WHAT IS AN "EXPLAINER" AND HOW CAN IT HELP YOUR BUSINESS?

There are so many types of businesses today and with today’s pace of innovation it seems there is some new technology every week. Along with development often comes new jargon. It’s not always obvious what the new terminology means, and people often attribute erroneous definitions which can muddle up the communication. The purpose of an "Explainer" is to make the new terminology clear and establish your company as a source for current and factual information.

Here’s a simple example. When texting became a dominant communication tool, a lot of the nuance of conversation was lost. To fill the void people invented emoticons: "faces" made to provide emotional context such as happy, sad, flirty or confused. Needing more context, and wanting to shorten common phrases, people invented shorthand representations: LOL, ROTFL, IDK, NVM; respectively, Laughing Out Loud, Rolling on the Floor Laughing, I Don’t Know, and Never mind. These all eventually got codified into small cartoons (where possible), now called emoji. Some of the common shorthand survived because it was simple and didn’t need replacement.

Here’s why understanding this new language is so important.

Imagine the text conversation if Mom received a text from her grown daughter letting her know that their beloved dog, Sparky passed away recently. Mom texted back: "Oh, so sorry honey LOL." Her daughter responded back:" Thanks Mom, but do you know what LOL means?" To which Mom replied: "Of course, Lots of Love."

So the first part of this example was a quick "explainer" that talked about emoticons and how they evolved from symbols and text to little cartoons called emoji. And the second part of the explainer illustrates what can go wrong if this information is misused or misunderstood. In this case the target audience for the explainer is basically anybody with a cell phone and since emoji’s are continually evolving, there will always be a need for ongoing explainers.

The purpose of developing explainers around your business sector is to establish yourself as the expert in your niche. You want your prospects and existing customers to have your company be the first to pop in their minds when they have a question about anything relating to your industry. An explainer is sort of like an FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) only with a little more depth to give it context. It is that extra depth that showcases your expertise and makes you the "go to" source for information in your niche.

Explainers can be very simple or complicated depending on your business. If you prepare taxes, you might write about "The three biggest changes in the IRS for this year". In the Midwest, you might cover "Protecting your house against lightning strikes". Or for those who have cars where the headlight lenses are getting "fogged over" , "How to make your headlights clear and bright again". So you can see that there is no limit to the subjects. If you start filling up your web site with good explainers for your business niche, you’ll soon find that people will start reaching out to you as the expert in your industry.