A web page meta description on Google search displays up to 320 characters and averages about 230.  A tweet on Twitter can have up 280.

Your website value proposition and product descriptions can’t be much longer, because rushed, impatient online consumers won’t take the time to read more.

Same goes for videos.  A script for a 30-second video isn’t much longer than a meta description.

If for some reason, you still use cold calling, you have only an instant to capture the person’s attention and convey what benefit they’ll get by taking any more time to listen to you.

In other words, it’s essential to be succinct when you describe what your business does.

We used to talk about the elevator speech, which suggested that if you met a prospect in an elevator, you had the time it took to ride up a few floors to explain your offer and hook their interest.

In today’s world of tweets, supersonic scrolling and back buttons, you better hope the elevator ride is half a floor.

One of the great skills in online copywriting is the ability to encapsulate an argument in specific, memorable phrases.

The economy of language is essential but difficult.  Anyone can explain what they do in a thousand words.  But doing it in less than 300 characters takes real skill.

So how do you encapsulate your business concept so you can convey it in the length of description tag?

It’s no easy task, but here are some tips to get you started.

#1.  Start refining

Consider these famous political quotes that fully encapsulate an idea.

..that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. – Abraham Lincoln.

Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. – John Kennedy

While these phrases seem simple, they are the result of great refinement.  You could write a book on what a government of the people, by the people, for the people means, but this phrase encapsulates the idea in the shortest manner possible.

Start out by writing out – at length – what your business does.  Detail everything; don’t worry about being wordy.

Then start to look for key ideas, phrases and words.  What helps you bring out the underlying idea?  What words are repeated often?  What phrases can you remember the next day?

Take those ideas and refine again.  Look for patterns that are reflective of your core ideas.  Take it down to the essentials.  At this point, things will be disorganized and will lack fluidity, but you’ll be getting to the essence of what you want to say.

#2.  Start with the climax

Writing for the web is not like writing a mystery drama.

In a mystery drama, you create backstory, drop hints and build up the suspense.  The climax of the story — when the mystery is solved — comes near the end.

But on the web, be it a description tag, homepage value proposition or promotional video, you do the exact opposite.

If your mystery drama was homepage content, the first thing you’d do is reveal who done it.

For example, this hangover curative could start out with a story about a night of drinking gone too far, complete with details about clinking glasses, blurred toasts and a sticky floor strewn with empty bottles.

Instead, they get right to the point:

With such a brief window of attention, you don’t have time to build up an argument.  You have to make the case for the value you offer first thing.

#3.  Tell them what they want to hear

When you encapsulate your business offering, you’re not trying to describe the features of your product or service.  You’re not trying to include the details you think are important.

You’re trying to make a memorable impression.  To do that, you want to trigger an emotional response.  That means you need to tie into what your audience will react to.  You’re writing for them – tell them what they want to hear.

For instance, look at these search results for the search “natural allergy remedies.”

The first two results tell me what I want to hear.  The first acknowledges my problem, giving me the sense they’ll provide the answers I seek.  The second offers a pleasing alternative to “heading to the drugstore”.

The third, however, uses jargon and technical language that fails to grab my attention.  Frankly, it bores me instantly and doesn’t suggest a resolution to my problem.

If you don’t hook people’s interest, you’ll never have the chance to present the details of your offer.

Put it into action

So, let’s give this process a go.  Here is a new product being prepared for market which is a pair of sunglasses equipped with a camera to shoot POV videos.   For the sake of this demonstration, we’ll say the brand name for this product is The CaptureEye POV Camera. 

Now the test.  Can we say what this product is about in 300 characters or less?

First we’ll start with long-form brainstorming.

Capture your life.  Capture what you see.  Your eyes are a camera.  Never miss a shot, never miss a moment with The CaptureEye POV Camera.

Catch the surprise.  Catch the perfect expression.  Catch the moment you never want to forget and hold it forever.

Your eyes are the camera.  Camera eyes.  Your life is the movie.  Put these on and start living a life worth watching and sharing.

Your hands are free, yet you never miss a shot.  You see.  You shoot.  Your memories live on.  Capture a moment in a POV video. 

See it. Capture the shot.  Share it on the Gram.  So natural, so real.  Hundreds of likes.  Thousands of friends.  A life worth living is a life worth sharing.

Sick of attaching a GoPro to yourself?  Now just wear your sunglasses and you’re wearing your camera.  Capture your world, one shot at a time.

A new way take pictures.  Everything you see can be an image.  Free your hands and capture life’s memories. 

HD 1080P.  One button operation.  Simple, dependable and affordable.

Now, let’s start refining this.

First, look for important words, phrases and ideas that are repeated.

The word that stands out the most is “capture.”  You can capture moments of your life with this product.

Also important are “free” and “hold.”  It’s a benefit of the product that you can take pictures without having to hold a camera in front of your face.

Last, is the idea of “moments.”  A video captures a moment of life you don’t want to forget.  One you can share with your friends online.

Also, there are some product details — ease of use with one button operation, HD quality videos.

Now, the hard part. Let’s encapsulate these ideas into less than 300 characters.

Free your hands, and capture life’s memories with CaptureEye POV Camera Glasses.  Use your eyes as a camera and capture high-quality HD 1080P videos with these stylish, affordable camera glasses.  Hold the moment — without holding a camera.  

240 characters.

Notice another tactic here that we also see in Lincoln’s and Kennedy’s quotes.

Repetition.

Lincoln repeats “people” with tremendous effect. Kennedy does the same with “ask.”

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

This type of repetition is an effective rhetorical tool.

In our piece, we repeat the word “capture.” which is a key concept for this product.  Hold the moment — without holding a camera encapsulates what the product is about in memorable phrase.

This is just an example of how to approach this, and it’s not perfect. Over time, we could refine this further.

Online, you get brief moments of attention. Encapsulate your ideas in succinct, memorable language that hooks people.

It’s often difficult to do, so follow these steps. The result is that people actually pay attention to what you say.

If you don’t achieve that goal, there’s not much point in saying anything.

Originally published on 5/24/18