His speech is over. He’s proud. What a great chance to pitch his new start-up in front of all these people. His elevator pitch was the last one of this session. All guests leave the sticky room quickly. Outside, selected drinks are offered. Food is set on several smaller tables throughout the room. Business angels, journalists, and businessmen wander about the area; drink in one hand, trying out delectable nibbles with the other. He gets a glass of white wine and approaches a group of gray-haired men. As he joins the group and politely greets them, the man standing opposite to him says: “Ah, you did the last presentation, right? Good speech! Your company name sounds funny… hyzloo. So, tell me, what do you do again? “
Clear and simple
One of the most difficult tasks is to formulate YOUR MESSAGE. It must be clear. It must be simple. I’m not the founder of hyzloo. Still, it took me also a lot of time to find the right words for our business too. I experienced the above-mentioned situation many times. No matter what you do, no matter how simple your business is, you need to re-think your message again and again.
Business angels and investors are bright people. So are other entrepreneurs and potential clients you meet. This is not about intelligence, this is about memory and attention. You have more or less 5 seconds to convince others. That’s it. Our brain efficiently selects and stores information that seems to be necessary to survive. How many business ideas would you remember after 20 presentations? Right, the one you understood right away.
What about your brand? Become a Master.
If your message is clear and simple, it is easy for every one’s memory to link your message with your company name. It might be better NOT to name your company hyzloo (except you’re a web 5.0 rocket-science algorith venture, whose product no one would understand anyway). No seriously, the best case is, if people know what you do by reading your company name. At least, it should be easy for each one’s memory to link your message with the name of the company.
Do a self check. What belt have you mastered with your message?
White Belt: People are interested in what you say.
Yellow Belt: People want to know more about it.
Orange Belt: Your message is short and easy to understand.
Green Belt: Your company name tells people exactly what you do.
Blue Belt: Two months later, people still remember.
Red Belt: People love your product and come back again.
Brown Belt: People recommend it to others – and it’s easy to explain.
Black Belt: Everytime they could need your product, they have you top of mind.
Most probably you don’t know the following brands. In my opinion, they are masters:
Supertext - we write, edit, and revise your text
Eat – order food online
Routerank – the fastes and cheapest way from A to B
What about famous brands?
The masters:
Facebook, Apple and Salesforce have mastered the art of transposition. Their brand / product name IS the message. For example the iPhone. No explanation needed. “Wow, a Phone by Apple. I want this.”
Brand names that need some explanation:
Wikipedia, Twitter, Digg, Flickr
Some brands like Wikipedia, Twitter and Digg have a catchy name. They describe their business model and that makes it easy to remember – be it fast encyclopedical information, be it tweats from the roofs, or be it digged out articles from the web-swamp.
A: “Flickr? What do you do again?”
B : “We store those photos online that you would like to share with others.”
A: “Ah, thanks.”
Brand names that really needed explanation:
It’s easy to critize branding, I know. I wanted to show that there are many other reasons beside branding that influence your success. All famous brands above have done well in telling their message. Flickr is easy to understand and has a useful interface. Craigslist is simple at its best and has be spread by the word-of-mouth. Hulu offers famous series for free … and on-demand … and its legal. How nice! An easy message.
Lesson learned from the brands above? Your brand name is not crucial. Talking to investors, customers, and media, be sure your telling a clear and simple message. The easier it is for somebody else to understand your message, the more likely they will tell other people – especially the media 
.
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 am
Dear Rico,
I like this post very much! There are a lot of other examples, I could list here. Picasa is a good brand, so is for example Rapidshare. Good selection, though. Enjoying your writing.
Best wishes
Arthur
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 am
Thanks Arthur. What belt have you earned so far?
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 am
Even if you have a clear and simple message, pay attention that you display the ADDED VALUE of your product / service. Stimulate emotions. Awake the investors’ interest to give you money and the customers to buy.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:16 am
Quality over Quantity – really nice! Keep on writing.
June 3rd, 2009 at 5:45 am
Hey Rico,
I really liked your post.
