Quarter-Inch Holes: $.99
I’ve been reading Luke Sullivan’s Hey, Whipple
“People don’t buy quarter-inch drill bits. They buy quarter-inch holes.”
Extending that idea to some of our clients:
- Leatherman sells not knives, or even preparedness. They sell an escape from a sticky situation.
- Freightliner doesn’t sell trucks, aerodynamics, or improved fuel economy. They sell more money in a driver or company’s pocket.
- LP doesn’t sell high-tech building products. They sell the American Dream: an affordable, well-built place to call home.
What is your company really selling?
[…] 1. Will the audience get it? Use words and phrases you’ve heard the customer say. Avoid, when possible, the industry jargon of the company selling it. Unless industry wonks are the audience… 2. What are you selling them? Really? Are you selling a widget? Or are you selling the idea that a widget provides some benefit, such as saving time, making money, protecting their future, recapturing vigor, etc? And ask yourself this: what’s the benefit of the benefit? 3. Does it work in context? A billboard may not be the best place for a paragraph. A trade pub may not be the best place for a consumer ad. […]
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