Look Beyond the Surface to Uncover Authentic Business Content Opportunities
A lesson in seeing more deeply into your products, services, business or organization
Message Application: Product or Service
Lesson: Learn to See the Surface
Exercise: What do you see?
Today I am going to walk you through a lesson where my WhatsNotIs! approach repositions the user’s viewpoint and consideration of classic, old-school technology to more competitively match - and ideally flip - the eye candy attraction of modern tech alternatives. In every lesson, my aim is to show you how to uncover fresh perspectives across many areas of business, providing rich story topics that can meaningfully engage and motivate audiences to participate with your business, both online and off. And keep in mind, these lessons can be applied across almost any industry, business, product and service line.
In this lesson, we’re looking at a flight training school that offers traditionally equipped aircraft with cockpit instrumentation known as ‘steam gauges’- round analogue displays. This type of instrumentation is found in the majority of training aircraft in use today. Tasked with monitoring various flight and aircraft conditions, each instrument provides the pilot with an always available, hands-free view of essential flight information.
On the other side of the competitive runway are flight training aircraft equipped with modern, digital touchpad displays, providing flight information accessed through various touch menus. In these aircraft, while the instrument panel is much simpler, reaching for finger/menu activation is required to switch informational views. Being all digital and technology based, these are eye candy treats in attracting new students interested in learning to fly.
LESSON: Learning to See the Surface
Often, business stories fall into the trap of describing what’s happening on the surface. A company event, a new product in inventory, new staff members, another sales success, a new location. While such a story does share basic information, it typically lacks any motivational energy for increased participation or recall.
EXERCISE: Below is a cockpit image of a classic flight school aircraft. The aircraft is not new to the school, just one of a large fleet of similar aircraft.
What surface level, off-the-top of your head business story do you see about this aircraft image?
Can you see a business story that an audience interested in learning to fly would embrace as helpfully motivating?
Learning to identify surface elements will help you see beyond mere descriptions, uncovering deeper story opportunities that offer audience-rich connectivity.
Putting WhatsNotIs! to Copywriting Use
In this lesson with the training aircraft as a product, the WhatsNotIs! perspective gives us vision to see that what’s on the surface is not what makes for a competitive, audience motivating story. It’s an older flight trainer with traditional analog gauges. Applying WhatsNotIs! to peer deeper into a more valuable story, it is what’s NOT there that is going to tell us what IS there. And in this business product example, it’s the hands-free, continuously visible display of all critical flight information. No nested menus, no hidden screens, no distracting tapping or swiping while flying the aircraft. All the information is there all of the time, enabling students to keep their hands available for other inflight necessities. For initial student pilots intimidated by the complexities of flight, or those who are older or more comfortable with familiar references, an ‘Always On - Hands Free’ message would be a compelling, audience connecting story recognizing the advantage of this school’s aircraft and learning experience.
Here’s rough copy of a better business story for social media utilizing the WhatsNotIs! approach:
These days, where functions are hidden behind menu buttons that require hands-on activation, the traditional instrumentation you'll initially train with at our school is always on display... RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.
Apply this lesson to see more deeply into your products, services and business, looking beyond the surface to uncover truly authentic stories that can inform and energize customers.
Fresh copywriting and story opportunities to encourage audience participation with your business... now that’s motivating! [ and subscription worthy. :) ]
Thanks for reading! 👊
Brett B.
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WhatsNotIs! ~ It’s not WHAT'S there that tells the story, - but what's NOT there, - - that tells what IS there.