Our company often works with start ups at a very early stage. These companies have just come up with their “ah-ha!” idea and generally have no clue where to go from there. We come in to help bring about the execution that brings the idea to life, and more importantly… brings it to the consumer.
One thing we often have to stress to our clients is that their idea is too complicated. They forget that everyone doesn’t always have the inside knowledge they have acquired throughout their years. It shouldn’t take a genius to understand what you provide.
Here are a few key tips to dumb-down your company.
1. Focus on “Day One”, Not “One Day”
Those who are creative tend to dream BIG! “One day, we will… (fill in the blank). However, the market may not be ready for your grande idea all at once. If you are out to “change the world” (and many start-ups would say they are) chances are your idea is different than what the consumer is used to.
It is challenging to learn a lot of new things at once. So start small. Rome wasn’t built on day one. Strip down your model to the core features. Call it version 1 and let the CONSUMER drive you to version 2.
2. You Are Not the Consumer
You have a lot of background and knowledge in the area of your business. The consumer does not. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need you… right? So sell yourself to the average man.
Toss out the technical jargon and all assumptions. Start incredibly basic and small. Let the consumer discover after they understand the core of what you do.
Remember the game where you had to give directions on how to do a basic action to someone who wasn’t from this world? You had to assume that every aspect of the process was new to the other person. The same applies to selling your new idea. Never assume certain aspects are common knowledge.
3. Think: Elevator Pitch
You only have a short window to keep the consumer’s attention. Ramble too long and you will seem complicated and intense. Condense your core message into a quick 15 second statement. If you do it right, you’ll have a lifetime to sell them on more.
Doug Winegardner is the CEO & Founder of Radius Media Agency
Great post! I can definitely relate…and learn from this.