If in doubt, focus on relevance

If our story isn’t relevant, it doesn’t matter how beautiful our slides are, how elaborate our body language is, or how eloquent our wording is.

If our audience can’t relate to us, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s a story it doesn’t relate to, a beautiful design, or eloquent words.

If, on the other hand, we manage to make it highly relevant, our audience is willing to tolerate quite some frustration.

That’s why – if in doubt – I’d always work on relevance before I begin working on the show. I’d always work on substance before I begin working on the delivery.

Copywriting legend John Caples put it this way:

“If I had a year to create an ad, I’d spend 11 months working on the appeal, and a month – or even a week — on writing the ad. In other words, what you say in your copy is much more important than how you say it.”