We’ve spent this series talking about how to kickstart your why, what methods you can use to dig, dig, dig into the psyche of your customer and match it up with your purpose for doing business.

If you’re confident in how to think about your why but not how to write your why, now it’s time to put pen to paper.

Here are three formulas–all of which I’ve seen on the internet and out in the wild, but they’re solid formulas–to plug in that philosophical thinking to get a succinct “why” statement.

  1. “My product is the one that…” (from Copyhackers)

Joanna Wiebe, founder of Copyhackers, graced my Copywriting class with her availability for a Q&A with me and my students, and after that discussion, I discovered her simple but smart formula for writing a “why” (or a “value proposition” or a “unique selling proposition”).

Start with thinking through your One Thing, your Four Causes, your Five Whys. And then begin the writing process with the statement “My product is the one that…”–maybe instead of a product, you have an organization or a service or a candidate, but that’s the beginning of the written version of your why.

How do you finish that thought? Here’s Joanna’s example:

Picture yourself at SXSW, standing in your booth, watching people walk around and ask questions. Jason Calacanis comes up to you, and he decides to give you 30 seconds of his time to chat about your product, service or site – which we’ll call Ahhhsum. Here’s how the convo goes:

JASON: “So tell me about Ahhhsum.”

YOU: “Sure. It’s easy project management software.”

JASON (sighing and looking distracted): “Another one of those?”

YOU (remembering your value prop): “Well my software is that one that plugs into Gmail, so you can turn emails into tasks.”

Although the important part of your sentence is the last part… the middle section is the part that really matters.

The middle section uses this mega-valuable phrase: “the one that”

In just those 3 little words, you indicate to everyone that there is something distinctive about your solution and that they should listen up because you’re about to say what that differentiator is.

  1. “How to Write a Ferocious Unique Selling Proposition” (from Wordstream)

What I like about this formula is how closely it aligns with the Get Who To By method of audience-need-action-content. Straight from the digital experts at Wordstream:

Let’s see how this works, using our lion-taming equipment supply business as an example. Note that everything in brackets can be changed to suit the specifics of your company, and that this framework can apply to both companies and individual products.

  • For [lion tamers]
  • Who [need high-quality lion-taming equipment]
  • [Lucky Leo’s Lion-Taming Emporium]
  • Is [the world’s only dedicated online lion-taming equipment distributor]
  • That [provides the very best lion-taming equipment, delivered straight to your door].
  • Unlike [other circus equipment supply companies],
  • [Lucky Leo’s Lion-Taming Emporium] is [the only e-commerce business in North America that caters specifically to these performers].

See how easy it is once you have all the pieces of the puzzle? If someone asks about your business, you can use this as a snappy, concise way to explain what your company does. Thinking of your business or products in this way allows you to focus on what really matters – your ideal customer – and identify any glaring problems with your USP.

  1. “What a Unique Selling Proposition Is…” (From Shopify)

Interesting resource, Shopify is. They help businesses and vendors sell millions of dollars’ worth of ecommerce products per year, so it makes sense that they care about you crafting your best “why” statement.

Much like the methods we’ve discussed, Shopify says you must determine your differentiators (and make them ownable and defensible), research your competition, understand your customers’ most important needs, compile the data, and apply this to your business with a statement like this:

[YOUR BRAND] offers [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [TARGET MARKET] to [VALUE PROPOSITION]. Unlike [THE ALTERNATIVE], we [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR].

You know in your heart, head and gut why you do business every day. These methods and these formulas will help you both show it and tell it.