How Do You Know if Your Messaging Matters?

Use the “Turn & Tell It Test”

One of the main criteria for assessing your brand is to ask yourself, “Does this actually matter?” You can have witty headlines, stunning graphics, and super helpful micro-copy, but if what you’re saying isn’t relevant, you’ll dilute your message, confuse your audience, and fail to convert with your marketing.

So why is it difficult for founders to create and evaluate high-impact messaging?

One reason is the risk that threatens any type of creative process: you get so excited about the output that you don’t know if the output is actually any good.

In Jurassic Park (the original version), Dr. Malcom says:

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

In other words, they were so engrossed with the coolness of cloning T-Rex that they forgot to consider the implications and outcomes of their work.

And the truth is founders make the same mistake with their brand, though thankfully on a much different scale.

They start with trendy illustration and add some cute animations. Punch things up some gradients. Then add the industry jargon and buzzwords the competition is using.

Sure, no one is gonna get raptored, but the end result lacks intention and clarity.

It’s true that the first phases of any creative project require the team to look all over the place for ideas, to bring everything to the discussion and hold back criticism.

But there’s always a point where you have to start refining your work for focus and clarity.

So how do you make that shift?

In this area, I’ve learned a lot from editors. One part of their job is to ask the hard questions of a writer to ensure the story actually matters to the audience.

Here’s a really useful tool for doing just that from Donald Murray. He won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, in published several books, and was a writing coach for several national newspapers.

To those looking to get to the heart of the matter, he offers a pointer on how to find the focal point (or the lead) in a story:

“What would make the reader turn and say to her husband, ‘Now listen to this, Ira…’?”

In other words, is the first sentence of the story so compelling that the reader stops to share the line with their partner?

This is what I call the Turn & Tell it Test

When you review your messaging, does any part of it pass this test? Do you target personas actually care about what you’re staying?

Though Murray was teaching journalists how to find a powerful way to start an article, this model applies to anyone trying to say something that matters.

Of course, not every bit of copy on your site or in your emails will pass this test with flying colors — sometimes password reset emails fail to tug at the heartstrings.

But I love this model for assessing key ideas about your messaging. If none of your key messages pass this test for your audience, it’s time to go back to the creation phase of the process.

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