Why Six Words Can Change Everything

Years ago, I read a post from G.L. Hoffman, an entrepreneur in the talent acquisition space, who challenged readers to write their résumé in just six words. It sounded almost like a gimmick at first—an impossible constraint for anyone with a full career or a complex business to describe. But it wasn’t a stunt. It was a discipline. His point was that when you strip away all the filler and force yourself to say what truly matters, you find the essence of who you are and what you offer.

That same idea—six words to describe something—has extraordinary power beyond résumés. It applies to product marketing, brand storytelling, and even how a publication like Martech Zone defines its mission. Here’s mine:

Tirelessly finding answers. And sharing them.

Douglas Karr

It communicates everything about my purpose without needing a paragraph of explanation.

Six words are long enough to convey meaning, yet short enough to demand precision. In marketing, clarity is currency. And this exercise teaches you how to earn it.

The Magic of Six

Why six? It’s short, but not too short. Psychologists often reference the rule of seven, which states that our short-term memory can comfortably hold about seven pieces of information. Six words live within that limit, offering rhythm and recall without overloading the brain.

There’s also something poetic about six words. They fit neatly on one line, they can be read in a breath, and they create a natural cadence that feels complete. That constraint encourages sharper thinking.

Marketers know that every extra word risks losing attention. Copywriters agonize over taglines like Think Different or Just Do It because the fewest words carry the most significant weight. A six-word statement has the same gravity—it distills strategy into a single spark.

Why It’s an Excellent Exercise

This six-word challenge is not just a creativity drill. It’s a lens for clarity and alignment. Whether you’re defining a product, shaping a brand, writing a résumé, or editing a mission statement, it forces you to isolate your core truth.

• For product marketing: You may have dozens of features and differentiators, but customers only remember one promise. A six-word statement helps you decide which promise matters most. If your six words can’t explain the value, neither can your landing page.
• For brand marketing: Every brand aspires to a clear identity. The six-word constraint pushes you to express purpose, tone, and emotion in a single heartbeat. When internal teams rally around that phrase, every campaign begins to align.
• For personal branding: A résumé tells what you’ve done. A six-word résumé declares what drives you. It becomes your headline—something memorable that can open a conversation instead of summarizing your past.
• For publications: Editorial voices often drift over time. A six-word mission keeps writers and editors focused on the promise they make to readers. It reminds them who they serve and why.

Ultimately, this exercise isn’t about writing better—it’s about thinking better.

How to Create Your Six-Word Story

1. Empty Your Mind onto Paper: Start by writing everything that defines you or your brand. Don’t censor yourself. Jot down words, phrases, verbs, and emotions that describe what you do, what you believe in, and how you make people feel.
2. Find the Common Threads: Read what you’ve written and circle the ideas that repeat. Look for energy and emotional resonance. Which words make you nod and think, That’s me or That’s us? Those are your anchors.
3. Build a Word Bank: Gather your strongest 10–15 words. Focus on action and outcome—verbs and nouns, not adjectives. Replace soft words like dedicated with drives, innovative with reinvents, reliable with delivers.
4. Experiment with Combinations: Play with the puzzle pieces. Combine your words into six-word sequences. They can be declarative, rhythmic, or poetic. Don’t aim for perfection yet—aim for variety.

5. Test for Authenticity and Impact: The right six words will feel inevitable, as though they’ve been waiting to be said. Ask yourself three things:
   • Would your competitors say the same?
   • Does it feel like you—or like marketing speak?
   • Could someone repeat it tomorrow and still remember it?
6. Refine Through Feedback: Share your top versions with colleagues, customers, or mentors. Watch their reactions before explaining. The most powerful line will trigger recognition, not confusion.

Turning Six Words into Strategy

Once you’ve written your six-word story, it becomes a touchstone.

In marketing, it informs taglines, positioning statements, and tone of voice. In content strategy, it serves as a filter: if a blog post or campaign doesn’t align with those words, it’s off-message. In team alignment, it creates a unifying mantra that keeps departments moving in the same direction.

Even for individuals, the six-word résumé becomes a networking asset. It’s your conversation starter, your LinkedIn headline, your self-description when someone asks, So, what do you do?

An Ideation Workflow for Teams

If you’re part of a marketing team or organization, make this a group exercise.

1. Gather key voices. Include marketing, product, leadership, and even customer success.
2. Start individually. Each person writes a few six-word options on their own.
3. Share without commentary. Read them aloud and let them sink in.
4. Cluster similar ideas. You’ll start to see shared language and themes.
5. Vote privately. Have everyone choose their favorites.
6. Refine collaboratively. Merge the best phrases into one cohesive statement.
7. Test externally. Share your final version with a few customers or partners and gauge their reaction.

The magic happens not just in the final words, but in the discussions they spark. Teams discover what truly matters, what feels authentic, and what language unites them.

The Broader Impact

Why does this work so well? Because every discipline in marketing—from creative strategy to analytics—suffers when clarity is lost. Six words cut through noise and bring focus back to purpose.

They also scale beautifully. A six-word story fits into a social bio, a keynote slide, or a packaging headline. It translates across cultures and mediums. It reminds us that powerful ideas don’t need excess—they need precision.

And perhaps most importantly, the process forces honesty. When you can only use six words, you stop performing and start defining.

Finding Your Truth in Six Words

The six-word challenge is more than a clever communication trick—it’s a mirror. It reflects what you stand for, what your audience needs to remember, and what your future depends on staying true to.

For Martech Zone, those six words—Tirelessly finding answers. And sharing them.—is a compass. They describe what we do, but more importantly, why we do it. Every article, tool, and conversation aims to fulfill that promise.

Your six words can do the same. Whether you’re defining a brand, launching a product, or updating your personal résumé, this exercise will clarify your message in a way nothing else can.

Write freely. Cut ruthlessly. Keep truth.