#21: Slate—Why This $20K Truck Is Getting All the Attention

Summary

Podcast Summary: Why That Worked – Episode #21: Slate—Why This $20K Truck Is Getting All the Attention

Presented by StoryBrand.ai

Release Date: May 26, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #21 of Why That Worked, hosted by Donald Miller and co-hosted by Kyle Reed of StoryBrand.ai, the discussion centers around distinguishing a product in a saturated market. This episode delves into the strategies behind Slate's successful launch of their $20,000 electric truck, offering actionable insights for businesses striving to stand out amidst fierce competition.

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The Challenge of Standing Out in a Crowded Market

Kyle Reed opens the conversation by addressing a common dilemma faced by business owners: "What do you do when you run a business and it feels like you have thousands of competitors and you are trying to stand out?" (00:24). Using the electric car industry as an example, with its multitude of brands and models, the hosts explore effective strategies to capture consumer attention without getting lost in the noise.

Shift Focus from Competition to Customers

Donald Miller emphasizes a fundamental shift in perspective for businesses struggling to differentiate themselves. He asserts, "You're assuming your customer is also thinking about the competition. They're not" (00:44). Drawing parallels to Jeff Bezos' customer-centric approach at Amazon, Miller advocates for prioritizing customer needs over competitor analysis. He shares his personal experience of never having examined a competitor’s website, underscoring his belief in focusing inward rather than outward.

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Case Study: Slate Truck Launch

a. Overview of Slate's Launch Video

The conversation takes a deeper dive into Slate's product launch, prompted by an Instagram video Miller shared with Reed. Described as "inexpensively produced" yet packed with impactful content, the Slate launch video serves as a prime example of effective messaging (04:55). Reed even expresses enthusiasm, stating, "I actually want one. I need a truck" (04:46).

b. Analysis of Messaging Strategies

Miller compares Slate's video to the iconic Dollar Shave Club launch, highlighting its clear positioning and engaging content. He notes, "They positioned the Slate truck... as against something" (07:01), emphasizing Slate's stance against expensive and overly complicated vehicles.

c. Controlling Ideas: Cheap, Fun, Yours

The hosts break down Slate's messaging into three core controlling ideas:

1. Cheap:

   • Slate addresses cost directly by stating, "Chris thinks new cars are too expensive" (05:14), followed by a strategic correction to highlight affordability: "Actually under 20,000 after current incentives" (07:22).
   • By eliminating unnecessary features like "automatic cup holders" (05:58), Slate conveys reliability and cost-effectiveness without compromising quality.

2. Fun:

   • Incorporating elements of playfulness, the video likens the truck to a customizable toy, fostering a sense of enjoyment and personalization. Miller references Bain Capital's Elements of Value Pyramid, noting that fun is a significant motivator for purchases (09:33).

3. Yours:

   • Emphasizing ownership and customization, Slate's tagline "We build it, you make it" (16:37) empowers customers to personalize their vehicles, distinguishing Slate from competitors who may offer similar customization without explicitly communicating it.

d. Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Miller cautions against overloading messaging with excessive details, such as technical specs like range or torque, which could detract from the core message. He explains, "If the controlling idea is about this being a fun, low-priced vehicle, you can't add anything to it" (20:00). Instead, Slate effectively directs customers to their website for detailed information, maintaining focus on their primary selling points.

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Insights and Lessons for Businesses

From Slate's approach, several key takeaways emerge for businesses aiming to thrive in crowded markets:

• Customer-Centric Messaging: Prioritize understanding and addressing customer pain points over monitoring competitors.

• Clear Positioning: Define what you stand against to clarify your value proposition.

• Controlled Messaging: Limit core messages to three main points to avoid overwhelming customers.

• Engaging Content: Utilize humor and playfulness to make your brand memorable and relatable.

• Empowerment Through Customization: Allow customers to personalize products, fostering a deeper connection with the brand.

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Conclusion

Episode #21 of Why That Worked offers a comprehensive analysis of Slate's successful entry into the electric truck market. By focusing on customer needs, maintaining clear and controlled messaging, and leveraging engaging and relatable content, Slate effectively distinguishes itself in a saturated industry. Businesses can draw valuable lessons from Slate's approach, applying these strategies to enhance their own market presence and drive success.

