Brand advisor Yvonne Tocquigny says brands should focus on delivering compelling, simple messages
Steve Jobs demonstrated the power of a simple, clear message. When he delivered Apple presentations introducing new technologies, Jobs took concepts that were hard to explain and found a way to get his message across without pages of PowerPoint bullets or sentences crammed full of technical descriptions. Most of us will agree that his style was breakthrough in its simplicity, and most of us aspire to create memorable, simple messages that are anchored by one inspiring idea. Yet most of us fail to do so.
Why is it so hard for B2B companies to crystalize their promise into a simple, clear, easy-to- understand statement? Usually, the trees obscure our view of the forest. And for B2B marketers, the trees are the multitude of features and benefits that are jumbled together into a complicated catchall statement that tries so hard to include everything – the result is that there is no lasting impression.
We fall down in thinking that our positioning is stronger if it includes multiple benefits. It isn’t stronger. It becomes what I call “word soup.” Creativity, discipline and restraint are required to sum up a company’s promise into a simple, inspiring statement. When Steve Jobs announced 3G for the iPhone in 2008, he described it as “amazingly zippy.” He understood that plain English comes across as more honest, genuine and personal than do technically accurate descriptions. Later, he described the MacBook Air as “the world’s thinnest notebook.” And he described the first iPod as “1000 songs in your pocket,” as opposed to saying it contained 5 gigabytes of memory. I’ll bet there were engineers who wanted to pump those statements up with features and benefits, but the restraint to keep it simple proved winning.
Most companies offer plenty of messaging on features and benefits, but they skip the inspiring, memorable umbrella message. Why? Because this is hard to create. To develop such a message, here are a few considerations:
Focus on the highest level source of delight your company or product can produce for audiences – the results, not features and benefits. Most B2B companies have similar overall benefits: save time, increase profit and make work easier. Do the homework to understand what these benefits actually mean in your customers’ lives, or for the success of the teams at work.
Speak to the heart, not the head. This will imbue your brand with a soul. Your word choice must focus on inspiring rather than describing. Include words that encourage audiences to imagine a better future for themselves.
Keep it simple. How simple? Even if your audience is a group of scientists, your inspiring, overall descriptor should be easily understood by an eighth grader.
Avoid industry jargon and acronyms.
Go for a truly original message. If your message sounds familiar and comfortable, that may be because it’s not original. A truly original statement will make folks feel a bit uncomfortable at first. That’s because it’s new. That feeling will soon pass, but recognize the discomfort as a good thing, not as a reason to doubt yourself.
Consider an outside perspective. It’s often hard to tackle this exercise if you are living in the midst of it every day. An outside perspective can be illuminating and helpful.
When you finally land on your compelling, simple message, stand by it while everyone gets comfortable with it. This will be an important part of your brand foundation.
