The core of all problems, all communication, and all ‘not so hot’ audio logos is always the same. It’s the lack of a precise target audience.
Your brain refuses to focus when it doesn’t have specifics
So when you say: You help small business owners, you aim at all kinds of business owners. All kinds of business owners have all kinds of problems.
But let’s for a moment suspend the thought that you want ‘everyone’ as your target audience. Let’s, just for an instant, believe you want to target business owners who’ve been in business for five years or more.
What are their issues?
Probably they’ve been unable to step up to the next level
Probably the next level is writing something.
Probably the next level is writing a book.
Probably the next level is writing a sales page or a series of pages.
Probably the next level is writing a speech that is extremely powerful.
Probably the next level is writing stunning blogs that draws visitors.
The deeper you go, the more you hit at the core. When you focus on a specific target audience, you actually narrow it down to someone you could know. Someone you could put a name to.
Or why not do it that way instead?
Which way, you ask?
Why not reach out into the mind of someone you know. What is that person’s name? What do they do in their business? What problem do they have? Can you ask them what problem they have? Can you narrow down what’s stopping their profit? What would take that person (whoever that person is) to the next level?
Think of a fictional Natalie. Or a fictional Bruce
What is he doing right now? What is she frustrated with? Where does he want his business to go? Why is she unable to take weekends off? All of these issues are gaps.
Find out where you can fix the gaps. Bruce and Natalie have loads of issues. And you can be a specialist in fixing just a few of those issues. What can you fix?
Think backwards. Start with a target audience. Think about them, sitting at their desk at 7pm on Saturday night. What would change their life? How can you change their life?
You’re a specialist. What do you do best?
Think intently. What we have here is more than just an audio logo or a communication issue. What we need to have is a deep understanding. When we think in specifics, the specifics reveal themselves.
Have you had current or potential customers die on you while you’re speaking to them? You’re giving them this outstanding description of your process and capability and it’s going bing, bong, kazoom over their heads. Want to know why this happens? Read on because you’ll find the whole problem is actually your SOLUTION.
Doesn’t Make Sense?
Don’t worry. Within the course of this marketing article, you will find out just what it is that gets your clients attention and how to keep that attention, by shifting your marketing strategy from solutions to problems.
The Problem With Solutions
When you ask someone what they do, they usually spit out their process that they see as being a solution to your problems. So a person who cuts trees and mows lawns would say, ” I cut trees and mow lawns.”
I have a lawn mower, so that eliminates him completely, doesn’t it?
Bringing the problem to the fore, triggers a totally different response altogether. If the same person said, “Do you have a less than immaculate garden?” My response to the query would be, “Yes, maybe I do”.
Having established the problem, he now is in a position to know that I have a need for his service. Even better, he has brought to my notice, a problem I didn’t realise I had.
Always Work With A Problem
If you notice people around you, all of them are beset with problems. If you were to stand up and say, “Who has a cold that they just can’t fix?”, you will get about 6-7 hands going up instantly.
This happens because you’re attacking a problem. Obviously, they assume you have the solution, but by bringing their attention to the problem, you are targeting their specific needs. Once you’ve got their attention, it’s now time to make your pitch and give the specific target audience the solution.
The Beauty Of Problems
Solutions fall far short of the mark. Problems however go the full distance and more. If you noticed, in the previous example, I had two target audiences. One was the immediate target-the ones with the cold. The other- was the ones who were going to get the cold (no doubt from their illustrious colleagues). The secondary audience has no need for my product because it doesn’t have the problem. But in a week or so, as the germs move homes, the second audience too will be potential customers.
A solution on the other hand does less than a quarter of the job, if at all. It has been proven time and time again, that you cannot sell to anyone who doesn’t want to buy. The only reason someone would want to buy a product or service from you is because, it is solving some problem that is not being tackled currently.
Your First Task Is To Qualify The Problem
Find out what is your current client’s problem and then call their attention by reconstructing your statement in a problem-solution-target audience sequence.
Problems tend to perk up the ears of your target audience. Once you’ve achieved that, you then give them the solution (sometimes one crafted specially to their needs) and they understand the concept and respond to it.
