Can you explain what you do in one sentence? How to fix your messaging
Ask five people in your business what it does. If you get five different answers, you can't yet explain it in one sentence, and that matters more than it sounds. A referral is somebody else explaining your business in their own words, and so is a review, a directory listing, a local news story and an AI assistant's answer about you. If you can't say clearly what you do, none of them can either. The fix is a formula: "We help [who] [achieve what] by [how], unlike [the alternative]".
The formula
The best-known version comes from Steve Blank, the entrepreneur and academic behind the Lean LaunchPad teaching method. In a 2011 post on how to build a web start-up, he wrote: "A good format is 'We help X do Y by doing Z'."
It's a good format, and I'd add one thing to it. Blank's version tells people what you do, but not why they should choose you over whatever they'd otherwise do. So we use:
We help [who] [achieve what] by [how], unlike [the alternative].
It won't be your final tagline, and it doesn't need to be elegant. What it does is force four decisions: who you're for, what outcome you deliver, how you deliver it, and why you rather than something else.
Be specific about who
"Businesses" isn't an audience, and neither is "anyone who needs a website". The more specific you are, the more the right people feel you're talking to them, and the easier it is for others to recognise who to send your way.
Compare "We help businesses with their marketing" with "We help independent opticians win more private patients". The second rules out almost everyone, which is exactly why it works: an optician reading it knows at once that it's for them, and anyone who knows an optician knows who to mention it to.
If you serve more than one group, pick the one most of your best customers come from. The others will still find you.
Sell the outcome, not the process
Customers don't want an audit, a strategy session or a content calendar. They want more customers, less stress, lower costs or more time. Lead with the result, and explain the process later, once they're interested.
Here's a useful test. If your "what" is something you do rather than something they get, turn it round, so that "We provide bookkeeping services" becomes "We keep your books up to date so you never dread a tax deadline".
Say how, briefly
The "how" is where your method, your price model or your specialism goes. Keep it to a few words: it's there to make the outcome believable, not to list everything you do.
Name the alternative
Every customer has other options, including doing nothing, and naming the alternative is what turns a description into a reason to choose you. It might be a type of competitor, such as a big agency or a national chain; a different way of solving the problem, such as hiring someone; or simply carrying on as they are.
Be fair about it. The point is to show the difference, not to run anyone down.
A worked example: our own
Here's the process applied to oXo Creatives, as an example rather than a template.
- Who: founders and in-house marketing teams at UK businesses.
- Achieve what: get found by the people looking for what they sell, then get chosen over the alternatives.
- How: fixed-price marketing projects, with the price published before anyone gets in touch.
- Unlike: open-ended retainers and day rates, where the buyer carries the risk of the work taking longer.
Put together: We help UK founders and marketing teams get found and get chosen, through fixed-price marketing projects, unlike retainers that bill for time.
It isn't a tagline, and it doesn't need to be. You can see the same ideas at work on our homepage, which opens with "Get found, then get chosen", and on our service pages, each of which shows its price.
Test it on real people
Blank's advice here is the right place to start: find a few other people, ask whether the statement makes sense, and if it doesn't, give them the longer explanation and ask them to summarise it back. Their summary is often better than yours.
In practice, that means four things:
- Read it to someone outside your industry and ask them to explain it back. If they can't, simplify.
- Ask three recent customers how they'd describe what you do to a friend. Write down the words they use, and borrow them.
- Show your homepage to someone new for five seconds, then ask what you do. If they can't say, the homepage checklist will show you where to start.
- Ask the people in your business to write the sentence separately, then compare. The differences show you where the real disagreements are.
Five common mistakes
- Listing everything you do. A sentence that tries to include every service ends up saying nothing. Lead with what most customers come for.
- Using internal language. Product names, department names and industry terms mean something to you and nothing to a customer.
- Claiming what everyone claims. "High quality", "great service" and "passionate" appear on almost every website, so they give nobody a reason to choose you.
- Describing the process instead of the result. "We offer consultations" is a process. What does the customer have afterwards?
- Being clever instead of clear. Wordplay can come later, in a tagline. The sentence has to be understood first time.