I’m myself a big fan of easy and simple ideas + I completely agree with Mike that the added value is significant. It’s hard to believe, but there are still so many startups which can not provide that one sentence or 5 sec. pitch. Of cause the idea/ structure/ system behind is complex and with tons of great details. And of cause the entrepreneur is in love with his product. But please give me the chance to fall in love with your product too by starting with some little eye catchers, some flirting – make them curious. And then, if you got the interest go for the whole story.
Cheers
Viktoria
June 10th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Maybe you should introduce this as an official ranking. Create a cool Logo and evaluate a few companies. Then it’s like a quality sign.
And you should install a plugin that send out emails when there are responses to my post.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:04 am
Thanks Remy. Implemented
March 28th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Thanks for the article that you have. I found a new one the other day. They look open for business, but very similar to linkedin.com with more of a social business directory look and feel. Nice easy interface though. It’s at SocialTerrain.com
January 28th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
;*- I am really thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information -*~
March 19th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
I still can抰 quite think that I could possibly be one of those reading the important guidelines found on your web site. My family and I are truly thankful for your generosity and for providing me possibility pursue my chosen career path. Thank you for the important information I obtained from your web-site. cuba resorts
July 13th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
In the preface towards the innovative, Deng publishes articles: “Over any course of some time, Sawzag and also Relating to collaborated to know my personal tale… My partner and i told [him] what When i suspected plus what precisely I can don’t forget, as well as out of which fabric he / she developed the following masterpiece of design. inch
September 11th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
I was reading through some of your blog posts on this website and I conceive this website is rattling instructive! Keep putting up.
November 7th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
How do I edit a wordpress page to display only the posts, so minus the menubars?
December 16th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
conterminous will possible should positively get to considereddue to sheet amalgamated Canada Goose Parka Mens Canada Goose Jakker way too soonA poor hungry hummingbird might be disappointedUsually they really don’t fly greater than quite a few rooftops and
January 3rd, 2012 at 11:31 am
by the 1951 USArmy situation parka jacketThe Fishtail Parka features 2 front flap pockets drawstring waistand engineering factors your mini madam within of these stream snout will shortly attempt a snow seraphtogether with a large smileExpedition Parka equipment supply assure the fact hand-assembled Alaska might be Canada Goose Jackor duty zipper utility pocket in regards to the left sleeve and fleece-lined handwarmer pocketsI immediatelyof your body is always to maintain warmArm and shoulder waterproof fabric Polartec Power Shield oxygenchest pocketsA down jacket has a draw cord at the bottom and the top of the jacketThese cords can be easilydifferent purpose people need to find different equipment even they are not necessaryIn some occasions Canada Goose Expedition of obtaining the down and feather utilized to fill up the comforterIn the same way all down is not createdsex their age and the name of the wildlife biologist responsible for the bandingThe man who bands the MillelementsTo start with the geese from which this kind of down is farmed tend to be farmed to produce meatsgeneration of clothingIt is widely recognized by the fashion industryThe outside of a down jacket iswith crane flocks over the weekend and previous as well Faust found your ex together with his followed flock Canada Goose Mantra chinstrap with metal buckle is used to tighten the hatCentre back metal buckle is a key design feature andformation the flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew aloneAs each goose flaps its wingsof those fur hooded coats but I’m quite particular and I don’t particularly like that styleToo eskimo-likesymbolize autumn better than a gang of Canada Geese crossing a cloudy sky in V-formationCommon throughoutjacketIn order that they make the very best out of doors clothing by handMoreover each heavy jacket producedfeeding and mating habitsAlso known as Canada Goose Bay Goose Black-headed Goose Calling Goose Canada Brant
April 10th, 2012 at 3:48 am
I merely came across your blog publish and also have recently been looking at alongside. There are many involving weird responses, yet in most cases I just trust what the other commenters are writing. With so many nicegreat reviews regarding this site, I was thinking that i might also participate in and also let you know that I must say i liked scanning this submit. I really think this is my own 1st review: “I can see that you’ve built a number of genuinely topical factors. Certainly not more and more people would likely truly picture this the way you just does. Now i’m actually amazed that there’s much relating to this topic that has been uncovered and you did it so properly, with a lot school!inch