How Clear is Your Message?

Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.

This is a common phrase used to describe leadership principles, but it also is extremely applicable to the world of marketing. You should always lead with clarity.

According to research from MarketingExperiments, there are three questions that people ask when they arrive on your website’s home page or a landing page:

1. Where am I?

2. What can I do here?

3. Why should I do it?

How do you answer all of these questions right off the bat? With a clear message.

The world of marketing and advertising has tricked us into thinking that persuasion trumps clarity and piquing interest is what creates buyers, but this idea could not be further from the truth.

People want to know first what your product or service is/does, or else they will be confused and confused people don’t convert.

So, how do you write with clarity?

STEP ONE: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

Knowing your audience is more than just understanding their demographics. It’s about knowing their pain points and the problems that they face each day.

Knowing your audience is the most important step to powerful storytelling. You can’t write a clear message without knowing the people you are speaking to.

STEP TWO: BE SPECIFIC WHEN DESCRIBING THE BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.

This gives your audience the ability to visualize clearly how it will enhance their lives and what they can do with it. Your audience should always land on your website or a landing page and know immediately what they can do and why they can do it. Numbers and percentages are a huge help with adding value and validating your offerings.

STEP THREE: GIVE YOUR AUDIENCE CLARITY ON THEIR FUTURE.

Marketing should paint a future picture. How will your product or service enhance your audience’s life and solve their problems? The reason people buy is to get something out of it in the future. Vividly paint that picture for your reader through clarity.

So the next time you sit down to write a message about your business, remember that clarity is kindness and trumps persuasion.