Do You Know the Marketing Rule of ONE?

by Geoff Bright · May 5, 2023

Three words describe this rule of one: Simple, Mighty and Effective.

Simple because it actually makes your marketing much easier, rather than harder.

Mighty because this one small change produces massive results.

And effective because when applied correctly, the conversions are typically nothing short of phenomenal. In fact, I’ve seen this rule turn a losing campaign into healthy profit and a profitable campaign into an empire.

The Rule of One states: Your marketing should focus on ONE big idea, ONE prospect, ONE main benefit, ONE core emotion and ONE call to action.

One big idea presented in a clear and convincing manner is more powerful than a string of mediocre ideas. And it’s far more memorable, too.

If you offer reason after reason on why your prospect should buy, they will often end up confused and the sale will be lost. A multitude of points weakens each point in turn because it seems none of them are strong enough to stand on their own.

Your one idea must be something your prospect can immediately understand and believe. It’s got to be powerful to invoke action.

You might have a list of 7 benefits that your product provides. Choose just one for your headline, your introduction and as the driving force of your copy. You may touch on the other six later in the copy and even bring attention to them through testimonials.

Here’s how to put the marketing rule of one into practice:

One Big Idea

As you might guess, finding your one big idea is harder than it sounds. Few marketers are going to know their one big idea from the start, no matter how well they know their market and their product.

Here’s how to find the one big idea:

List all of your benefits. Not the features; just the benefits.

If you don’t know your benefits, write down your features and then ask yourself, “So what?” for each one. Keep digging.

“My product helps middle aged women lose weight.”

So what?

“They feel better about themselves and look better, too.”

So what?

“They have more energy, feel better, think better, have better sex and relationships, get more done, get more promotions, make more money.”

So what?

“They have a much higher quality of life with fewer regrets and far better experiences.”

Now you’re on the right track. You only get one life and no one wants that life to suck.

One Prospect

New marketers want to speak to everyone. What they don’t realize is that they are speaking to no one because they are focused on no one person.

Place your ideal prospect across from you at your kitchen table. Use your imagination if your ideal prospect won’t come to your house. Now have a conversation with them as though they are your friend.

Don’t know who your idea prospect is? Then it’s time to do research. Just who is it that you want to target? How old are they? What gender? What are their hobbies and interests? Where do they live and what kind of work do they do? Most of all, where do you find them online?

Create a buyer persona that is ONE person. Give them a name. Then write your material as though you are speaking just to this one person.

One Main Benefit

Copy is best when it focuses on one main benefit, and I’ll be the first to admit that the “big idea” and the “big benefit” can sometimes blur together.

In our previous example, the feature is weight loss, the big benefit is feeling better and the big idea is a much better life.

Whatever your choice and however you decipher this, your biggest and strongest benefit of your product or service is the one to use for most of your copy. You can also use the other benefits later in the copy, but they will be in small supporting roles and your big benefit will be the headlining star of the show.

One Core Emotion

Think about a time when you were suffering from the exact same problem for which your product is a solution. What was the main emotion you felt? Fear? Embarrassment? Frustration? Anger?

This is the emotion to focus on in your copy, not just to get your prospect to feel that emotion, but also how they will feel when they are finally rid of it, too.

One Call to Action

Everything – your landing page, webpage, advertisement, sales page and so forth should have just one call to action. This is one clear and easy action for the prospect to take.

For example, your squeeze page has one call to action to join your list. The follow-up page has one call to action to get your low-priced product. If there is an upsell, then that page has one call to action to buy the big product.

No matter what type of page you are creating, it will have only one call to action on it to make it direct, clear and actionable.

And yes, that call to action can be repeated multiple times on the same page, but it will be the same call to action each time.

Time to Take Action of Your Own

Choose a piece of your own copy and go through it, removing extraneous stuff and sharpening it to focus on just one big idea, prospect, benefit, emotion and call to action.

You’ll be making your copy stronger, clearer and far more effective when you do this.

Use the Rule of One in all of your future marketing to remove confusion and make your messages clear, and you’ll likely see a significant increase in conversions as well as happier customers who become repeat buyers.