One-Pager 101: The Ultimate Guide
This is the eighth post in One-Pager 101: The Ultimate Guide, a step-by-step series on how to create a compelling one-pager for any initiative—whether you’re running a business, leading a nonprofit, or planning an event. At The Riparian, we keep it high-yield and low-fluff because your time is better spent doing the work, not reading about it. Browse the full series here →

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Do You Hear What I Hear

In Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Other Die, Chip and Dan Heath describe the “Curse of Knowledge,” the idea that once you know something, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like not to know it. They illustrate this with a simple experiment: One person taps out a song on a table while another tries to guess it. The tappers think their song is obvious because they hear the melody in their heads. But to the listeners it’s… just a bunch of random taps. 

I periodically try this exercise with Ben, my husband. I keep thinking we’re so in sync that there’s no way he can’t get it.

He never gets it.

There’s probably some good marriage advice in there, but the point here is that the same thing can happen with writing. When you’re deep in your own expertise, it’s easy to fill a one-pager with jargon and assumptions or leave out necessary context that you know like the back of your hand. That’s why an editing pass focused on clarity is key. 

It’s important to ask yourself questions like: 

Am I actually getting my point across? 

Is my message landing the way I think it is? 

How would a member of my audience feel reading this?

In this post, I’m sharing my go-to strategies for answering those questions.

9 Ways to Make Sure Your Message is Clear

Without further ado, here are nine of my favorite strategies for clarifying your message. Go forth and clarify!

1. Try the “Tapping” Exercise

Give your draft to someone else and ask them to explain what it’s about in one or two sentences. If they miss the point or latch onto the wrong takeaway, it’s a sign to revise. Try this with a few different types of readers:

• Someone in your field
  
• Someone adjacent to your field
  
• Someone in your intended audience
  
• Someone who knows absolutely nothing about the topic

Each person will help uncover different blind spots.

2. Focus on Concrete Examples

Abstract language is forgettable. Real stories, stats, or specifics are sticky.

Instead of: “We improve efficiency.”

Try: “Our system cuts admin time by 40%, so you spend less time on paperwork and more on what matters.”

If your message feels vague, add a stat, a result, or a short story that illustrates your point.

3. Put the Key Message First

Don’t bury the lead. Make sure your most important point is evident within the first few lines.

4. Use Short Sentences & Simple Language

This isn’t a grad school paper. Clarity beats complexity every time. Look for places where a long sentence can be cut in half, where a fancy word can be replaced by a normal one, or where you can use fewer words to say the same thing. Unless, of course, you’re advertising an essay-lengthening service.

5. Highlight Jargon & Rewrite

Mark every term, acronym, or buzzword that might not be familiar to someone outside your inner circle. Then:

• Rewrite in plain language, or
  
• Add a quick explanation (in parentheses or a side note)

The goal isn’t just to be understood. It’s to make understanding easy.

6. Use a “Why Does This Matter?” Check

After each key point, ask yourself: Why does my audience care about this? 

If the answer isn’t obvious, you may need to reframe it.

7. Use Your Imagination

Pretend you know nothing about your topic. 

What questions would you have? 

What words would trip you up? 

What would make it easier to understand? 

Write as if you’re explaining it to your past self before you knew anything about this subject.

One-pager feel about as clear as pea soup? I can help. Sometimes you’re just too close to see what’s working and what isn’t. Whether you need a fast, strategic edit or a full one-pager that’s sharp and streamlined, I’m just a message away. Work with me →

8. Let Design Help Guide the Reader

Design isn’t just about looking good; it’s also about making information easier to absorb. Use headers, bullet points, whitespace, and visual hierarchy to guide the reader’s eye. If a key takeaway is getting lost in a wall of text, try bolding it, breaking it into a callout box, or adding an icon to draw attention. A well-placed graphic, chart, or photo can sometimes explain a point better than a paragraph ever could.

We’ll delve further into design in our next (and final!) step.

9. One Final Check

Step back and ask yourself:

If this one-pager ended up in the hands of a total stranger, would they know what I do, why it matters, and what I want them to do next?

With all these edits done, I bet it does! But if not, go back and clarify.

Not only do these edits cut down on the word count, they also tighten the message and make the story more compelling. Win-win!

What’s Next

With that, the words are clear and the message is strong. Now it’s time for us to pull out our colored pencils and crazy glue (metaphorically, of course).

Yep, that’s right. In the final post of the series, we’ll dive into visual design: how to use layout, hierarchy, and style to powerfully deliver your message. It’s an edit step, a creative step, and a polishing step all rolled into one. I know I said the storytelling step is my favorite, but this one gets pretty darn close.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your experience clarifying your one-pager. Any interesting surprises? I love a good lightbulb moment.

See you soon for Step 7: Create!

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