The rule of three is a powerful one.
Whether it’s in speech, in print, or online, the fact is that emphasising three points in a sentence works.
Deploying the technique carefully can make you seem clear, knowledgeable and authoritative, which is why a lot of politicians pepper their speeches with moments like that.
But there are other ways in which you can make three words work for you.
At the centre of great brands and great marketing are great ideas. Many of the most memorable company slogans are key messages condensed into three words, for example:
Just do it
Every little helps
Vorsprung durch technik
Beanz meanz Heinz
In any business, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of branding. Everyday concerns like managing people, dealing with customers and balancing the books leave very little time to focus on the heart of what makes you stand out from the crowd.
And if you don’t have a strong grip on your brand, you’re probably just treading water.
Or you could be sinking.
Branding is about more than successful PR, marketing, websites, events, graphic design etc… Underpinning all that ‘fun stuff’ is a lot of hard work on making sure that every aspect of an organisation relates to a powerful central idea.
To see how three little words can start to make a big difference, try this exercise:
- Get a large, blank piece of paper and a pen
- Think about your business and write down all the words you can think of to describe it, until you have at least 30 words on the page
- Spend a few moments looking at the words again
- Circle the words you think are most inspiring ways of describing what you do
- Pick your three favourite words and write them down on a separate, smaller sheet of paper (a Post-it note is ideal)
- Keep that note close at hand and look at those three words at least once every working day.
If you’d like to put more energy into getting to the heart of your brand and making it work harder for you, drop me a line: mark@markwall.co.uk