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For more insights on crafting clear and effective messaging for your business, visit StoryBrand.ai.

Transcript

[Donald Miller]

Foreign.

[Kyle Reed]

You're listening to the why that Work podcast, presented by StoryBrand AI. If you've ever wondered why certain brands, trends, or cultural phenomena find success while others don't, you're in the right place. Every week, we unpack why something worked, then give you actionable insights that you can use in your own life. Now let's dive in with your hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed.

Don, what do you do when you run a business and it feels like you have thousands of competitors and you are trying to stand out? For instance, like the electrical car industry, there seems to be, like, one coming out every day. Not just new brands, but existing brands who are releasing new models or new options. How do you stand out in what feels like a crowded market?

[Donald Miller]

I get that question from business owners all the time. They say, well, our competitors do that, or they're sort of obsessed with our. With their competitors. And it was just at a big office furniture conference, you know, like Steelcase and Herman Miller and those guys. And that came up over and over, you know, with these furniture dealers. Well, our competitors do that. Competitors do this better that. The reality is, if you're. If you're in a business, you're thinking a lot about the competition. And here's the problem that you're making. You're assuming your customer is also thinking about the competition. They're not. Yeah, I guarantee you they're not. And so you're spending your time looking the wrong direction. You're looking at what your competition is doing, what they're saying, the products that they're producing. What you really should be doing is ignoring the competition. And just look at the market. And actually, Jeff Bezos says this all the time about Amazon. We are not competitor focused. We are customer focused. So that's lesson number one, because it's. If you start getting nervous about your competition and you start losing sleep over them. And listen, I've been tempted, too. I mean, there are people who kind of do what we do. And I'm like, well, they're doing this, they're doing that. And I'm like, wait a second, this is a giant market. And yes, they may move into my market, but they're gonna move in a lot more if I'm not looking at customers and responding to customers and just serving customers as best as I can. So I'm being honest when I say this. I've been in business for 10 years, more in the current line of business. I really believe I have never once looked at a competitor's website.

[Kyle Reed]

Really?

[Donald Miller]

No. I cannot remember Ever looking at a competitor's website and trying to figure out what they're doing.

[Kyle Reed]

Wow.

[Donald Miller]

I don't think it's ever happened, really. No. And I would say in our market, the sort of message clarification and coaching, and it's not a big industry, but there are lots of thought leaders who've written books. We dominate. We're number one. And it didn't come by trying to outsmart the competition. It came by always looking at customers, talking to customers, figuring out what they want, figuring out how to sell to them better. I don't think that was intentional. I just don't like. I like competing with myself. I don't like competing with others. I don't. I don't like trying to beat you. I like trying to beat myself in the sense that I can do this better. This could have been done better. I could do this with more excellence. And I think for whatever reason that served me, I remember I used to play geek here. A nerd. Me and my buddy Tony would play Frisbee golf at Laurelhurst park five days a week. And it was like, throw this Frisbee and try to hit that tree, and, you know, the sidewalk is water. It was just geek, nerd stuff. He was kind of a writer thinker, too. And so we would. We would just meet at the park, play a quick round, and go back to our coffee shops. And he had. He was athletic, and he had such long arms. He would just. I never beat him, not once. And I just had to finally go, we'll just beat your play against yourself. Like, just. That's it. And I really enjoyed always talking to Tony. Very smart guy. And playing. And I just got used to getting beat, I think. And so the only way I could make a game out of it was like, hey, you know, beat yourself. Yeah. You were six under. That's your record. You know, and then that kind of made it fun. I think that's the attitude that you want to have in business. If you have competitors, you just don't think much about them.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. That's a great segue for us to talk about something. You sent me, Don, on Instagram not too long ago, of a company who's trying to break into the electric car industry.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Which is the most crowded marketplace also with tons of competition. You sent me this company called Slate, and you sent me their, like, launch video. It's very well made. I actually.

[Donald Miller]

I want one.

[Kyle Reed]

It's really cool. I want one. I need a truck, so I'd like one myself. And I have electric Car. Should I play this first for our audience so they can hear? It's a little long.

