Incredible One-Liners: Crafting a Magical Sentence to Grow Your Business

Our life is made with words.

Words create worlds – not only physical worlds but the worlds we perceive. From naming your children to articulating a political platform, words speak life and shape reality.

In marketing, often you have just one chance to get your message right. When you have someone’s attention, can you quickly and dramatically communicate ideas? That’s where a strong one-liner can make all the difference! A one-liner is a concise statement you can use to spark curiosity and clearly explain what you offer.

Here are three steps for building a one-liner that makes people lean in and take interest:

Step 1: Articulate the Problem

When you’re inviting customers into your story, always start with a problem.

The problem is the hook. If a story doesn’t have a problem, the story never gets started. When shaping your one-liner, start by stating the problem or pain point your clients face. Make sure the first statement in your pitch is a clear problem that people actually experience. Something like this:

A: Most parents get stressed when they think of taking their kids to the dentist . . .
B: With 110 people moving to Nashville every day, people are wasting more and more time sitting in traffic . . .

Step 2: Preview the Solution

After you open a story loop, your customer is ready to hear about a solution.

Here comes the reveal! After you’ve grown anticipation about the problem, turn the corner by offering a remedy. This can be as simple as naming your business or presenting the product itself. Here are a few examples:

A: At Kid’s Teeth, our fun and welcoming office puts kids at ease . . .
B: With a Circuit E-bike fitted just for you . . .

Step Three: Describe the Result

Like the climax of the opera, the third part of your one-liner should release the tension you initially created.

When you write the solution part of your one-liner, try to articulate the final result a customer will experience: something tangible people can see, feel, or count. For example:

A: Our fun and welcoming office puts kids at ease so that they aren’t afraid and their parents actually enjoy their dentist visit.
B: With a Circuit E-bike fitted just for you, you’ll get hours back in your day and arrive at work promptly.

Snag New Customers

There is no hammer, no chisel, and no generator more powerful than the spoken word.

Once you’ve perfected your one-liner, put it on the back of your business card, print it on the wall in your retail space, and memorize it for your next elevator pitch. Cast your bait far and wide and reel in great results!

Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business

by Donald Miller

An essential part of any marketing professional’s tool kit—this strategic and actionable guide shows you how to apply the renowned StoryBrand framework to your brand.

Every day, brands lose millions of dollars simply because they do not have a clear message that tells consumers who they are and what value they will add to their customers’ lives. To solve this dilemma, Donald Miller wrote Building a StoryBrand, which has become the quintessential guide for anyone looking to craft or strengthen their brand’s message.

Now, Don is taking it a step further with this five-part checklist that helps marketing professionals and business owners apply the StoryBrand messaging framework across key customer touchpoints to effectively develop, strengthen, and communicate their brand’s story to the marketplace.