Say the thing that could be wrong
A claim worth making is one a competent reader could argue with.
What it costs: You lose the buyers who wanted reassurance.
The manifesto
Written to be argued with.
The principles behind the work, what each one costs, and where the approach stops working.
Marketing often arrives after the decision it was meant to influence.
Buyers build their shortlist on their own, from whatever they can find. By the time an enquiry arrives, the field has already been narrowed.
Curiosity is that itch you get when you know enough to sense something is missing. Open a gap that matters to the buyer, then close it properly in the same piece of work.
The principles
Each one costs something. The cost is stated.
Name the convention. Leave the competitor out.
Attacking a named company drags the reader into someone else's fight.
What it costs: It is less satisfying, and less shareable.
One idea per piece
One idea leaves the reader holding an argument. Three leave an impression.
What it costs: More pieces, each of them shorter, and a slower apparent output.
Evidence, or drop the claim
A figure needs a source that still exists, published by the organisation that produced the number.
What it costs: Some good sentences die at the source check.
Specific beats clever
Wordplay is the cheapest form of confidence and the first thing forgotten.
What it costs: Less immediately impressive in a room.
Write the sentence that loses the wrong client
Positioning that takes a side attracts the right side.
What it costs: A smaller top of funnel and some uncomfortable silences.
Publish the limits
Every method has conditions under which it fails. Stating them is what separates a practitioner from a pitch.
What it costs: It removes the option of promising a method works everywhere.
Findable is part of the work
An argument only you can find is a diary entry.
What it costs: Constraints on form.
Publish only what you would defend in a room
The test is whether the argument holds up in a meeting with somebody who knows the subject better.
What it costs: Far less output than a content calendar would show.
If it fits in a line, it stays a line
Length often hides thinking that is still unfinished.
What it costs: It looks like less work, and some people are buying the appearance of work.
Where this stops working
Curiosity is the wrong tool here.
When the category is brand new
A buyer needs a frame of reference before a gap can be felt. Explanation comes first.
When the purchase is urgent
Somebody replacing a failed system this week wants specifications and availability.
When the product is still weak
Curiosity gets a product looked at closely by the people who will notice every flaw.
The short version
Earn the look, then be worth it.