Your Customer Craves Clarity: Start delivering a clear message today with this simple framework

I can remember moving to the town we live in now.

Perhaps you don’t know this, but our city is known for the rolling hills of bluebonnets that spread over the entire county every April.

It only happens once a year, and there’s always one weekend that the blooms are just out of this world. 

Being that Texas’ state flower is, in fact, the bluebonnet, it’s a point of pride for our community and brings people from all over the world to photograph and experience the beauty of looking out over acres and acres of rolling blue.  

So, of course, when we moved, we all but counted down the perfect April weekend. We were excited to capture the bluebonnets in all of their glory. Leading up to the weekend, we saw billboards touting the rolling hills of bluebonnets. We scrolled past targeted ads for the flower fields.

We heard from the county’s offices about the spectacle of bluebonnet season… each advertisement and testimonial further building our suspense and enthusiasm to see this beautiful, blue overtaking of wildflowers.

As that perfect April weekend inched closer, we started noticing that the usual patches, where bluebonnets had previously grown, weren’t growing in as thick. There seemed to be more perfectly manicured and mowed lawns than what I could remember in past springs.

I wondered if this had anything to do with the building suspense of seeing those precious bluebonnets, but dismissed it as, “They still have a few weeks to bloom, maybe they’re just late."

The weekend arrived. We invited family, we planned picnic lunches and packed our thermos of coffee for the ride. As we turned on the road known for it’s sprawling bluebonnet overgrowth, we only saw patchy spots of blue throughout the field.

Thinking perhaps we had the wrong location, we drove on. Still more patches. Where were the rolling hills of blue like in the pictures?  

What we didn’t know (and the locals did) was our town had experienced unusually high temperatures for spring, causing the growth, and typical overgrowth, of the bluebonnets to be stunted.

There were undoubtedly blooms, but nothing like the pictures promised. Although it was our mistake not to ask before we began our bluebonnet tour, we quickly realized the photos didn’t match what we were experiencing. 

 We’ve since been able to experience the literal awe of looking over a dozen acres of land covered in blue wildflowers, but too often, brands make a similar, but far more costly mistake in their businesses. 

 I’ve lost count of the times I’ve opened a website only to wonder, “Am I on the right page? This doesn’t look anything like their Instagram.”

 Without fail, I’ll follow an account and fall so in love with their story, images, posts, and freebies, that I’ll eventually pop over to their webpage. At least half of the time, I frantically check the URL to make sure I’m in the right spot.

Like stumbling on patches of bluebonnets when a field of wildflowers is expected, nothing will turn your customer away quicker than if your brand doesn’t feel cohesive. 

 I use a step by step framework I call Three by Three for my branding and website. It breaks down into two parts. 

Three of your brand’s unique features 

and, 

Your brand’s three questions.  

I believe each piece of content (and even the whole of your website design) can be formulated around 3 unique qualities and 3 questions. 

First, unique qualities. 

What are things about your brand that are unique?

What are you proud of? Or who do you serve?

Take my network marketing business, for instance. If something doesn’t fit into the categories of being a girl mom, skincare junkie, or artsy projects and tips – it doesn’t get posted! I’m clear and consistent on my personal profile because it’s representing my network marketing business as a whole. Those are my unique qualities, and while you can have more than three, three is a manageable amount to remember and be consistent with. 

And next, your brand’s three questions:

Does this fit my unique qualities?

Does this match the colors and style of my brand?

Would my ideal customer love it?

When your ideal customer begins digging for more of what you offer, don’t leave them disappointed. Use this Three by Three framework for anything you post or create, and you’ll see that your ideal customer loves you for it, resulting in a successful and cohesive brand image. 

So tell me, what are the unique qualities in your business? What types of content can you create to focus on only those three qualities?