In today’s blog—I’m gonna break down what you can learn about website design & marketing from Finding You.
You’ll learn:
- Why bland & boring, AI-sounding copy won’t connect with your ideal clients 🤖
- How to make your website’s first impression count 👋🏻
- The best way to combat 1-star reviews ⭐
- How to meet a movie star on a plane to Ireland 🍀
(Never watched Finding You before or need a refresh? Click here for the summary.)
Let’s start with the marketing & launch for Finding You.
Based on the book There You’ll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones, Finding You premiered in May 2021—after a delayed release because 2020 happened.
Which brings me to my first point…
It’s okay to delay launching an offer—it might even be better for your business.
While you could make the argument that premiering Finding You on streaming would’ve worked well too—with everyone stuck in their homes & whatnot…
When researching the launches of enough movies now TBH I think it was a better decision.
Like all movies that originate from books the plot of Finding You was stripped down to make sense for on the big screen—and I think they did a fairly decent job of it to the storyline…
But the book vs the movie ended up on the opposite ends of a common problem most entrepreneurs have on their website. Too little info or too many offers.
While the movie at least was clear (something often missed on a website) they removed one too many subplots from the movie that would’ve been the cherry on top to bring it up to wow.
The book had the more common problem of too many subplots or in the business case too many offers.
People like going to specialists who are a master of one thing—so if you throw too many offers at someone they’re gonna end up in analysis paralysis mode & work with someone else who’s clever because of it. Just like that jam test people preferred fewer options instead of more because it was less overwhelming.
BUT while the movie was nowhere near as bad as the critiques said, one person even called it laughingly bad (I for the record enjoyed it, especially since I’d read the book previously)…
The problem of why it received so many mixed reviews lies in that they removed 90% of the sassy personality of the main character Finley (and some of the supporting characters too) making her seem bland.
And they removed A LOT of the humor that the book had in general that could’ve helped with this problem.
One critique even went so far as to say they were surprised Finding You was based on a book & not written by AI romance plot generator.
And just like no one wants to watch a movie with bland main character energy…
^^^ The same principle applies to your website copy & in your brand voice.
Because your audience won’t connect with you if you don’t show up sounding authentically like you.
Vs If your copy is packed with your brand’s personality—you’ll create connections because you sound like a real human being instead of a robot.
Just like any Hallmark-esque movie, there’s a meet-cute at the very beginning with the two strangers who you know are gonna end up with each other—the first meeting between Finley & Beckett is one area where they kept some of the humor & sass from the book.
And just like in the movie…
You only get one chance for a first impression on your website (or anywhere that your brand is online).
Here’s how you can have a great website first impression:
- Make sure your hero sections hook your readers in—people don’t wanna half to scroll to find out what you do & if you can help solve their problem.
- Have pictures of you and/or your team so that you establish that you’re a human & not a scam.
- Your website load time should be fast, the debates out on how many seconds it should load in. BUT less than 5 is best
One trope that was changed for the better in the movie was that instead of Beckett being an actor from a vampire movie series (the book was released around the time when Twilight was most popular)—in the movie it was he was part of a Dragon slayer movie series to “modernize” the film.
And while there’s a time & place to mention nostalgic throwback things—heck I do it all the time in my content…
Sometimes it’s better to use relevant terms in your content so it doesn’t appear dated.
And to finish off this newsletter…
Here are some notable quotes & plot points from the scripts of Finding You that can help you with your website design & marketing.
Quote: Sean Callaghan: “We can’t afford a bad review from an international celebrity when we’re just starting out.”
Business Lesson: I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs panicking in Facebook groups about bad reviews & how to respond to them. And TBH it’s just something that’s going to happen in business & stressing about isn’t gonna help. The best way to combat bad reviews is to make sure you have 10x stellar 5-star reviews on your website, that wow so much that the 1-star ones don’t even matter. For digital products add to your post-purchase email sequence a “Hey can you please leave a review?” will automate the collection process. And for 1:1 you can have an email template that’s 90% ready to go & edit a bit for each custom client.
Quote: Beckett Rush: “You play a bit like your personality. Beautiful but a bit stiff.”
Business Lesson: ^^^ At least the movie acknowledges that the main character Finley doesn’t have a ton of personality lol. BUT seriously, please make sure ANY copy for your business—whether it’s newsletters or on your website has personality.