Be Aware Of Your Specific Target Audience
Ask anyone who their customers are, and they usually say everyone. Then take a look at the newspaper classifieds. Businesses are always looking for specific positions to hire, people are always specifying exactly the kind of person they would like to meet in the personals.
Yet, you look at major advertising and the target is everyone…So which advertising actually works better? I don’t think I’d be too off the mark to state that dollar for dollar, the classifieds (thanks to their positioning) achieve far, far more than huge multinationals.
An Example That You Can Learn From…
One of the recent advertising campaigns that has done well to learn the concept of sacrifice is Jeans West. They have sacrificed colour, style and any other tags that competitors are running. They focus totally on their positioning which is Fits Best. The ads go on to demonstrate the price of time. One woman says, “These jeans cost me 2 hours.” Another says, “These jeans cost me 45 minutes.”
Can you see the target audience here? It’s specifically people who have a problem getting the right fit. Simple, isn’t it.
Most people would look at that and say, “Isn’t that too small a niche?” You think so? Think again. By getting their tiny little niche, they have stamped themselves very clearly in the minds of customers.
It’s quite clear how Jeans West, and their really smart ad agency have done their homework and created a targetted marketing strategy.
Problem: Wasting time finding the right fit
Solution: Finding the right fit in no time at all
Target Audience: Jean lovers that need the right fit
Empower Me, Don’t Tell Me!
I get e-mail from a travel agent every now and then. In the e-mail he gives me information that I could get just about any where. It has prices of airfares, new destinations and other such things that I could find with a little help from the newspapers or the Internet. Notice there’s no problem there. It’s all about solution, solution, solution.
I don’t have any need to travel right now and so I delete the email because it provides me with no tangible solution. When I decide to travel, the situation will have changed and none of their wonderful solutions will apply to me.
On the other hand, do you have trouble getting 10kg past the check-in counter? Or would you want to know of a foolproof way to beat jet lag? Or wouldn’t you like to know the tricks to get upgraded on your flight?
Most of us would answer yes to almost all these questions because they present problems that need to be solved. The travel agent has spent years in the business and knows stuff that you and I haven’t got a clue about. Important tips that we could carry around in our heads for years to come and use them as and when the problem presents itself.
How People Respond
Every problem is a trigger and when people run into that situation, they respond to your solution. Be sure, however, that the solution is not a passing fad, here today and gone tomorrow.
Also remember, when you empower people it adds to their knowledge. If you’re selling an expensive computer to a company, it’s not worth it telling the purchaser about the technical specifications and how it runs.
Figure out the problem and tell him how the technology will solve that problem. Remember he has to report to his boss and the boss has to report to the shareholders.
When you empower them with the problem and the solution, they can relay that on further, thus giving the whole process a sense of legitimacy.
It doesn’t matter however, whether you sell computers, air tickets or wine. The same principles apply and you will find that not only your sales, but your thought process and alertness increases in leaps and bounds simultaneously.
Your Strategic Action Plan
1) Find the unique solution you provide.
2) Differentiate it from all your obvious competition.
3) Find out the problem it throws up.
4) Target your audience very carefully.
5) To stay top of mind, give out information that throws up problems for which you provide solutions.
Hungry? Try the 85c McDonald’s Burger!
See the problem? See the solution. Great communication in advertising comes from great marketing. And great problems!
Go out there and find yours!
Imagine you had a handicapped child.
And now this child is twenty years old and reasonably self-sufficient. Self-sufficient enough for you to decide you want to get back in the work force.
But twenty years have passed.
What will you do?
Your qualifications are worthless.
Your experience doesn’t count for much.
And you’re intimidated as hell.
So let’s start with what you know.
What you do know is how to care for a handicapped child. You know what that child needs in their first year.
Their second year; fifth year; seventh year; nineteenth year. You know what it is to be a parent of that child.
What you have is ‘most-wanted’ information.
So what is ‘most-wanted’ information?