[Donald Miller]

Let's explain what it is. Yeah, it's a launch video that I saw on Instagram. I'm sure it went YouTube and all that kind of stuff. It's down and dirty. It seems like it's inexpensively produced. There's a lot going on that's really good and a lot of lessons that anybody listening can use to launch a product. So that's. Let's frame.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, listen for that.

[Donald Miller]

Worth listening to and then let's analyze it.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay, great. Let me play it for our audience.

[Jeff]

This is a slate. This slate seats two and can carry sheets of plywood. This slate seats five and can fit tons in the frunk. It's actually the same slate. This is narrated by me, Jeff. I work at Slate and just happen to have a great voice.

[Donald Miller]

He really does.

[Jeff]

That's Chris, our CEO. Chris thinks new cars are too expensive and too complicated.

[Kyle Reed]

A slate cost in the mid-20s. Brand new.

[Jeff]

One sec, Chris. Actually under 20 after current incentives. Go ahead, Chris.

[Kyle Reed]

We check out everything that wasn't a car.

[Jeff]

That means no fancy screen, colored lighting, cooled seats, self driving, self parking, automatic cup holders. Yes, that's a thing.

[Donald Miller]

But you can add accessories like little.

[Jeff]

Screen, big screen, SUV kit, fastback kit, open air kit, one speaker, a bunch of speakers, big bumper, spare tire holder, slatelets, fun grills, even funner lights, colors. Any color, really. Wrap it in any color. And Slate access points means you can add an accessory now, later, or even make one yourself.

[Donald Miller]

It's like a potato head.

[Kyle Reed]

Wait, maybe there's a better analogy.

[Jeff]

Actually, there is. Slate is the chameleon of trucks and SUVs. Seriously, just add the SUV kit.

[Kyle Reed]

There are three.

[Jeff]

A slate is not like other cars or trucks or SUVs. And Slate is not like other car companies. Slate. We built it, you make it.

[Donald Miller]

I love it. I think that's one of the best product launch videos since Cooper, one of our producers here, pointed out Dollar Shave Club.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. And they kind of set the trend. They were one of the first Old Spice, I think was in there early on.

[Donald Miller]

Kind of fun.

[Kyle Reed]

It feels like, I would say Dollar Shave Club set the bar for social media brand launches.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, yeah. And Dollar Shave Club is a better video than that because it's so fun, freaking entertaining. But let's look at the similarities that you can use as a brand. First of all, they positioned the Slate truck and Dollar Shave Club razors as against something. Oh, yeah, Right off the bat.

[Kyle Reed]

Against what?

[Donald Miller]

Well, Chris, the CEO, didn't even use her last name. So it's very informal. Not better than you. It's very important that they said, hey, look, we're not better. We are the Everyman inexpensive entry truck. And they position themselves as against something because in the narration he says, chris thinks new cars are too expensive.

[Kyle Reed]

There it is. That was the end of the story.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. So it's very important when you launch something that it is the solution to a problem and you have to state the problem.

[Kyle Reed]

And they probably within 20, 20 plus seconds they had said that in the ad. So they.

[Donald Miller]

That was the foundation of the whole campaign.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

So everything from that point on defends the mission. And the mission is we are solving the problem of new cars are too expensive. And then I would say there are three controlling ideas or a controlling idea with three parts that they. They stuck to the script on cheap fun. Yours. This car is cheap. This car is a toy. It's fun and it's yours. Right. Even the tagline, we built it, you make it means it's yours. You can wrap it in any color you want. You can put a bumper on it. You can do this. And then the analogy when she says, it's like a Mr. Potato Head, and then there's this jokey way of saying, that's not quite the right. They didn't leave that in because it wasn't right. It was actually perfect. It's a toy. Also, who hasn't played with a Mr. Potato Head? So in screenwriting that's called the same but different, where you actually say, my product is like this, but different. What happens in the mind of the customer is they begin to batch their thinking. They go, oh, it's like that, but it's a truck. And now you don't have to do all sorts of education on how the parts interchange and this sorts of thing. And then the other thing that they did was they associated the car with a toy. What they're selling in this is inexpensive fun. And when I saw that you could actually create like an open top version with a back seat, I was in.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Let's look at how they emphasized these three ideas.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

Okay. So cheap. They, they emphasized it several ways. First of all, again, they're against expensive cars. Right. So if you are against something that is causing the consumer pain, they are very interested.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

So they hooked our interest by saying that that's. That's Formula one. Formula piece number one.

