Hello fellow LaunchPaddians: 

When I talk to entrepreneurs and other owners or managers of small businesses, one subject they often have a little trouble with is how to make their messages more compelling. 

They know that often, they have just an instance, a few seconds or a minute to intrigue someone enough to start a conversation, or maybe a long-term relationship. 

Bill Kalivas and Allen Battle of LaunchPadINW are great resources for what to do and what to say at live networking events. I'm a copywriter from way back; I've worked with Nike, See's Candies, Chevron, and a variety of tech startups. My specialty is developing strategic messages for a full range of communications. 

I promise you this: You don't need to be a pro to develop sharp messages. In fact, the pros often fail miserably. There's no guarantee, but you can create pretty decent messaging for your own business, with a little guidance.

That's the point of my latest blog post, here. 

In it, I give a quick description of three basic types of marketing messages that small and midsize business owners or managers should start with. 

These are:

• The company story
• The value proposition
• Key benefits

If you can get these down, you'll have a handy resource for everything from your online content, to printed materials, to sales presentations. 

Take a look, feel free to ask questions or leave comments. And if you want more complete information on this topic, I have a deck that expands on strategic messages. I'll be happy to send you. Just contact me through the my website. 

Cheers! 

Barrett