Intrigue: (verb)

to interest someone a lot, especially by being strange, unusual, or mysterious.

Dripping out information is a smart way to keep visitors and readers holding on for more. Authors and screen-writers have mastered the art. Of course they could probably tell their whole story in chapter one, but by adding increasingly interesting facts and content chapter by chapter, they secure your engagement.

The successful ploy is to always build a section full of excitement and interest, just at the end – then you MUST read the next chapter or watch the following episode. It’s the classic cliff-hanger.

But we can learn a lot from these structures in creating content for ads, campaigns and videos. And the main trick is anyways to hold a little back – to intrigue.

When we are creating content, most often, the important objective is to secure a response. If your reader or viewer responds with a click, message or call, you then have the opportunity to open a dialogue. 

Because we all love our product or service, the temptation is to try to pack in as much information as we can in our communication. But that’s just a monologue – what we want is to start a dialogue – a conversation. Then we can have the opportunity to close a sale. That’s why it can be good to hold something back, to leave the reader wanting more! Or at least to hint that there is more, better, more interesting stuff still to learn.

If someone builds a wall, you can be sure that the next person will be desperate to learn what’s behind it!

We keep returning to the classic acronym – AIDA – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. Having made the reader or viewer aware of our offering, the story must offer information in a way that engages and stimulates interest. That’s where less is more. It’s a case of concise content that does not bore or overwhelm but leads to desire. Unless we’re in a situation which leads directly to a sale (Action) – in e-commerce for example – we’re looking for another kind of action. 

That action can be a contact, a clicked link, e-mail or perhaps phone call. And why would our prospect make that action? Because we have created that interest and thirst for more information – we have intrigued.

Don’t let your claims get caught in the ‘So what’ trap.

The claims you make about your product or service are so important. Whether you are writing an ad, or a post, making presentations, video or creating an elevator pitch – there is one golden rule. Steer clear of making a statement to which your customer can think, ‘So what?’

Generally this happens when you’re busy talking about yourself or your business. You are rightfully proud of your history, what you have achieved, and probably of some clever developments. But, although your customers may listen politely they are truly only interested in what you can do for them. That’s where the acid test – the ‘so what‘ test comes in.

Check your pitch, your claims and statements critically – and if you are not making really clear the undeniable benefits you offer, perhaps you are falling into the trap.

And this applies to more than words – check images too. Businesses often show pictures of their factory, or packing line – or perhaps some component normally hidden deep in their product – they are proud of these images – but do they directly contribute to the benefit as the customer sees it?

It’s not just about money

It’s true, that the benefits of doing business with you are commonly to do with making income or saving costs, but those are not the only ones. People make choices for less obvious reasons, such as lifestyle, identifying with or conforming to groups, creating a sense of identity, environmental or political stances. These are emotional benefits and can be very powerful, but often the claims need to be more implicit than explicit. You need to ensure they align with the customers’ needs – not yours.  So apply the ‘So what?’ test when reviewing your claims to steer clear of this common trap.

Turn ‘so what?’ into ‘tell me more!‘

Of course quality is vital in terms of what you do and how you do it.
But as a differentiator, as part of your brand proposition, it’s nowhere near as exciting as you think.

I’ve been running workshops with a roomful of bright business people, and asked them to create a quick proposition. What makes their business special?
Invariably one of the first answers will be ‘Quality’. ‘We provide a quality product or service’.
At that point I’d usually ask the room, ‘Is there anybody here who doesn’t provide a quality product or service?’
Of course not. And I’m sure they all have excellent quality.

The point is, it’s not ‘special’. It’s a claim anybody and everybody can make – and does make.
It’s one of those things we call, ‘a critical success factor’. If you haven’t got it, sooner or later you
won’t be in the game.

When you work on your brand proposition, it’s important to critically identify what it is that makes your business special and different. Something you can claim that others cannot. And frankly, the quality claim doesn’t make an impact when everybody else is shouting it.