[Kyle Reed]

And they did something. If I can pause you really quick, you talk about this. Luxury brands never use Humor.

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

They went the other way because it's a discount.

[Donald Miller]

Brands use humor. Luxury brands.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep. So they added that in and you already were kind of a little bit.

[Donald Miller]

The music is playful.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. And you just kind of diffuse, like, you just are kind of at ease watching this. It was fun. It was playful as you watched it.

[Donald Miller]

And, you know, probably most people aren't watching the video of this. You can watch this on YouTube. But in the video, Chris is sitting at a folding table inside of a warehouse. Right. This is discount from beginning to end. This is a discount brand. This is the sort of truck Costco would sell. Right.

[Kyle Reed]

100%.

[Donald Miller]

And so they're positioning it that way. And they've got these. They've got some other interesting things. The narration is male and female. There's a male who's talking and there's a female CEO featured. That kind of contrast is both visually and audibly interesting. That was strategic. Right. Chris is not wearing a power suit. She's sitting in a sweater at a. You know, she's your mom and she's taking care of you. It's really, really just very, very well done. Okay, so let's emphasize the three things. Cheap is one of the things that they're messaging. There's a pre emphasis on the price by saying, Chris thinks cars are too expensive. This car is $20,000. Now he interrupts her and says, actually, it's under 20,000 with incentives. That's a way of sort of highlighting the price. Do you really think, like, she made a mistake? That was a strategic, scripted correction to hit the price twice in five seconds.

[Kyle Reed]

It does a lot of lifting, too, because if you look at a lot of the other electric car industry, what they're using right now is government incentives. Right?

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

So, hey, a new Tesla is $37,000. And you go, wait, what? And you go look at it and go, well, that's with the government incentives of buying an electric vehicle. So they're doing a good job of not even having to state that. It's a quick line. It does a lot of lifting there, too.

[Donald Miller]

The other thing is, you think cheap. You sort of think maybe unreliable. But they actually say, do you really need the bumper? Do you need this? Do you need that? And it's a way of sort of explaining why this truck is cost effective without saying they've, you know, it's. It's. It's crappy. Right. You know, it's. It's. Then they needed to do that. They needed to say, it's going to be reliable here's why it's because you can add a big bumper if you want. You can add the SUV package, you can add this, you can add badges, you can add the stereo, you can add this. And all of a sudden you realize, okay, this is why it is. It is so inexpensive.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Because you can get it bare bones if you want to. Or my guess is this truck will go up to 35, 40 grand.

[Kyle Reed]

Sure. I think that's an important point to highlight because one of the notes I wrote down was them listing all the options. Does it take away from the value? And actually, I thought that was a negative. But you're right. What they're doing there is showing you the reliability. So they're answering that question of kind of. Okay, now let's illustrate.

[Donald Miller]

This is why it's cheap. It's not cheap because it's cheap. It's cheap because.

[Kyle Reed]

Because we're taking out all these unnecessary bloated features. Did you pick up on two? They used. They talked about you can load three things of plywood in it. I think they even were trying to show this could be used for work environment.

[Donald Miller]

There's some. The versatility of it. Also, automatic cup holders is a great sort of, you know, strawman.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, right.

