Focusing Your Marketing Content Through a One-Inch Frame

Anne LaMott, in her book Bird by Bird, describes a technique she calls the one-inch frame. Rather than writing in generalities, the one-inch frame forces you to focus your writing on a small portion of the bigger story. It's more compelling and interesting.

Few companies are using the one-inch frame. They try to tell everything that they offer, hoping something will click with the reader. This is especially true of Yellow Pages ads. They don't distinguish themselves from their competition. A more effective approach might be to focus on one service and tell what distinguishes them from the other companies offering the same service or product.

The other night I told a group of people I'd like to connect with smaller companies who need help driving traffic to their site through the search engines. I could have regaled the crowd with everything I do—copywriting, web design, email marketing, blah, blah, blah. But I chose just one service and as a result, I got the name of someone frustrated with the company currently doing their search engine optimization. So I did some research on his site and gave this gentleman a call.

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who is a counselor. She works with individuals, couples, children, and couples who have adopted children from overseas. She's starting to advertise her services, and I suggested she focus on one thing in her ads-like marriage counseling. In her ad she can focus on how her own marriage has survived trials and the successes she's seen in counseling couples, maybe including a couple testimonials. Maybe she could do this same ad for two or three months, and then in her next series of ads focus on counseling children. This way people who are looking for a counselor for their child will have their interest piqued and give her a call.

Green Chair Marketing Group can help you focus your web content, brochures, advertisements and articles. Even if you don't use us, take a look at your content—whatever form it may be in—and ask yourself how you can focus it and bring it into a one-inch frame that is palatable and compelling.

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Dave Carlson is the owner of Green Chair Marketing Group, a boutique marketing firm specializing in developing comprehensive marketing plans focusing on Internet strategies to help businesses succeed. He can be reached at 720-922-3124. See his Web site at www.GreenChair.net.

© 2001, Dave Carlson, All Rights Reserved