You might like this tip from storytelling expert Donald Miller.
He reckons that in our world of information overload, our messages always need to pass the ‘caveman grunt’ test.
According to Miller, in his book ‘Building a Story Brand’, there are three questions audiences must answer if we expect them to engage with our business.
And we need to answer them within 5 seconds of looking at our website:
- What are you offering?
- How will it make my life better?
- What do I need to do to buy it?
Miller calls it ‘passing the grunt test’.
We need to ask: ‘Could a caveman look at your website and immediately grunt what you offer?’
Would he be able to grunt an answer to the three questions posed above?
For example, if you were a tech company, would he be able to grunt:
‘Ug! Ug! You make cool websites, me get more clients, me ring for chat’?
And I don’t think it has to just relate to websites, either. We can also apply it to:
- proposals
- emails
- brochures
- presentations
It’s even useful if you’re not in a marketing or sales role, where you just need to get your message across and persuade people to act on something.
So, does your marketing pass the grunt test?
Try it for yourself to see if your messaging is ‘Haven’t a clue’ or ‘Yabba Dabba Doo!’