[Donald Miller]

It's a great way of saying, do you really need automatic cup holders? And the reality is they're not just talking about automatic cup holders. They're talking about a lot of other stuff. But they chose kind of the absurd one. Right. This happens in politics all the time where people are like, you know, that Democrat funded a million dollar paperclip, you know, or whatever. And it's like, now you can't get anything out of your head except that they funded a million dollar paperclip. I think that's what they're doing here as well. They're showing the absurdity of all of these expensive gadgets that are inside of cars. So that's how they emphasized one of the three talking points. Actually, there were really four. One is we're against expensive cars. One of the talking sub points to that would be it's inexpensive. And so we've already highlighted all the ways they got inexpensive without directly saying it into the video. The next one is fun. Fun is there's a tool that Bain Capital released years ago called the Elements of Value Pyramid. They had Some researchers spend 10 years doing studies on what human beings actually buy, and they came up with 30 things. It's things like nostalgia badge access, you know, gosh, self transcendence by the top of it, easy access or elite access, reducing anxiety. There's 30 things like this. One of them is fun. So fun is actually something people buy. And often when I'm sending out an email saying, hey, you should come to our certification, I look for places to add the word fun because, you know, it's. It's like a spice rack. You. You put it spice. You know, put a. Pouring a little fun into your email or into your offer, and you end up with. With more people coming. So they emphasize how fun this is. They associate it with a toy. The music sounds fun. It looks. I mean, it freaking looks like a fun car to. It does drive to me. And so that's. That's part number two. And then part number three is. It's yours, meaning yours is going to be different than anything else. And that's where Mr. Potato Head actually that example gets to both fun and yours. And you customize it, and they're visually showing you everything that you can do with it. That's not true with most cars. Right. And so you're able to customize it in ways. And then, you know, they close out by saying, we build it, you make it. They also say, what's interesting to me is we're not like other cars or other vehicle companies. What I notice there is they don't actually tell you how. They just say, we're not like other cars, and it still works. We're not like other vehicle companies, and it still works. And listen, if you're. If you're positioning yourself as against an industry, you may only need to say, you know, we're not like them.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

I was just reading this morning a briefing on our, you know, competitors. Somebody sent something on Slack and it was a complaint from somebody who'd been with multiple certification companies. You know, they certified us. They charged us twice what you charge. We never saw them again. There's no portal that we can enter into their coaches don't talk to us. Now, I open this by saying, I don't look at our competitors. But this just happened to be on Slack this morning.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep. Saw the same one.

[Donald Miller]

And for us to say, yeah, yeah, most people certify you as a coach and they never talk to you again. We're not like them. We put you in a small group where we talk to you literally every day. If you want to talk to us, and we talk to you formally once a week, and we talk to you, we don't leave you alone. I think it's important that if you are different and better in some way, you actually say, we are not like them because they burned your customer. And it's really important that you actually verbalize. We aren't like the people who hurt you. We aren't like the people who rip you off. We aren't like the people. And they do that here as well. So, you know, an extremely effective campaign. And by the way, these videos have, they have millions of views, millions of likes on Instagram. I know they're paying for a lot of this stuff, but you can put a lot of money towards something that isn't playful, fun and that sort of thing. And you're not going to get the kind of interest if you don't communicate clearly.

[Kyle Reed]

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They did some things well in the sense of though it's fun, though it's a cheaper product, they didn't cheap out on the rollout of the product. Their website is very well done. The video itself follows a lot of quick cuts, good visuals, a lot of, a lot of B roll.

[Donald Miller]

They're getting a ton of attention.

[Kyle Reed]

They are, and, but they spent. I think there's a key thing there too is like as you're trying to stand out in a market, it doesn't mean that you can just, you know, wing it. No, this is all, it's all very strategic.

[Donald Miller]

And I'm sure it was an ad agency. I'm not sure, but I would imagine it's an agency who did it and whoever did it did a fantastic job rolling this out and we can learn from them.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes. I also think there's something about the going first principle of this and what I mean by that is they let the people who have gone first in the electric car industry, there's so much consumer education there to do as far as like range battery care. Slade is benefiting it off, all that work's been done. So you notice they didn't say a word about range.

[Donald Miller]

Well, that was actually going to be one of my points. They don't talk about horsepower, they don't talk about torque, they don't talk about range, they don't talk about charging times. They, they don't talk about any of that. Which everybody's gonna have questions about that. So you say, okay, Don, why didn't they talk about that? And don't you have to talk about that? I can hear them. I can hear an electric vehicle company coming to me in a strategy session. And they're gonna say, we have to talk about range. And I'm gonna say, don't talk about range. And they're gonna say, no. Every customer, it's the first question every customer has. I've been in these meetings and we're sitting around a conference table and everybody's going, this guy's an idiot. He doesn't want to talk about range. It's the only question every customer has. Why not talk about range? And what I would say to them is, you can't, you can't. If the controlling idea is about, this is a fun low priced vehicle, you can't add anything to it.

