2 builders who never spoke to each other
Describe the job so more readers count themselves in
Naming a buyer type quietly turns away everyone who does not identify with it, and a tagline aimed at businesses can make an individual with a card in their hand hesitate. Write the job rather than the job title, aim the moment of recognition at a feeling that many people share, and hedge personality claims with qualifiers so readers supply their own meaning. Keep the mix of flattering and unflattering tilted positive, because unrelieved criticism pushes people away.
The method
- 01
Hedge these statements with qualifiers such as at times or often, which lets the reader supply their own meaning and read the line as being about them personally.
- 02
Keep the mix of flattering and unflattering traits tilted positive: an all-criticism read pushes people away, while one acknowledged shortcoming makes them curious about fixing it.
- 03
Aim the recognition moment at a feeling rather than a job title, so the addressable group is far larger than your stated niche.
- 04
Check whether your business-focused tagline is quietly turning away individuals who would have paid you, and rewrite it to describe the job rather than the buyer type.
What it returned
- 1956
The technique dates to a 1956 finding named after P.T. Barnum, and is the mechanism behind horoscopes and tarot readings.
Bourgoin names two variables that decide whether the technique works: the ratio of good to bad traits, and whether the reader already trusts the source.
Welsh's example widens the target from hustling entrepreneurs or creators to anybody who has felt short of the standards they set themselves.
Transistor ran taglines aimed at brands and businesses until YouTuber Ali Abdaal DMed to say the brand-focused wording had made him hesitate; after switching to a neutral publishing-platform line, monthly trials doubled.
Sources
- The Barnum Effect - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · Inside Your Buyer’s Mind · undated
- It's not just B2C vs B2B anymoreJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · My story: "I must build a B2B SaaS" · undated
- Reverse engineering attention in 2025.Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · The three-part game nobody explains · 2025-08-02
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in copy
- Keep the personality that drives some people off7 unconnected
- Interview buyers and write the page in their sentences6 unconnected
- Re-aim one durable claim at today's worry5 unconnected
- Answer the predictable objection with a specific4 unconnected
- Say the thing only you could have said4 unconnected
- Tighten the headline until only your segment fits4 unconnected