Content Writing Tip: Focus Your Marketing Message

There’s something magical about the number three. Think back to all the stories you heard as a kid.

• Goldilocks and the three bears
• The three little pigs
• A genie who grants three wishes

Somehow, 2 seems like too little, and 4 is too much. We naturally like to hear things in sets of three.

I have no idea why this is, but you can use it to strengthen your business identity in the minds of your potential clients.

Imagine what they experience when they come to your site. They are looking around trying to figure out what it is that you do. And what do they find? Well, here’s where information can be your best friend or worst enemy.

If they arrive and they hear of a bazillion ways that you can help them, then they may tune out due to information overload. However, if you leverage the magic number three and use it to guide your message, then you can offer them something that feels “just right”.

That brings us to today’s content writing tip…

Identify three marketing themes that best relate who you are and what you do. Then, focus your message on those three themes.

Making the Power of Three Work for You

Since I don’t know what your business is, I’m going to use a hypothetical example to illustrate how this works.

Let’s pretend that you are a private investigator (mainly because I was a fan of Magnum P.I. on Friday nights back in the day). Let’s go further and say that your niche involves working with criminal attorneys.

Now that we know what your niche is, we need to decipher your three themes. There are a variety of different ways you could support your clients’ practices, but for the sake of focusing, we’re going to run with these:

• Proven track record of gathering the evidence needed to win cases
• More than a decade of experience in law enforcement prior to entering into the private investigator field
• Certified Legal Investigator with a prominent national organization (how does the mythical “Unified Wise Owl Investigators National” — or UWIN — sound?)

Let’s take a moment and break out why those three are important.

First, you don’t just “gather evidence” for clients. You gather what they need to “win the case”. This is important. Make sure your message highlights exactly how you can help your clients overcome the obstacles they face.

Second, your experience is unique to you. Even if you are new to this exact business, you have still spent 10+ years in the general field. This sets you apart from the competition.

Third, if the decade of experience wasn’t enough to make you stand head and shoulders above the competition, being certified by a national organization should. Since such a prominent organization trusts you, your clients should too.

Once you have identified your three themes, start finding ways to present that information as a coherent whole.

Putting it in Action

It’s time to start working on your homepage. Remember, this is the most important page on your site, so make it count. You have a minimal amount of time to maximize your effect.

As you read the sample copy below, pay attention to how the three themes weave together and how the message doesn’t stray.

*    *   SAMPLE TEXT    *    *

When your client’s future is on the line, you don’t want to guess. There is just too much at stake to take that chance.

You want someone who:

• Knows the score [highlighting experience]
• Has proven experience [again, highlighting experience]
• Is respected in the field [hinting toward certification]

With over a decade of experience working with criminal cases in law enforcement [highlighting experience] and having been certified by UWIN [highlighting certification], my perspective and credentials go beyond most investigators’. And my track record shows that I can find the evidence to help you close your case [highlight the results].

*    *    *    *    *

We’ll stop there. That should be enough to give you an idea.

Note how I keep hitting on those three themes. My goal is to keep that message focused to introduce visitors to what I do and how I can help them, without overloading them and turning them off.

Your Turn

Now it’s your turn. If you haven’t done this already, give it a try. As you go through this exercise, make sure to identify somewhere in the process how you are unique. It may be one of the three themes, or it may be the combination of them all in a unique way.

I would love to hear what you come up with. So, drop the three themes you select for your marketing message in the comments below or in our Facebook group. The more you participate, the more we can all learn together.