Photo by Sudarshan Vijayaraghavan

At a business mixer when someone asks you, “What do you do?”, tell them and then immediately ask them a question. “What did you hear?” And listen to their response.

We spend a lot of time creating our elevator speeches, memory hooks, taglines, headlines, and copy but we don’t spend enough time finding out if what we say is what’s being heard.

Start by asking interested strangers to tell you how they perceive your marketing message. Begin by asking them to repeat the message verbatim. Can they? If not, what words to they remember?

If you message includes either “technobabble” or vague “business-speak” it’s highly likely it sounds impressive when you say it, but no one outside your company will have a clue why specifically they should hire you.

Speaking simply might sound unsophisticated, but your message will be heard and understood short-term.

If you’re fanatical about ensuring your message is retained, re-contact people you meet and ask them, “What does my company do?”. You are trying to measure if your message stuck. If it didn’t, you have a second problem: your message isn’t remarkable enough to be kept in your prospect’s mental filing cabinet.

Crafting a message that is both clearly understood and memorable is an skill you need to develop in your business. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and money trying to attract new clients.