[Kyle Reed]

Agreed.

[Donald Miller]

And they're going to go, well, everybody's going to ask the question. I'm going to say, well, not if you are framing it differently. I mean, when I saw that video, it's not until literally now that I've wondered what the range is and why. Because they're controlling the frame of the message and what the video is about. An inexpensive truck hitting the market that you can customize. That's really fun. That's it. It's not about range.

[Kyle Reed]

And keep in mind, they talk about range, they just do it on their website.

[Donald Miller]

Right. You answer the question somewhere else. But, and this is, I get into this all the time with clients. They want every communication piece to communicate everything. It's like, no, this is the one where we say it's cheap and fun. And I want you to stop talking after that. Say it somewhere else. But this is not where we say that. Well, that's the number one question. I mean, I just fight them and fight them and fight them. And now look at what happens when they're disciplined, when they actually, this is another part of this messaging that we've got to talk about everything that they leave out. Jeff Bezos is involved in funding this. Is it in the video?

[Kyle Reed]

No.

[Donald Miller]

Why? It's a distraction.

[Kyle Reed]

Exactly.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. That's not the controlling idea. Now make another video on why one of the wealthiest people in the world wants to make a $20,000 truck. Now, that's an extremely effective video. But it's not this video. It's not this video. And so you're. You know, my clients need to understand we're trying to create one piece of communication. It has to have a controlling idea. And you can't hand the customer too many slippery bowling balls. Now, what is that? I've used this example before. Every piece of information that you hand a customer in a. In a messaging piece of collateral is a bowling ball. We're handing them really 3. There's the controlling idea. That is we're against expensive electric vehicles. So that's kind of a bowling ball. But really we're handing them three. It's cheap fun. And yours, people can't hold any more than three. And as soon as you get into torque, and as soon as you say torque, it's a bowling ball that has been covered in Vaseline, it's slippery. And so that means they can't really. Yeah, you can't really handle anything else. So I would say three bowling balls, tops. And they gave you three. And now we say, well, what about range? That's a big one. Everybody wants. Sorry, three bowling balls are out.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And that's not what this video does. So what they don't say is really important, too. And anytime you say, well, we've got to say this. Okay. If you've got to say that, I'm going to let you say it, but you're going to say it in a different piece of collateral and break these things up.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, that's good. Okay. So kind of going back to the initial conversation, there's a couple of things running through my head. First, kind of wrapping up. What if you're in what feels to be an oversaturated big market? There's a couple.

[Donald Miller]

There's just a lot of competition.

[Kyle Reed]

There's a couple things you can start. First, you need to know what. You're the villain. Right.

[Donald Miller]

As a way. Yeah. So a couple things there. One is, know what customers hate about this. This market? What do customers hate about your market? Right. So that's thing number one. Thing number two is use that and leverage that as a differentiator.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

So we are differentiating from our competitors because we don't screw them the way everybody else is screwing them. If you have that and if you can find that in your marketing and advertising, you need to exploit it.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

Okay, so let's break this down to more where our customers are. Let's say you have a pool installation slash cleaning company, Right? You could say something like, you know, our competitors charge $200 every time they clean your pool and they come, you know, only when you call them. First of all, I don't think that's true of anybody of any pool cleaning company. But you would want to say something like, you never have to call us. We're charging about 600 bucks a month. It's gonna be about $200 less than you would pay if it was piecemeal. But you never call us. We actually just keep your pool clean, period.

[Kyle Reed]

Done for you. Pool cleaning?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it's done. And you know, we can't believe anybody would actually charge you, you know. Yeah. What are you buying here? I'm buying a clean pool. And I don't care how it's done. I don't care when it's done. It just always needs to be clean. You know, something along those lines where you can actually differentiate yourself. Now, here's another thing to remember. A lot of people would say, well, every pool company is. Has a subscription service where you come in. My question to you is, is every pool company saying it? And if every pool company is not saying it, then you have a chance to move into that market.

