Why you should be able to explain your brand to a 5-year-old kid? And how to do it.

The short answer is because at the end of the day we are all kids in adults’ bodies.

The complex answer

Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology, says “In every adult, there lurks a child – an eternal child, something that is always becoming, is never completed and calls for unceasing care, attention and education. That is the part of the human personality which wants to develop and become whole.”

Every time you try to communicate your brand and offerings to someone, you are not talking with a mature whole adult, you are talking with the child who lives inside them. The kid who is searching for love, acceptance, care, protection, playfulness, learning, pleasure.

But as grown-ups - at least on how we look - instead of asking for candies, holding into our mom’s arms, and showing off drawings to get praise... we buy clothes, we build businesses, we go on weekend adventures.

Following the spirit of the time, as the contemporary world evolves, efficiency also becomes something we look for as an answer to fulfill our inner child needs. We want better, faster, and stronger of everything and anything.

However, we must be aware that this is not the fulfillment in itself. It is just the means through which we believe we will find it.

The importance of feeling

If you ask what people want, they will give you all the wrong answers - and it will drive you crazy offering solutions that won’t ever be enough.

But if you ask them how they FEEL, you will find a closer answer about what they are looking for.

We buy things and hire services, because we all want to feel different from how we feel regarding a specific angle of our lives.

Why do I travel? Because I want to feel different from how I feel in my routine, I want to feel inspired and creative, I want to gain perspective to bring more satisfaction to my daily life.

Why do I use google services? Because I want to feel less overwhelmed when searching through the enormous amount of digital garbage I accumulate online.

Different groups of people are likely to feel differently about the same things. That’s why it is important to understand your niche and audience. But this is a topic to be explored another time.

The simple answer

The simple answer for why you must be able to explain your brand to a 5 year-old kid is because you will make sure that everyone understands what you offer in terms of value. And if people understand what you are offering they are more likely to buy from you.

We don’t put effort into understanding things we don’t.?

This is not a natural behavior of the human being. We are afraid of the things we don’t understand, and to protect ourselves we push them away. This is the story of all atrocities committed by us along our existence.

If people are not clear about what your brand offers to them, they will push it away.

I talk to many CEOs and business owners who despite running their companies for years already, still struggle to make people understand what is so special about what they do, and why. They are not running their companies to their full potential, because even themselves struggle to see which one it is.

If you have a solution which you are confident that helps your audience to get what they want (love, acceptance, care, protection, etc). But you still struggle to make them fully understand that, it means that you are not articulating your brand value properly.

You are not explaining your brand to a 5 year-old kid.

How to explain your brand to a 5 year-old kid:

1. Avoid wanting to sound smart, different, intelligent. Focus on being crystal clear about meaning.
2. Cut the technical language. (Tech and finance people this is a big call out to you, but it also suits any other industry or area of expertise). If someone has to study to understand what you are saying, use different words. Your audience is unlikely to have the same understanding that you do. That’s why they need you.
3. I challenge you to not use expressions and words like these: maximize, potential, next level, high-quality, results driven, empower, optmize, synergy, unpack, meaningful, high-value, and many other words over abused today to give a sense of grandiosity but lack substance on itself. A kid doesn’t understand these words. Words like these are more likely to create noise rather than clarity.
4. Use common words - that even a kid can understand. When in doubt, try to be as descriptive as possible about what you do. Being clear never stopped anyone from buying what you have.
5. Paint a picture in the head of your audience. I asked a few people how they would explain their brand to a 5-year-old. I loved how one person who runs a SEO business described his brand: “I take traffic from your competitors and I give it to you”. When I read this (putting the context of the child), personally it instantly came to my mind the image of someone taking all the candies from the other kids and giving it all to me. I laughed, I understood, and I felt good. Another example of a renovation company was: “We destroy your house and rebuild it the way you like”.
6. Talk about the transformation. Instead of focusing all your energy on your product, talk about the end goal: how does your brand make things different? And let them connect with the transformation they want for themselves, so they feel differently.

This is not your tag line

Before you go in a rush to judge the previous suggestions in terms of application, or to start communicating your brand as you are talking to a 5 year-old at every touch point, just stop. And reflect.

This is an exercise for gaining brand clarity. An exercise to practice how to articulate your brand in a way that people understand the value you give to them.

From the simple fact that you are able to explain it to a 5 year-old, it will give you plenty of possibilities to articulate your brand value in different ways, for different purposes.

Final reminder: Don’t be afraid to sound simple. We love things and people we understand. We avoid those we don’t.

Now tell me, how would you explain your brand to a 5-year-old kid?