You may be reading that title and thinking “What the heck is Elizabeth talking about this week! Worst possible way?! What?!” Yep, you heard it right… say what you do in your business in the worst possible way.
I saw this in a private Facebook group I’m apart of months ago. It was supposed to just be a funny comment thread. But, as I read through the many comments I realized how valuable this exercise is for getting clarity on what you do and learning to talk about your business in a way that works.
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To comment with what you do in the “worst way” was the only direction given, and the comment section blew up! So many people were saying “Is it just me that thinks some of these sound more awesome than the normal descriptions?!” I read through almost all of the comments on this post, I found myself laughing at many of them in a good way and also thinking “Man, that probably sounds way better than what you have written on your website!” And, I was right!
See, this exercise wasn’t meant to be a marketing thing to help you get clarity on your business. It was actually just supposed to just be a funny Facebook group thing. But, I think this concept can be used to help you actually say what you do in a normal, relatable way.
When we write website copy (or any copy) for our business, we tend to get really awkward and confused. We want to talk in a way that no one actually talks, and this doesn’t work. We use words that no one outside of our industry can understand. And definitely not a 5th grader, which did you know your website copy should be at a fifth-grade reading level? Yep. And, we end up with some jumbled, really boring words that make people want to click the heck away. So, I don’t want that for you, and I think this opening statement that we put on our websites, what I call a brand statement, is one of the most important things on your website.
When you have a well-designed website, people WILL actually read your brand statement. They might not read everything, but they’ll read that. And, this matters. This statement is what can intrigue people to KEEP SCROLLING.
My challenge for you today is to try writing what you do in the worst possible way. In the way that is blunt, direct, and possibly funny because of how honest it is. Now, to be fair in this Facebook group, there were over 300 comments and MANY of them were NOT something that should go on your website or anywhere in marketing. (But really, funny does not always equal good marketing.) As an example, someone wrote “People pay me to shoot them”, talking about being a photographer. Obviously, not what we are going for here, but still is funny. Please do not put that on your photography website, haha.
As an example of one I really loved, Kit Pang, founder of Boston Speaks, wrote: “I help people not pee their pants when they speak in public.” This is brilliant, simple, and relatable.
This might sound like a silly exercise, but regardless of if you come up with anything good, it will be an exercise in thinking outside of the box about your business. Which we NEED. Most business owners talk too lightly and infrequently about what problems they solve for their customers. But, this matters.
If people don’t understand what problem you will solve for them, then they will not understand why they should pay you.
So, start saying what problem you solve, and to actually answer that, you might need to think in the terms of humor, bluntness and a little sass too.
So, do this exercise, then come on over to Instagram and tell me YOUR answer. Let’s all laugh at what we share and hopefully get some good marketing language out of it, even if what we originally write takes lots of refining! Click here to head over to Instagram and share your answer!