Um, it’s kind of self-explanatory, but let’s explain it anyway. ‘Most-wanted’ information is simply a tiny slice of information that’s of great value to a potential audience. It’s not the entire saga of what you know. It’s just a tiny, tiny bit.
So let’s take an example:
Let’s say you’re in business.
What kind of information would be of extreme value to you?
You’d be interested in marketing strategy, sales letters, websites, and blah-dee-blah-dee-blah.
But that’s the whole saga. What if I avoided the saga, and gave you just ‘most-wanted’ information?
Information on a niche of a topic.
Like ‘pricing’, for example.
What if I were to say to you, that you could get a document/audio/video/ or even a bunch of ideas scribbled on a napkin.
And those ideas enabled you to:
1) Get the prices you want.
2) Test if the prices were right for the market.
3) Increase the prices of your product/service as many as thrice a year, and never lose customers.
Would you be interested?
Oh sure you would. Because that factor of pricing bzzzzzzs around in your brain. And you figure, if you could find a way to increase prices without losing customers, aha, that would be nice.
And the best part of most-wanted information is that it’s unique, because it’s a tiny, tiny piece of advice.
So let’s take another example:
For example, there was a shopkeeper who could tell you if your employees were stealing from you. He put this information on ‘How to Spot (And Stop) Thieving Employees.’
The audio on tape–yes, back in the good ol’ days it was ‘tape–was less than 15 minutes long. The text feature was a handy reference card. Yup that was it. And he sold it for $200.
So why would a customer pay $200 for a 15-minute blab, and a reference card?
That customer sees the $200 price tag, but also sees the danger of thieving employees. Thieving employees can not only siphon off more than $200, but can encourage others to do the same. Or at the very least, reduce morale in a store.
So the ‘most-wanted’ information became valuable. As valuable as the mother of the handicapped child telling you how to ‘bypass medical red-tape.’
Or who grows hundreds of tomatoes from just four plants, in a tiny square patch in your backyard.
Or the ‘audio-guy’ who teaches you how to ‘correctly compress files’ and avoid the volume making unwanted leaps and drops.
‘Most-wanted’ information doesn’t have to 100 pages to start
When we started out our business, we had a concept in our head. That concept was the Brain Audit. When I first put it down on paper, it amounted to sixteen measly pages.
But it was ‘most-wanted’ information. And sixteen pages were all I could fill. Today, those sixteen pages have grown into a website, blog, and a very detailed book.
But I too was ‘handicapped’ when I started out. I didn’t know that much about marketing. All I had was these measly sixteen pages.
And all you probably have are nine pages. All that mother of the handicapped child has is probably six pages.
But six pages of ‘wanted-information’ are what’s critical.
And the information you have, would be of extreme interest to someone else who has a handicapped child. And just like you, that parent has to deal with a range of emotions, and real-life issues of bringing up a handicapped child.
Do you think that parent would want advice? Do you think that parent would want empathy? Do you think that parent would want you to give as much detail as you possibly could, to bring up their child the way you have?
And more importantly, if you were that parent, would you pay $100 a year to get the information you so desperately seek? Across the planet, guess how many handicapped children are born every day.
Guess how many of those parents would gladly pay $100 a year to get informed? And guess how much $100 x 1000 amounts to per year?
But, but, but, but, but…you say
I know. You’re not confident anyone would buy your information. And heck, there’s no way out of this confidence issue other than to simply sell what you know.
Selling your information, leads people to buying. And buying leads to feedback and experience.
And of course, confidence. Because confidence can’t be bought. Or taught.
There’s really no shortage of people who want to write a book; a play; a movie.
The reason why they never get started is because they are trying to create a big production.
What you need isn’t a production, its ‘most-wanted’ information. It could be twenty minutes of audio. Ten pages of text. Thirty seconds of video.
The ‘most-wanted’ information not only creates a stream of income, but also sets you out as the expert.
An expert who clients turn to when they want even more ‘most-wanted’ information.
Even if it’s scribbles on the back of a napkin.
Take out that Nokia from your bag.
And look at the features.
