:
- Win some sort of power, position, or status.
- Be unified with somebody or something that makes them whole.
- Experience some kind of self-realisation.
- Status, self-realisation, self-acceptance, transcendence are key elements of a compelling brand story.
Implementation
- Clearly state what you do above the fold.
- Call to action (CTA) – top right in the header and centre above the fold (users first analyse a site in a Z pattern). Add the transitional CTA next to the direct one.
- Images of success.
- Breakdown of services for different customer segments.
- Use few words.
One-Liner Framework
- What do you do?
- Character
- Problem
- Plan
- Success
Examples:
- “I turn confused bass enthusiasts into bass gods through a simple and logical process.”
- “We help overwhelmed event planners book the perfect entertainment for an event that’s remembered forever.”
- “We help struggling websites generate more business online by delivering your marketing goals.”
- “We help websites become more visible online to generate more sales & wealth.”
- “Fed up with dating apps? Press that like button, let’s chat, meet up, and possibly get a mortgage together.”
How to Get Good Testimonials
- What was the problem you were having before you discovered our product?
- What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?
- What was different about our product?
- Take us to the moment when you realised our product was actually working to solve your problem.
- Tell us what life looks like now that your problem is solved or being solved.