To be right you must be specific — Kelford Labs Daily

“So, ‘good writerly habit’ might consist of continually revising toward specificity, so that specificity can appear and then produce plot (or, as we prefer to call it, ‘meaningful action’).”

— George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

Leah sometimes jokes that our job is to help our clients write a single declarative sentence.

Because it’s hard. It’s hard to say something simple, true, and specific.

It’s so much easier to say, “Hire us because we’re good” instead of “Hire us because of this specific reason.”

But specificity sells.

Vagueness and broadness push our prospects away, as they search for someone with experience with their challenge.

It’s our job, as marketers, to help our clients find the true, declarative statement they can make.

As David Ogilvy said, the secret to writing great marketing is to, “Tell the truth and make it interesting.”

Sometimes, as John E. Powers wrote well over a century ago, that requires fixing whatever in the business needs to be fixed so that the truth is tellable.

Often, we’ll work with our clients on streamlining and focusing their service offering, so they can make a single declarative statement about what they do and who they do it for.

We’ll rewrite their website so they make the statement compellingly and creatively, so that their prospects notice and read it.

And we’ll show them how to turn that declarative sentence into a set of messages they can deploy on social media, at in-person networking events, at trade shows and conferences, and anywhere else they can reach their ideal clients.

But it starts with that sentence, that single declarative statement.

Because what matters most to your prospect is that you have experience helping people with the problem or opportunity they currently have.

How could you ever assure them you do without being specific about the problem, and your solution?

Last week, we presented the first draft of a marketing position to a new client, and we were thrilled when they said, “This isn’t just great, it’s right.”

How? Because it was specific.

So if you want marketing that’s better than good, it’s also right, it’s time to get specific.

Reply to this email to tell me what you think, or ask any questions!

Kelford Inc. shows experts the way to always knowing what to say.