A lot’s been written about the subtitles vs. no-subtitles debate while watching TV.

I, for one, find them highly distracting, and particularly inexcusable while watching comedies (they blow every punchline and obliterate comic timing).

And while some reasonable use cases for subtitles exist, like assisting those hard of hearing, following dense plots, or deciphering difficult accents/dialects, I hadn’t recognized the predominant use case for captions among the younger generations is: multi-tasking.

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The logic goes something like this (I think):

Characters speaking dialogue takes too long…

I can read faster than they speak…

Which gives me an intermittent few seconds to second-screen scroll my phone while still catching the plot.

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I mean, yikes, but this order of operations is nothing new.

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Instead of an audio version of a news story, skim it in under a minute.

Instead of a live meeting, “this could’ve been an email.”

Instead of a live pitch, “send me your deck.”

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In each case, it’s written over spoken, for time’s sake.

And in the case of the attention-splintered multi-tasking couch potato, they squeeze an even faster medium into their saved seconds… visual content, like TikTok, Instagram, and surely a few newer ones my geriatric millennial self has never heard of.

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We can extrapolate this to how we communicate our expertise and services as consultants.

Spoken is our default — we’re able to talk about our expertise at will, in depth, but often a bit too far in length.

Written is just as critical — we pore over our website copy, LinkedIn posts, and newsletter sends, but the market is getting a bit flooded with written copy and genAI isn’t helping.

Visuals are the next logical step, particularly when thinking about speed of impact per impression.

And even though the stereotype holds that consultants love their frameworks, look around...

How many of your peers are doing visuals well? I scroll through LinkedIn every day, and can name just a handful.

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Or look at your own assets — do you have truly visual-first IP assets that telegraph your expertise? Original frameworks, visual metaphors, even memes?

(A screenshot of a tweet might gain you real estate in the feed, but doesn’t quite clear the hurdle I’m talking about here.)

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Truth is, you’ll need all three mediums (spoken, written, and visual) to best serve different concepts, contexts and your prospects’ preferences.

Which one are you sleeping on?

If it’s visuals, it’s probably because they’re the hardest.

(Especially those that look impossibly simple.)

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But they’re an easy leg up in a crowded market and they're only going to get more important.

So if you need help, let me know.

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💡

-Wes

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P.S. Want to kick the new year off with crisp 'Headshots' of your expertise?

Lock in 2025 pricing with a 1:1 sprint in December. Details and dates here.

My calendar is tight with the US holiday next week - if you think you might be interested in my last December slot (Dec. 9th start), drop me a line and we'll squeeze in a fit check.