The Rule of 3 (Why Your Message Needs Three Core Points)

People don’t remember everything you say.

Most of the time, they barely remember anything you say.

But there’s one pattern that’s been true for centuries:

People tend to remember things in threes.

It shows up everywhere:

• “Blood, sweat, and tears”

• Nursery rhymes like The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears

• The U.S. Declaration of Independence: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”

• “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered)

• “Friends, Romans, countrymen” (Shakespeare)

• “Duty, Honor, Country” (West Point’s motto)

• The three pillars of health: physical, mental, social

• And of course: “Three is a magic number.” (Schoolhouse Rock)

The pattern is simple: three is just enough to feel substantial, but not so much that our brains drop it on the floor.

So in my world:

For every key audience, messaging should be structured around three core points. No more.

You Can’t Expect Them to Remember Everything

We love our own content. We fall in love with all twelve of our carefully crafted bullet points.

Your audience does not care.

They’re trying to:

• Get through their day

• Survive their own meetings

• Not look stupid in front of their boss

It’s unrealistic to expect them to remember every nuance of your product, your process, or your slide deck.

But it is realistic to expect them to remember three things:

• Who you’re for

• What you help them achieve

• Why you’re a safer/better choice than the alternative

If you don’t decide what those three are, they’ll either remember nothing… or latch onto something random.

Pick Your Three for Each Target Audience

The Rule of 3 doesn’t mean you only ever say three sentences.

It means for each target audience you define:

• The three outcomes you want them to associate with you

• The three big ideas you want them to repeat internally

• The three messages you’re willing to hammer over and over

For example, for a specific buyer persona, your three might be:

1. “We help you grow revenue from patients you already have.”

2. “We do it without adding staff.”

3. “We make you look like the hero to your surgeons and your CFO.”

Everything else is supporting detail.

Structure Your Content Around Those Three

Once you know your three, you bake them into everything:

• Website: One core headline + three supporting proof points

• Sales deck: Three sections, each tied to one of the core points

• Talks/webinars: “Today I want to leave you with three things…”

• Email nurture: One email per point, then a recap that ties all three together

You can (and should) go deeper:

• Tell stories under each point

• Share data that backs each one up

• Show screenshots, quotes, and case studies that bring them to life

But you never lose the thread of those three.

Resist the Urge to Cram in More

The hard part is saying no.

You’ll be tempted to sneak in a fourth, fifth, and sixth “quick note.”

Don’t.

Every time you add another “key point,” you:

• Dilute the impact of the original three

• Make it harder for your audience to remember anything

• Turn your message into a Christmas tree of random ornaments

Force yourself (and your team) to answer:

“If they only remember three things about us after this, what should they be?”

Then build everything around that.

Bottom line:

The Rule of 3 isn’t a cute copy trick. It’s a constraint that forces focus.

You can’t control how much of your message people hear.
You can control how much of it you try to make them remember.

Make it three.