Your 30 Second Bio, Go!

Local band on a city-based radio station (remember them?) being interviewed. Flush with a touch of early success, latest song to plug (vid above).

The presenter channelled his inner children’s tv presenter to put the youngsters on the spot;

So, your thirty-second bio…!

One of the trio gave it a go. Stuttering, giggling, he began along the lines of ‘well, the other two are brothers so I met them and we made music and been to a load of cool places…’.

The DJ had placed a tick-tock sound effect underneath, which the musician commented on. As in, piling on the comedy pressure. Before you knew it, his 30 secs was up. And you were not really any the wiser.

Such a commonplace style of question.

I’ve many times before blogged on the old favourite Sales stumper, “what do you do?” (For instance, with a water innovation & new media agency as well as the wonderful table-turner from Derren Brown.)

Other flavours figure. Way back in the Nineties I once got mis-introduced as a “marketing expert” (I know). Straight back, the prospect piped, “what’s been your best marketing idea then?” Ouch.

This backstory-journey-history question is different but similarly deadly for the unwary.

The very term “bio” may be a touch media luvvy, but answers that work likely revolve around milestones.

A durable startup may well talk about when they were founded, their client volume landmarks, secondary product releases. Perhaps even adding the problem they uniquely resolve and sweet spot customer profile. What many miss is that classic “ingredient x”, when you discovered the (as kind of termed by Guy Kawasaki) “underlying magic”. One that perhaps also truly ‘enchants’ customers.

Half-a-minute doesn’t give much room for manoeuvre. Probably less than 100 words to play with. Yet this remains a vital response to prepare for in the field.