Simple. Untangle. Message: Storytelling in a Chaotic Time

When biases flying around, people are trapped in their “news bubbles” and refuse to recognize what others are saying, what you are going to do to convince a deeply divided audience?

I was preparing to write this week’s newsletter on tech billionaires such as Elon Musk’s influence but then I realized a recent presentation on messaging. I thought a powerful positioning, messaging, and storytelling is more urgent amid post-election reckoning and chaos.

In his book, Simply Put, business author Ben Guttermann outlined one key message which is to keep your messaging simple, undiluted, and focused.

Ultimately, people ignore what your product is but what it can do for them. In other words, you need to appeal to their emotional needs. You need to ask yourself, so what? So what? So what?

So what about a gum? It provides fresh breath.

So what about a fresh breath? More successful dates

So what about a successful date? You want love and belonging

You see, ask three So What, you come up with the key message, which taps into human need.

So ask, "So What?" three times, it’s a simple yet powerful drill. It probably is not going to win you an award but it helps you understand the underlying motivations.

Ultimately, it helps you to understand why people need what you offer.

Now teaching at a local college, Ben also outlined several helpful tools. Messaging is simply repeating of a key message, not adding something that dilutes the previous points you raised earlier.

Have you noticed how politicians repeat the same false claims over and again and sometimes even double down?

When people believe your repetition offers something of value, whether taps into fear, insecurity, or economic anxiety, they tend to easily buy in.

Secondly, raise above the noise. Among hundreds of Self-Help books, one book titled “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck” would stand out, but only when no other books were using the profane in their titles.

Similarly, chaotic packaging caught people’s eyes, only when there was not yet a trend.

In other words, intriguing, surprising, and WOW-inducing messages surely raise eyebrows, albeit with a short shelf life.

Empathy and enlightened idiots.

We are trapped in bubbles. “liberals”, “conservatives”, “guns, gays, God”, and “cancel culture”. What would you do in this chaos?

You need to test messages. What would a human say it? What are the words they use?

In English, there are 500 words mostly commonly used, and 1000 words which covers 75% of conversations in our work and daily lives.

Pay attention to What matters, and cut out the rest (bluff).

Test your message. Look for fractions and bumps that are not aligned. The goal is to minimize such fractions.

Have you noticed how easy it is to buy on Amazon? The site designers make it so straightforward with a single goal and cut the rest out, that you simply can’t go off track, off-ramp and go somewhere else.

Extra point: Big words make us sound stupid.

Have you speak it loudly? Does it sound like a regular essay or a coamplified essay?

Like the game Jenga, you keep pulling from the bottom until the tower collapses. Until then, keep pulling.

Here is your Bonus:

If you spot you use “and” a lot, pause and examine. Do these two sentences you connect using “and” really make sense?

Look at this one: “I think that’s the only way and I would have to do it with no other options”

If “and” does little sense, how about using “so”?

Look again: “I think that’s the only way so I would have to do it with no other options”

My personal favorite takeaway? when people look at your message on your website, or on paper, they don’t read from top to bottom, nor from bottom to top, they Scan it.

So the next time you design how to make your messages in a story stand out, don’t just put it upfront nor put it all the way in the end. Emphasize your key message throughout.

So, you can truly stand out, above all the noise.

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