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Brick No142: 181 Home Truths
By Matt Weston, Thursday 28 April 2005 Chinese Whispers Bill Gates doesn't ride elevators any more. The "elevator pitch" metaphor used to work like this: you jump deep-pocketed Bill Gates in a hotel lobby waiting for a lift. It's Bill! And you! In a lift! Just the two of you! 30 seconds (or less)! Make your pitch! (Two choices: either you ask Bill to invest a seven-figure sum, or tell all of his customers about your business.) And if you'd read Brick Nos 33, 91, and 92, or even Milo O. Frank's fast-talking pocketbook, "How To Get Your Point Across In 30 Seconds-Or-Less" . . . well, you'd be well prepared. As a metaphor it's mighty: if Bill doesn't "get it" in 30 seconds or less, then the lift doors slide open, and you've missed your chance of a lifetime. And the same limited-space, limited-time idea can be applied to client meetings, cold calls, and three-line classified ads. But, as I said at the top, Bill Gates doesn't ride elevators any more. He takes the stairs. And, in an altogether more likely scenario, you're left talking to someone maybe one, two, three or four connections away from the man himself. So we have a new metaphor. Now, your job isn't to make Bill "get it": it's how to make someone else "get it", and pass the message on - and on, until it reaches Bill. Apparently inspired by BBC2's Dragons' Den, a few of our reader meet-up groups have been running an "icebreaker" exercise. Going round the group, everyone delivers a 30- second "elevator pitch". Great idea. But what about this simple mod: instead of YOU delivering YOUR pitch to the group, explain it (quietly) to the person to the left of you. And then, going round the group, get HIM/ HER to deliver your pitch in his/ her own words. Does the group still "get it"? Unless you get the first stage right, this process ends up like a game of Chinese Whispers. If you want your idea to spread fast, you've got to stop thinking that you're talking only to your "end listener" or advertising only to your "end reader". It's not enough that they "get it". Do they "get it" enough to get somebody else to "get it" (and so on)? An example: "Explain Podcasting in 10 words or less." 181 Home Truths Mel (& Emma), Nick, Lucy, Emma (& Peter), and Chris, were wowed by the response to last Thursday's web critiques. And they asked me to pass on their collective thanks for the 181 (and counting) home truths you posted. Deserving of special mention: Mel thanks James Saunders for this and his four "follow-ups". Nick thanks Mike Bird for this post. He'll be incorporating Mike's suggestions (and Hugh's, and Bronwyn's) into v3 of the site. Lucy thanks Robin Winnet for this post. Robin also posted on all four other threads. And Peter, after much deliberation, picks out fellow Brickie Steve Dobson, AKA "The Marketing Medic". See Steve's post. Oh, and Little Blue Dog made its first sale, which Mel and Emma in turn donated to BB. If you want to post or read more comments, all the links are here. What can I add? Only this: last week, to pick 5 sites, I tabbed my way through 72 homepages. Of those I'd say less than half managed to instantly make me "get it" enough to explain to someone sitting next to me what the site did - and what it wanted me/ us to do. (At least two out of the five selected "failed" in this respect by the way. It's not always easy.) Your homepage, or landing page, is like an elevator going up. You've got limited-space (800 by 600 pixels) and limited-time (7 seconds) to make your point. If you fit an existing pigeonhole, like Nick's "handyman" or Mel and Emma's "babywear", then use it. If you don't, then you need to invent a pigeonhole that people can quickly and easily relate to (and talk about). Like "The World's First Atomic Watch", "Urban Golf", or "The Chicken House That Looks Like An iMac" Remember to sign up: back to top |
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