New business: dumb it down

You’re probably pretty clever. You once built a business and then kept it alive during the pandemic - and it’s not like things were super-easy before that came along!

Things may have changed shape somewhat, but you are still in possession of the skills and abilities that have allowed you to do business. So, why - when you talk about what you do - do you suddenly start talking in tag-lines and fortune cookie language?

If you consider yourself/yourselves to be creative people who are good at coming up with smart ideas and then executing them, why don’t you say so? Stop over-thinking the descriptions on your outbound collateral. Referring to yourselves a “one-stop full-service creative function” 1) doesn’t really tell me what you’re good at and 2) makes you sound identical to about 100 agencies sharing the same post code.

English is a beautiful thing, but when it comes to communicating we tend to be too influenced by what we see others doing. They’re looking at you wondering if they should sound more like you at exactly the same time as you’re looking at them wondering which wording to steal for your own site.

Be honest and clear in your communications. If you’re a collection of exceptional animators, say so. Don’t open up a thesaurus and try to devise some clever ‘showy’ version (oh and PLEASE don’t tell me you’re going to bring something “alive online”).

Most people looking to bring in outside help have a problem. A new launch, a new direction, a new task handed down to them. They can’t animate/brand/promote/market/app-build/whatever themselves, which is why they’re looking at your site/creds. Recognise what you can actually do for someone and let them know. In English. Quickly.