Clarify your message!

I've just finished reading Building a Storybrand. This line stood out:

Imagine every time we talk about our products to potential customers, they have to start running on a treadmill. Literally, they have to jog the whole time we’re talking. How long do you think they’re going to pay attention? Don't expect your customers to burn calories — Donald Miller

At a dinner party people might listen to your jargon. But, you're not at a dinner party. You're on the internet. People will not be bored on the internet. Cmd + n. You're gone forever.

So how do you clarify your message? Well, Apple 40 years ago is an interesting example:

January 1983. Apple finish production of their new computer, Lisa.

They launch it with a nine-page ad in the New York Times.

It's nine pages of geek speak. Nobody outside NASA is interested. Lisa sells just 10,000 units.

Fourteen years later, Steve Jobs returns to Apple.

In his first campaign back they went from nine pages in the New York Times to two words on billboards across America: Think different.

There would be no computers in the ads. No technical jargon. No noise.

Jobs realised that people don’t buy the best product. They buy the best story. So that's what he sold.

You see greatness. You want to emulate it. Apple is how you get there.

It's a simple story. Light on calories. And it stuck. The campaign ran for 5 years. Think different is still on the back of some Apple computers today.

Thanks for reading. If you'd like to learn more about marketing I've got a load more real world examples over on MarketingExamples.com.