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Three is Marketing's Magic Number

by Rebel Brown

When is the last time you read your marketing collateral from a customer's perspective? Been a while? So do this now. Grab that latest brochure or product sheet. Now read it as if you knew nothing about your business, its products or its expertise. What are the top three messages you come away with? Can you even narrow it down to three?

Technology companies tend to take the "throw everything at the wall" approach to messaging. I don't mean that negatively. Well, maybe I do. It's just that technology products have so many different ways they can impact different customers, so many cool things that companies want to talk about. Tech marketers often fall into the trap of trying to tell everyone everything—and then let the audience pick what's valuable to them.

The problem? Customers can't "consume," much less remember, all the messages you give them. They are not sponges. They can't absorb every aspect of your technology like you can. They don't live and breathe it every day as you do. Neither do your sales reps for that matter. Neither do your partners.
When you overload your audience with too many messages, you risk not communicating at all.

The solution? Try synthesizing everything to threes. Three is the magic marketing number. Okay, I'll admit, sometimes I stretch it to five. But never, ever, more messages than that. Anything more is noise. Why three? Because studies have shown that that's the optimum amount of information ‘buckets’ that a person can process at any given point in time.

"But I have more messages than three, more value!”

Sure you do. The trick is to create, organize and then tie your story together so that it flows in blocks of three messages at a time. So how do you do that? I create a positioning matrix with three facets then drill down into stories within each facet. Here’s how:

• Start by synthesizing your overall message into three key statements. I usually create these messages, around three standard facets; your company and its expertise, your solutions and their customer value, and your market and your leadership within it;

• Under each of those single key positioning statements, create up to three evidence messages that demonstrate your success in that specific area. At this point, I'm usually still at the business level benefits, and I haven't entered the technology zone as yet. Sometimes it’s hard in the tech business, but stay focused on business evidence, based on customer success, at this point in time;

• Under each of those three areas, add three highly specialized messages with very specific proof points. And guess what? Now your messaging can dive into those technology claims you were chomping at the bit to share;

• Now go look at your target markets. For each target market, apply the top three messages that map to their specific problems. Tune them to meet the specific market needs, and add the supporting evidence you need from real world customers in that market—aka case studies, customer quotes, quantitative supporting evidence

Great messaging synthesizes a crisp and compelling story that customers and prospects easily and quickly comprehend and value. By following the rule of threes, you'll be able to create just those stories.

Not Exactly What I Had in Mind

I personally dislike the negative approach to writing. But in this case—I think offering examples of what doesn’t work is a good way to drive home my approach. So here goes. Below you’ll see opening sentences describing the leading offerings from three vendors’ in the high technology space. Each ‘could’ be viewed as using the rule of threes:

• Vendor 1’s product "delivers unsurpassed customer value, with breakthrough reliability, scalability and manageability, all within a highly cost efficient and green platform;"

• Vendor 2’s product "offers clients unmatched performance and scalability, simple manageability, industry leading reliability and the lowest cost of operations available;"

• Vendor 3’s product "powers real-time performance and scalability while delivering unmatched reliability, availability and serviceability—all in an economical green package"

Not much differentiation to be found, now is there? OK—so at least the last product has a green paint job. That’s different. And there are three to four statements—but I ask you, is this is the most compelling, clear way we can market our products?

Personally, I believe these three examples prove my ongoing belief that the "Abilities" should rest in peace—forever. Oh, and while I'm on the soapbox, I think phrases like "industry leading," "breakthrough," "unmatched," "revolutionary" and the like should all be stricken from the marketing dictionary. Go thump your chest on your own time.

You’re probably thinking “But these are the areas people care about when buying some technology solutions.” True, and there are 3-5 core messages in each of these statements about things that are important to customers. But can’t we apply them to something relevant, rather than thumping away at our chests about the "ultimate abilities?"

Any of the following approaches would make one of these three offerings stand out:

• Add quantitative evidence, and spin it in your favor. If you don’t have the exact numbers, give relative percentages. Rather than "increased reliability and performance," how about "Systems keep on running 25% longer, while you complete transactions 3 times faster." Applying the value in a way that maps to your customers' business results is a super way to turn blahblah claims into compelling content;

• Apply the "ability" to a customer scenario. Apply your value in customer language. Frame the benefit. “Your IT team will be able to manage twice as many distributed systems with the same or less hours and resources.” People understand value when it’s applied to something relevant to them;

• Get specific. Find a better way to talk about the value. Stop using the same industry claims every one of your competitors use. Instead of that nice "green packaging," how about “4 out of 5 customers reduced power costs by 40%”. That sure got the green claim across, didn’t it? Better than the paint job!

When asking ‘So What?’ or using the Rule of Threes—you also have to start to think originally. Stop using the same words that everyone drags along, and start thinking creatively, originally and most of all— think and talk like a customer.

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Free eBook: It’s Not About You Anymore (P.S., It Never Was)

In her new eBook, It’s Not About You Anymore (P.S. It Never Was), Rebel Brown describes her approach to positioning that works, based on over 20 years as a strategy and marketing consultant in the Silicon Valley.

So, what’s in this eBook for you? A simple yet effective approach to strategic positioning that works:

1) Identifying our true value—through the eyes of our audience
2) Describing our value—with real-world evidence
3) Spinning stories that touch our audience—by letting our customers speak for us

I hope that this eBook will help you to think differently about your organization and your strategic position in the market. Please let me know what you think. I truly appreciate your feedback!

Click here for a free download of this eBook.

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Rebel Brown (rebel@peoplewhoknow.biz) is a go-to-market strategist specializing in early stage and turnaround high technology clients. I've personally helped to define, position and launch over 75 individual products and companies since I began consulting some 20 years ago. My clients—technology vendors and venture firms—tell me they hire me for my strategic, positioning and go-to-market expertise. Some also call me a Spin Doctor.

Read my blog: http://blog.peoplewhoknow.biz