What do you do?
Many small business owners that have worked with our digital marketing agency over the years do not always have a clear answer to the question: ‘What do you do?’ When you talk about their business, they generally speak about their products, their great quality service, and the fact that they have been in business for over 35 years.
Don’t get me wrong, providing an excellent service or product, and the fact that you have successfully been in business for many years is important. However, your customers are really just looking for what's in it for them.
In reality, your customer has three questions:
- Do you understand the problem (need) that I have?
- Do you have a solution to solve my problem?
- What will my life look like after I use your product or service?
By keeping these three things in mind when you communicate with your (prospective) clients through your advertising, your website and social media, you will have a much better chance to stand out from the crowd.
Information overload
With the number of messages that the average person receives a day (roughly over 3,000 commercial messages each day) it can be difficult for our messages to make it through. We really only have a few seconds to pique consumers’ attention enough for our message to resonate and to stick with them. With so many messages coming through it is only natural for the brain to block most of them out to protect itself from an overload. In those few seconds, you have to communicate simply and clearly what you do.
The curse of knowledge
One of the reasons that most small businesses have such a hard time with explaining what they do is what we call the ‘curse of knowledge'. Because most business owners are experts in their field and have deep (and oftentimes very technical) knowledge, they incorrectly assume that their customers also know the in’s and out’s of their industry and products.
Believe me, I have been guilty of using technical terms and jargon that makes sense to me, but means nothing to my clients.
A confused customer says no
There is a saying in marketing that ‘a confused customer says no’. Let’s face it, most of our buying decisions are made through our emotions. One of the reasons for this is that we never have enough information to make a truly rational decision. If we would try to weigh all the benefits and drawbacks of everything we purchase, we probably would never make up our mind about anything.
Yet many business owners think that a confused customer will seek clarification or contact them for more information. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you confuse them, you will lose them. You know that your product or service is superior to that of your competitor, but your customers ‘just don’t get it’ and continue to buy from your competitor. The difference is often that this competitor is better at explaining what they do (marketing) and they communicate it in a way that resonates with the customer.
Going inside your customer’s brains
What goes through your customer's brains when they receive your message? There are two instincts that come into play: will it help me survive and how will it benefit me?
As we discussed earlier the brain is being overloaded with messages and information and has to filter out everything but the important things - what is going to help them survive and even possibly thrive. Whether it is through saving money, becoming successful or being associated with an elite group people are looking for ways to get ahead in life.
Based on these facts, we must clearly and simply communicate how we help our customers survive and succeed. How can we help solve their problem?
The solution
Rather than talking about ourselves and how great we are, we need to start focusing on the problem that our customer has. How can we help them survive and succeed? An excellent framework that we can use is called StoryBrand, developed by Donald Miller. He was one of the first ones to use storytelling to develop a clear brand message that will resonate with your audience.
There are 7 steps to this framework:
The process
The foundation for your content marketing
By going through these steps and digging deep into the problem you are solving for your customers and what internal frustrations you help alleviate, you will create a strong brand message that will become the foundation for all your (marketing) communication.
By filtering everything through this communications framework, your messages will resonate with your clients and when people at the next networking event asked, ‘What do you do?’, you will have a clear answer that will pique their interest instead of leaving them with more questions.
PS. We would love to hear your experience with clarifying your message for your business or organization.
Posted: December 4, 2020
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