Create ideas using: Analogy for the Solution
Why explain my product through analogy when I could just show what it does?
Because an analogy does the heavy lifting your product can't do alone. You could say 'our app organizes your data' or you could say 'it's like having a personal librarian.' One is a feature. The other makes someone feel relief. Analogies translate complexity into emotions people already understand. They make your solution feel inevitable because it connects to something they've already solved for themselves a hundred times.
What's the difference between a good solution analogy and a mediocre one?
A good one makes people go 'oh, I get it' in two seconds. A mediocre one requires explanation. Test it: can someone understand your solution's value just from the analogy, without you adding context? If yes, you've nailed it. If you have to explain the analogy, it's doing the opposite of its job—adding friction instead of removing it. The best analogies are ones people already use in their own language.
Example: How it could look
A meditation app could compare itself to 'having a coach in your pocket.' Not 'it guides you through breathing exercises' but 'like having someone who's seen thousands of minds calm down, now it's your turn.' Show someone stressed, then show them with the app, and let the analogy do the explaining. People instantly understand what it gives them because they've felt what a coach does—permission to calm down, guidance when you're lost, a voice telling you it'll be okay.
Or like this:
Why is Analogy for the Solution a great technique?
Solution analogies work because they translate abstract product benefits into tangible human experiences people already value.
Cuts through technical jargon instantly
Connects solution to emotional outcomes
Makes people feel the value, not just understand it
Becomes the shorthand people use when recommending you
When you nail the solution analogy, your product becomes less of a tool and more of a solution to a problem they didn't have words for. People remember and recommend it because you spoke their language, not your product's language. That's when analogies stop being marketing and become how people actually talk about your brand.
! When not to use the Analogy for the Solution Technique
When your analogy oversells what your product actually does. If you compare your time-tracking app to 'giving you back your life' but it just logs hours, you've created a trust problem that no amount of clever metaphor will fix.
Technique first described by www.deckofbrilliance.com