Succinct & Striking: Mastering Short-and-Sweet Messaging for Maximum Impact

“Don’t get cute or clever. Cute and clever language is almost always the enemy of
 clarity. Clarity sells, while cute and clever confuse.” – Donald Miller

 

Picture this: you’re sitting at home after a long day, scrolling your phone with the TV going while you’re talking to your spouse. Sounds pretty typical, right? Well, from a marketing perspective, this is the challenge that brands constantly face nowadays. With so many different forms of media and advertising around us 24/7, it can be tough to cut through the noise. So, how do you ensure your message reaches your core customers and doesn’t just get lost in the shuffle? The answer is keeping your messaging short yet impactful. So today, we’re going over how to create succinct and striking content to help you master short-and-sweet messaging for maximum impact.

Initial Considerations

Before we jump into how to execute concise messaging, we need to analyze the question, “Why is keeping your messaging short and sweet so important?” And the answer is simple: people have extremely small attention spans. Research shows you have between three and five seconds to hook your customer with your content before they scroll on to the next post in their feed. Therefore, you not only need to be concise (not cute or clever, as Donald points out) but you also must know exactly what the customer needs to hear in order to create a message that resonates with them.

But now you’re probably wondering, “OK, but how do I do that?” Well, there are a few things to consider when you’re building out your brand’s messaging including what your end goal is, who your core customers are, and what their pain points are. Once you identify these elements, you can work backwards to begin crafting your message.   Rough Draft It Up
 

Our first recommendation when you’re beginning to learn how to create short yet impactful messaging is to write everything down. Remember, rough drafts (even rough, rough, rough drafts) are your best friends! Even if they just seem like a brain dump at the time, sometimes when you revisit your rough drafts, you’ll find a plethora of little gems you can use within your content. It’s also important that you write your ideas down immediately when inspiration strikes! Don’t wait until you’re at your computer. Take out your phone and add a note (or even a voice memo) to remind yourself about your ideas so you can circle back to them when it’s time for content creation.

Simplicity Is Key

Now that you have some rough ideas down, something else you need to keep in mind when it comes to your messaging is that simplicity is key. Take the ideas you’ve come up with and make them even more simplistic. Don’t use big, fancy words to get your point across. Ideally, you want to stay at a sixth- to eighth-grade level of comprehension and grammar. In other words, if a middle schooler can’t read your content and fully understand what’s going on, it’s too high level. We know it’s tempting to throw industry-specific terms or jargon in, but this is your reminder to refrain from anything that will misconstrue or confuse your message. If people have to think about what you’re saying, the reality is that they’re just going to continue scrolling.

Play on People’s FOMO

The FOMO (fear of missing out) these days is real—so play on it! Once you’ve determined your core customer’s pain points and your strategies on how to convey your messaging in a simplistic manner, it’s time to get their attention with some scroll-stopping hooks that feed into people’s FOMO. For example, if you’re a website developer, you might put out a content piece entitled, “5 Ways Your Website Is Hurting Your Conversions.” For people who are already worried about their website conversions, this will have them stop in their tracks and read on (provided that the content is easy to understand, of course). Plus, this type of content has the added bonus of positioning you as an authority in your industry, further promoting your brand and letting people know you’re the go-to person to help solve their problems.

Don’t Forget a CTA 

Once you’ve crafted a few content ideas, simplified your messaging, and sprinkled in some content that appeals to your customer’s FOMO, don’t forget to add (at least one) call-to-action (CTA). We cannot overstate the importance of incorporating a relevant CTA into your messaging! Why? Because it tells your customers what you want them to do next. Maybe you want them to visit your website, download a free PDF, or perhaps it’s as simple as sending the content to a friend who needs it. Regardless of what you want your CTA to be, you need to have one; otherwise, your customer may leave your social media page, website, or other content piece without accomplishing their task. In the end, you should think of a CTA as a signpost that lets users know where you want them to go next.

Final Thoughts 

We hope these suggestions have given you some insights into not only why clear and concise messaging is important but also some tangible strategies on how to begin integrating it into your content strategy. Don’t be afraid to brainstorm on the go. Sometimes the roughest ideas create the best nuggets of information. Remember that the simpler, the better when it comes to your messaging, and to also play around with your customer’s inherent FOMO. And finally, don’t forget to add a clear CTA so people know what you want them to do next (peep ours at the bottom of this article for some inspiration!). Ultimately, in today’s digital age, you only have a few seconds to pop onto someone’s screen and hold their attention, making mastering short-and-sweet messaging a must-have for your brand.

If you’d like further advice or assistance with crafting concise yet impactful messaging for your business, contact our experts today at www.tulipmediagroup.com.