How To Write The Perfect One-Liner
Have you ever been asked at a party, “What do you do?”
Some of us don’t know how to answer that simple question, while others feel VERY confident they can. Which are you?
If you are the latter, after a few minutes of you *very clearly* describing your company, the puzzled look on the other person’s face will tell you a different story.
Why didn’t they understand?
When talking about our business or organization it is essential that we contextualize what we say in a way that will make sense to the person to whom we are speaking. If we use tons of insider language, or focus on our history or get too granular about a product, they won’t be able to follow us.
What is a one-liner?
A one-liner is more succinct than an elevator pitch, but more illustrative than a mission statement. It clearly outlines the problem you help your customers solve in a simple, relevant, and repeatable way. A solid one-liner basically answers two questions:
What do you do?
Why should I care?
No matter what you do for work or what organization you support, it is critical to be able to answer those two questions clearly and easily. It’s also important to empower your team members to do it to!
Creating a One Liner and repeating it over and over is a great way to spread word about what you do and get people to ask for your business.
That’s why crafting a great one-liner is essential for every business and organization.
How to write a good one-liner.
If you’ve been through the StoryBrand process with us, this might sound familiar. That’s because a good one-liner is really a distilled version of your BrandScript composed of 3 parts. Best part is? It’s really simple.
Here’s what you need to do to create a winning one liner:
Problem - Start off by stating the problem or pain point that most of your clients face.
Solution - Talk about your solution to the problem. How you help people fix this problem.
Success - Clearly explain how your customer will feel after you solve their problem.
Here is one of my own one liners as an example to help inspire your own;
[Problem] Most businesses waste money on bad marketing. [Solution] We help them clarify and extend their message through web design and social media management [Success] so they can connect with new customers and grow their business.
Now it’s your turn - give it a shot!
Here’s the challenge - create your own one-liner and send it to me. I’d love to give you feedback and guide you to create a home-run! Seriously - no cost, no strings attached!
Seriously…do the exercise and send it to me 🤓(seth@beknown.nyc)
