How a Basic Sketch Book Helped Focus My Positioning Strategy

I’ve gotten all kinds of good advice lately — but this little piece of insight has really helped me tighten up my positioning and differentiation strategy in an unexpected way.

Patti Renner (That Landing Page Lady) is my FAVORITE copywriter.  And for good reason — she has these low-tech, low-cost ways of getting into the head of her target audience that really works wonders.

About a month or so ago, she and I were having lunch and I was bemoaning the state of a web site project I’m working on.  Then she asked me if I had a sketch book.

“What?!”  I said.  ”What’s a sketch book got to do with profiling my ideal audience and figuring out a cost structure and an offering?”

Patti says that a sketch book; with all those blank pages, literally frees your mind to just draw, write, cut things out, paste things in and generally gives you brain a place to laugh and play.  ”This kind of low-structured freedom will help you get deeper into the mind of your audience and give you the ability to interact with your material in a much more powerful way than on the computer.”

OK. Miss Smarty Pants.  I’m going to give it a shot.  So – let me show you my sketch book and give you a peek inside how it helped me focus my marketing ideas.

You can get pretty fancy with sketch books, but I opted for the bare bones version at the office supply store.  Depending on how seriously you take your notes – you can opt for a fancy hardback sketch book from a book store.

Bring Your Audience to Life

I decided to cut out pictures of what I think my audience actually looks like and then I just wrote in what they might be thinking.   I also found examples of copywriting, tone and style that I really liked and cut those out as well.  This would give me actual examples of writing that I could use to inspire my articles and copy.

Here’s the deal.  The action of looking through the magazines, choosing pictures, tearing or cutting them out, pasting them into the book and then writing and interacting with them activates completely different areas of your brain and allows you to access more emotional trigger points that your audience may have.

Build a Dream and Live in It

Another benefit I got from flipping through magazines and tearing out pictures was that I got to identify exactly the design type and style that I liked.  After all – these magazines paid millions in research and design and all I had to do was pick what I liked.   Picking out elements, graphics and colors that appealed to me will make my interaction with my designer a breeze.  This way I can tell her what I want, why I want it and actually give her examples that she can reference.

In this picture – I actually printed a demo from a WordPress theme I was considering using.  Then I started inserting potential categories and links as I would customize them.  This saved me oodles of time in trial and error and saved me money in buying a theme that might not have worked.

You Can Take it With You

Since the sketch book is low-tech, it doesn’t require electricity or wi-fi  !  I take it everywhere I go, it allows me the ability to brainstorm no matter where I quickly and quietly.

Overall, I’ve been thrilled with my experience with the sketch book that I intend to use one for every project.  Give it a try and see what opens up for you!