[Kyle Reed]

That's right.

[Donald Miller]

It's not what they're doing. It's whether or not they're saying what they're doing. And if there are 50 cheap electric truck on the market, by the way. There are, right? There are like the Slate truck. There are these little trucks coming out of Japan that look like kind of golf cart y sort of trucks. There's electric vehicles like crazy. There are probably 20 competitors to slate. Nobody knows about any of them. What do they know about? They know about. The one that is against expensive cars is lots of fun. There's a reason that it's not that expensive because you can customize it. They know about the one that uses effective messaging. This is a very crowded market and it's not like they're different than 20 other companies. They're not.

[Kyle Reed]

How big of a mistake would have been for them to go with where a. I feel like the temptation is if you step into that market as a cheaper alternative in electric. Electric car space to go with. We're just a cheaper alternative. They didn't do that. They. The controlling idea was we are against expensive things.

[Donald Miller]

Yes.

[Kyle Reed]

That feels to me like that's the big. That's kind of what set the whole campaign up for them.

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

So they could have led. So if you go back to your pool analogy cleaning.

[Donald Miller]

Well, they could have led with, we're going to save you a ton of money. Yeah, that's a controlling idea. Not as effective.

[Kyle Reed]

No. Well, and they also got ahead of it because when you hear cheap, you hear cheap, you hear it's not very.

[Donald Miller]

And they don't use the word cheap.

[Kyle Reed]

No. Yeah, Affordable.

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

And so I think if you get in the pool cleaning analogy, you could lead with affordable, or you could lead with those things or lead with, you'll.

[Donald Miller]

Never have to call us. Or you could say, look at. If you call us, we failed.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay, so you've been talking about this kind of new thing around messaging campaigns, and one of the analogies you've been talking about is the triangle. Curiosity, Enlightenment. Enlightenment, Commitment.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, yeah. There are three levels of messaging inside of a messaging campaign. Now, a messaging campaign is sound bites and words that you use to get the message out about your product. And those sound bites need sound bites and white papers and lead generators and YouTube videos and podcast episodes. They need to cover three different territories of a psychological journey that your customer goes through. I liken it to a house. If you walk up to my house here in Nashville, Tennessee, there are front steps, there is a front porch, and then there's a front door that goes inside. The front steps are the curiosity phase. And in order to step on those steps up, you need a controlling idea, you need a tagline, you need a brand script, you need sound bites that you step on to get to the front porch. And those sound bites invite you by peaking your curiosity. And the only thing that piques a customer's curiosity is survival. That's it. There's nothing else. And so unless my subconscious can sense that you're going to help me survive, I'm not going to be interested in being enlightened about your product. So we are against high priced electric vehicles or high priced cars. Helps me survive because you're saving me money. And as soon as you say that the customer is interested and they want to know more, so they have officially walked up the steps and then you say, well, how is this? How are you doing this? Well, because we don't put automatic cup holders in the car. Do you really need an automatic cup holder? Isn't that absurd? Now I'm being enlightened. I'm on the front porch. Right. And you've got the customizable thing. It's really fun, it's playful, it looks like a toy, feels like a toy, little bit curiosity, but really, we're getting into enlightenment. Then I go to your website and your website sort of answers a lot of questions about maybe horsepower and range and things like that. I'm still in the due diligence enlightenment phase. And by the way, you're moving that way and you've got to create that stuff. That's messaging that you need to check off the list because your customer is going through a psychological journey and you can't skip steps. Then it's $50 down in order to hold my place in line to get one of these things. That's the front door.

[Kyle Reed]

That's the commitment step.

[Donald Miller]

That's a commitment step. And I put my $50 down and I am one foot inside of your house.

[Kyle Reed]

Then it feels like you got to go back through the triangle again because now you got to kind of. There's more.

