Stop Blending In - Why Your Message Is Failing to Convert Id

Forgive me but your messaging sucks. I don’t care if you've a cute character as a mascot or a splashy $5,000 logo. Your message is not attracting clients. You may even have paid copywriters. Your message is more than a turn of the phrase or a clever one-liner. Until you know your Message of Differentiation, you sound like every other professional.

Businesses that are sustainable and profitable are masters of the fundamentals. They don’t get caught up in the TikTok craze or the latest SEO strategy that drives visitors to a website that does not convert. They learn what their ideal client/customer needs to hear to have trust and credibility.

Yep, you’ve heard it before, you need to know your ideal customer. And many of you have done the exercise but I am not sure you understand how they are thinking. This is more than demographics. This is getting to know their emotional triggers and hot buttons. It is understanding the problem you solve for them. And not just that they want their house painted but the “how” they want to experience as their house is painted.

Do your market research at the bare minimum; research your competitor's Google reviews to understand what people are frustrated with. When People hear your message, they want to feel as if you know them better than anyone else with the problems they have.

And you have to remember the goal of your messaging is to get your ideal client/customer to raise their hand and express interest in YOU, not your category. This now requires a few steps:

1.      Catch their attention

2.      Get them to say “tell me more”

3.      Get them to trust you

4.      Get them to ask, “what would you recommend”

1.      Catch their attention. This is where you describe the problem they are facing better than they can. They're not looking for you (or anyone else) to sell them something. BUT – They are always looking to solve their problem. And when you can describe it better than they can, they know you have the solution. This is what you might put into your headline.

2.      Get them to ask for more information by promising them the solution they want. For example the 14 step quality control process your painting firm offers that puts their mind at ease.

3.      Get them to trust you; this is all about your education or sales process. How do you help them learn and guide them to the solution that is ideal for them?  Here we want to be relatable and we want to be someone they can relate to.  This can be location, or history or experience-based:

·       We are your local…

·       This was also my journey to…

·       I, too, am a recovering corporate refugee…

·       Then there is pizazz or wow. This is where you do the humble brag to demonstrate you are a cut above. It might be mentioning a client (if you can) it might be talking about a big experience like the Mountain retreat you just ran. You are demonstrating you are different.

4.      Now that you have established that 1) you understand them, 2) you have their solution, and you’ve built credibility and likeability, they are likely to ask you, “What would you recommend?” And that is money.

Now, I can actually hear many consultants and professionals saying, “We do all of that.” Yup, but it doesn’t happen until you get to discovery. You still have to get potential buyers into a conversation. And until you get your message right, your competitors are talking to your potential clients.