Adapting it for different audiences
The core sentence stays the same, but the emphasis can shift with who you're talking to:
- For a new customer, lead with the outcome and the alternative: why this is better than what they're doing now.
- For someone who might refer you, lead with who you help, so they can recognise the right person to send.
- For a potential partner or supplier, lead with how you work, so they can see whether you fit together.
If the three versions contradict each other, the core sentence isn't settled yet.
Use it everywhere
Once it's agreed, use the same sentence, or something close to it, everywhere people meet your business. It's one part of a wider messaging framework, which adds who you're for, what they'd do instead and the words you use, with a sheet to fill in. Put the sentence on:
- the top of your homepage and your main service pages;
- your Google Business Profile description, and your listings on other sites;
- your social media bios and LinkedIn page;
- how you and your team introduce the business at events and on calls;
- the brief you give anyone who markets or sells for you;
- your email signature, if you want to be thorough.
Consistency is what makes it stick. When the same description appears in many places, people remember it, and search engines and AI assistants get one consistent account of you to draw on. It's also what lets other people refer work to you.
Check your sentence
Tick the ones that are true. The ticks are saved in this browser.
- It names a specific group of customers, not "businesses" or "everyone".
What good looks like
The sentence names a group narrow enough that some readers would know at once it is not for them, such as "independent opticians" rather than "businesses".
- It describes an outcome the customer gets, not a service we perform.
What good looks like
The verb describes something the customer ends up with, such as more patients or books kept up to date, not something you do, such as providing services.
- It says briefly how we deliver it.
What good looks like
A few words say how you do it, such as a method, a price model or a specialism, enough to make the outcome believable and no more.
- It says why us rather than the alternative, fairly.
What good looks like
The sentence names what the customer would otherwise do, whether another type of supplier or nothing at all, and the difference is stated fairly, without running anyone down.
- Someone outside our industry can explain it back.
What good looks like
You read the sentence once to someone who does not work in your field, and they told you what you do in their own words, correctly.
- Everyone in the business would say roughly the same thing.
What good looks like
Each person in the business wrote the sentence down separately, and the versions matched on who, what and why, even if the wording differed.
- It is on our homepage, our Google Business Profile and our social profiles.
What good looks like
The sentence, or a close variation, appears at the top of the homepage, in the Google Business Profile description and in each social profile bio.
If you'd like help getting there, our messaging sprint takes about three weeks for a fixed £3,000. It includes a working session with you, and you come away with the sentence, the points that prove it and the words to use everywhere.
Questions people ask
How do I explain what my business does in one sentence?
Use a simple structure: we help a specific group achieve a specific outcome by doing something in a particular way, unlike the alternative they'd otherwise choose. Write it, read it to someone outside your industry, and ask them to explain it back. Rewrite it until they can.
What is the 'We help X do Y by doing Z' formula?
It's a format for a value proposition, popularised by the entrepreneur and academic Steve Blank, who suggested it in a 2011 post on building a start-up. X is who you serve, Y is the outcome and Z is how you deliver it. Adding the alternative you're better than makes it sharper still.
Is a one-sentence description the same as a tagline?
No. The sentence is a working tool for everyone who talks about your business, and it can be plain. A tagline is a short, memorable line for marketing, and it often comes after the sentence is agreed.
Where should I use my one-sentence description?
At the top of your homepage, in your Google Business Profile description, on your social profiles and directory listings, in how you introduce yourself, and in the brief you give anyone who markets your business. Saying the same thing everywhere is what makes it stick.
What if my business does several different things?
Describe the thing most customers come to you for, and let the rest be discovered later. If you genuinely serve different groups with different offers, each may need its own sentence, but the business still needs one that holds them together.
I founded oXo Creatives, an independent marketing agency and consultancy, in 2013 and run it full-time. Until 2026 I ran it alongside senior in-house marketing roles at Google, PlayStation and King, partner management at Meta, and digital product at NatWest.
Want help with brand and messaging?
Who you're for, why they should pick you over the next firm, and how to say it clearly, everywhere. A few weeks, including a working session with you.
