value-communication-offer

Value Communication Offer

Purpose

Use this skill to package a unit of value so a specific receiver believes:

This is relevant to my desired outcome, likely to work, novel enough to inspect, and worth my attention now.

The output can be a title, thumbnail, intro, product card, repo preview, landing-page hero, job post hook, or full offer. Treat words and visuals as one system.

Workflow

1. Define the receiver and action

Before generating titles or thumbnails, identify:

• receiver: who is seeing this;
• current activity: what they are likely doing before they encounter it;
• desired action: click, read, watch, subscribe, buy, apply, sign up, share, or continue;
• desired outcome: what they already want;
• feared outcome: what they want to avoid;
• awareness level: unaware, symptom-aware, problem-aware, solution-aware, or solution-skeptical.

If this is missing, infer conservatively from the artifact and state the assumption.

2. Build the value claim

Every strong value unit needs these ingredients:

receiver + outcome/pain + mechanism/container + proof signal + novelty/curiosity + low-friction promise

Use the detailed extraction in value-grammar.md when the task requires deeper analysis, many variants, or thumbnail component design.

3. Choose the main value angle

Pick one primary angle. Do not try to communicate everything.

• Avoid Pain: mistake, trap, risk, loss, hidden cost, threat.
• Get Gain: result, shortcut, system, new capability, status, money, time, health, confidence.
• Resolve Confusion: missing link, surprising cause, counterintuitive rule, map, framework.
• Increase Belief: proof, story, social proof, expert signal, visual evidence.
• Reduce Friction: fast, simple, low effort, low risk, no special prerequisites.

Pain avoidance usually hooks harder than gain, but use gain when the asset is aspirational or product-led.

4. Design the title and visual together

The title should make the promise legible. The thumbnail should make the same promise feel concrete, emotional, and inspectable.

Good title roles:

• name the receiver or situation;
• create a curiosity gap;
• imply a valuable outcome;
• include proof or specificity when available;
• avoid revealing the whole mechanism too early.

Good thumbnail roles:

• show before/after contrast;
• show the mechanism as a concrete object, diagram, matrix, flow, stack, map, or machine;
• show proof visually with numbers, screenshots, artifacts, or visible transformation;
• show threat or opportunity in a single glance;
• avoid becoming a full slide full of text.

Avoid titles and thumbnails that merely label the topic. A topic is not an offer.

5. Sequence attention after the click

For intros, article openings, video scripts, or landing pages, keep attention by unrolling the value claim:

Situation -> Complication -> Question -> Answer promise
Hook -> Evidence -> Recommendation
Claim -> Subclaims -> Evidence -> Action

Each section should answer the question raised by the previous section while raising the next useful question. Use a breadth-first preview for orientation, then go depth-first to prove the claims.

6. Output useful options

When creating concepts, provide:

• 3-7 title variants;
• 3-5 thumbnail concepts;
• the value angle for each concept;
• what image/text each concept should contain;
• why it should work;
• the risk or possible cringe/overclaim;
• the recommended concept.

When critiquing existing concepts, score them on:

• relevance to receiver;
• strength of outcome/pain;
• curiosity gap;
• proof and believability;
• novelty/supply-demand;
• visual clarity;
• title/thumbnail complementarity;
• friction or overclaim risk.

Quality Bar

Strong outputs are specific, visual, receiver-centered, proof-aware, and easy to understand in one glance.

Weak outputs are generic, self-centered, topic-labeled, overloaded with text, abstract without evidence, or dependent on private context the receiver cannot see.

Privacy

When source material includes private career notes, personal story, employer details, raw metrics, or unapproved screenshots, extract only the reusable structure. Replace specifics with dummy examples or abstract patterns unless the user explicitly approves a concrete detail for publication.