[Donald Miller]

Well, I think at that point you've got to tell them, look, if you're looking for an affordable, long lasting truck, then Slate is the right decision. So the way you get them to move in the door is you affirm that if you're trying to sol this problem, this product is the right decision. So that would be an example of. And by the way, I've identified easily 19 assets that need to be created, from taglines to one liners to elevator pitches to lead generators to. And then you round the enlightenment corner with like white papers and YouTube videos and podcast episodes. Then you get into calls to action documents. Calls to action documents would be like pitch decks, proposals, contracts, sales rep talking points, you know, bonuses if you sign up. Now, these are, these are, these are messaging assets that are asking for the money and encouraging you to actually spend the money. And then I think it doesn't stop there. I think after you get delivery of the truck, I think a messaging campaign would involve sort of surprise and delight. So imagine a month after I buy a truck, I get a keychain that looks just like that truck, that just says, we're so glad that you bought a slate truck. We hope that you are super happy with it. We started making these in order to sell them, but realized pretty quickly we don't want you to have to buy it. In the spirit of slate trucks, we're actually giving it to you for free. Why? Because. Cause we just think keychains are too expensive. I mean, how fun is that? Right? And at that point, you've converted this person from a customer to a brand evangelist.

[Kyle Reed]

That's it. Yep.

[Donald Miller]

And they're having a blast.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep. That's great. I even think there's some intentionality in the name. Have you thought about the name of the company slate? Oh, I call to action is start with a blank slate.

[Donald Miller]

Yep.

[Kyle Reed]

Right. So it's like. There you go. Even the name itself embodies what I think is what you've hit on the very beginning is having a thing you're. You're against. Like having that kind of the problem you were solving. Yep.

[Donald Miller]

And you know what? I bought a Porsche Macan, like The poor man's 911. It was an amazing process. And I chose my interior, I chose the color, I chose the rims. I chose. You can't buy. I don't think you can buy a Porsche off the lot. I think you pretty much have to order them. Or unless something happened, like somebody didn't want it after they got it, that. That is the same process, but because they don't word it that way, you don't think of it as customizing my car. They have said it, and so now they're owning. They own it. And that's a great example of the way that you word something, allows you to own that. Even if the competition is doing the same thing. If they haven't said it, they don't own it. And you have a chance to own it. That's a process there that I think is really interesting that all of our customers can learn from.

[Kyle Reed]

I think, again, it's just a reminder to me is as you're feeling again, dealing with competition, feeling oversaturated, ways to work through that is a. Not to pay attention, not to. Not to go, oh, they do this. We should try that.

[Donald Miller]

Well, I mean, the only way you want to pay attention, again, don't look at your competitors. Look at the market. But ask yourself, what does the market hate? What does the market hate about my industry? What don't they like? We certify coaches. There's constant regret about having been certified and nobody talking to you again. We hear it over and over. In fact, it costs us business that other people certify coaches and they burn them. And you're sitting there going, we don't do that. So what we have to say is, we don't do that. Because I can't just think it. I gotta say it, or otherwise I'm gonna lose business because these other certification companies are doing that sort of stuff. So, again, if you're not saying it, your customers don't know it's true, and.

[Kyle Reed]

You'Re getting ahead of it. Right. You're answering that objection. That could come from a customer Right away. Moving that to a place of positivity for your brand.

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

Also love that the thing that Slate did was, you know, what captured your attention was here. And you can remove the back.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

So, like, they didn't just leave it as, like, we just made this affordable.

[Donald Miller]

They gave you examples.

[Kyle Reed]

They, you know, it's like, this is all it is. We have no other.

[Donald Miller]

It's like, well, an amateur cow would have said fully customizable.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, there you go.

[Donald Miller]

But a pro says you can turn it into a dune buggy.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You can have this big old bumper.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Like, add in whatever you want to make it yours, which is living up to things. So, Slate, great job. If you want to send us one, we'll use it.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, this was free for you. However, if you sent us one, it'll.

[Kyle Reed]

Be free for us.

[Donald Miller]

I don't think we're being very good negotiation.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

But this is not good negotiation.

[Kyle Reed]

We'll be in touch. All right, let's end this. Great job.

[Donald Miller]

Great looking truck. Probably going to buy one anyway.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. Go check out their website. Website. It's really cool. Their website. Slate Auto.

Thanks for listening to the why that Worked podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're Enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand AI can help you create clear, effective messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create a free customized tagline for your business. Just go to storybrand AI. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.