Marketing Dopamine • October 20, 2026
The Message Test
Here is a simple test I come back to again and again.
After someone visits your website, reads your post, or hears you introduce yourself, could they explain what you do to a friend? Clearly. In one or two sentences. Without guessing.
If the answer is no, the problem is probably not your visibility.
It is your message.
If people cannot repeat it, they cannot refer you.
This matters more than most business owners realize. Referrals depend on other people describing you when you are not in the room. A clear message makes that easy. An unclear one makes it nearly impossible, no matter how good your work is.
The fix is rarely more clever wording. It is usually fewer words. Who you help. What you help them with. Why it matters. Said plainly, the way you would explain it over coffee.
Try it this week. Ask a few people who know your work to describe what you do. Their answers will tell you exactly where your message is landing, and where it is getting lost.
Clarity is not about sounding impressive. It is about being easy to understand.
A message that people can repeat travels further than any campaign you could pay for.
Lisa Carmichael is the author of The Marketing Dopamine Workbook: From Awareness to Action, available now, a companion to her book Marketing Dopamine: What Your Brain Is Really Doing When You Think You’re Building a Business, coming soon. Learn more at marketingdopamine.com
Oh, this is so good. Last week, I met a retired graphic designer. She likes designing logos. I find logos hard because they have to be so concise. But she is good at it because she knows how to make it simple and effective. She said that clients inadvertently make the process difficult by asking for too many ideas to be placed in the logo, which could make it too busy and without a focal point.
What a great example of how less can be more! I can certainly relate to the challenge of designing a logo. It’s tempting to want it to communicate everything about a business, but simplicity is often what makes it memorable. Knowing what to leave out can be just as important as knowing what to include. Thanks for sharing!
So true. You are getting the message across. If you can’t repeat what you’ve just read to someone else, it does mean it wasn’t interesting to you.
That’s a textbook answer Lily, I also think sometimes the message gets lost because we’re trying to communicate too much at once. When we keep things simple and clear, people are more likely to remember what matters. Thanks for sharing!
This is a test I think about every week at my BNI meeting. If the people in the room can’t explain what I do, they can’t send me referrals. I like your point that the fix is usually fewer words, not fancier ones. Asking a few people to describe your work is a simple way to find out where your message gets lost.
That’s such a good example! BNI really puts this into practice because referrals depend on people understanding what you do well enough to explain it to someone else. And you’re right, asking others to describe your business can be eye-opening. Sometimes we’re so close to our own work that we don’t realize where our message gets lost. Thanks for sharing!