It can tell time; it can be a stopwatch; it can keep diary appointments; it can help you pass time with ingenious little games; it can probably take photos; send text messages; maybe even double up as an mp3 player or a torch.
You could probably call the moon with your Nokia.
Now let’s assume we zapped back in time a bit…
Let’s say you were in the phone store. To buy a cell phone (what else?) And let’s assume the salesman showed you a phone model that could only…um…take and make calls. Would you buy that phone? Or would you want to see another model, with..uh..more features?
It’s not that much different when customers buy into your services and products.
They want the whole jangbangdoowahwholeshebang
They know they can’t use all the features you offer in your service or product. But it doesn’t matter one itty-bit to a customer. And herein slips in the paradox of choice.
Customers want it all, when buying a product/service, and yet are appalled, even intimidated by the post-purchase scenario.
So how does the post-purchase scenario roll out?
Let’s take an example, shall we? Customers buy a program like Photoshop for its myriad features. Then end up using just a few tools. They buy a VCR or DVD recorder that dances, prances, and schmances. But they use just the basic functions. And yes, just like you, they go for the cell phone that has the most tantalising features, but end up using a few, if any.
Ok so we’re a greedy race, but how does that make a difference to your marketing?
It’s the intimidation factor of choice
We like to schmooze with the concept of ‘more for less’, but when we get more, we actually gulp. We don’t know where to start.
What to do.
Where to go.
And this is why you need to roll out two distinct steps to make the intimidation of choice go away.
Step One: Load up the wagons
When you’re selling a product, don’t hold back. In your sales pitch, load up every single benefit and feature you can think of. Pull out every single bonus out of your bag. Stack the stuff high, if you know what I mean.
The customer will see what you’re offering. She’ll drool a bit. Her brain cells will go boppity-bop, and if the offer is just right, she’ll buy.
Which brings us to Step Two.
Step Two: Only show the customer the good stuff
Take step one. Strip out all the lah-dee-dah, and you have Step Two. In effect, in Step Two, you’re out to make darned sure the customer feels the least amount of intimidation possible. So your post-purchase note or instructions should stress only on the most important features.
Doesn’t make sense does it?
But look at you when you go to a buffet. Logically, ten thousand calories of over-eating shouldn’t make you happy. But your greed is a happy-chappie, and pulls you along to this smorgasbord of food. So you pay your pile of pesos, and in you go.
About five minutes later, you don’t know where to start.
Should you attack the lamb chops?
Should you savour the pasta?
Should you even bother with the salad?
Should you? Should you?
Should you?
Now imagine if there was a sign that said: Chef’s recommendations.
Hmmm, what a helpful sign that would be, huh?
It’s no different if you have a product or service
If you’re in consulting, the client wants the lamb chops on top of the pasta, with turkey and asparagus toppings of your service. Well, sell the darn thing to her. But once she’s in the system, only concentrate on two or three of the most important parts of your service.
The parts that helps the client see an instant growth in income, or customers or whatever.
It’s the same if you’re selling a product
Every product is bundled up with gizmos from here to the North Pole, but eventually what the client really wants to know, are the two or three most important things about your product.
Or in other words: The chef’s recommendations.
How does this work in real life?
Let’s see some examples shall we?
1) Car Mechanic: You offer the works. You do the works when you’re servicing the car, but only point out the main two-three things when the client comes up to pick the car.
2) Web Designer: You offer a web site that can do it all. Yet on completion, you show the client the most important features to get the web site up and running.
3) Subscription or Membership: You offer all the bloo-blah before sign up. Then show the new member only what’s important to move around the ‘club’.
So does that mean you get rid of all the fancy features and benefits?
No you don’t. If I’ve been promised the earth, I pretty much want the darned thing. You’re still delivering all you promised, plus the cherry on top. But to aid consumption of your product or service, you need to reduce the intimidation way down, by stressing only what’s important.
The biggest problem a business faces isn’t one of attraction
It’s one of consumption. Because as humans, we like small bites.
You and I are greedy you-know-whats when we’re in the purchase mode.
In fact, in most cases, we don’t even know what we’re buying. We’re just happy that it’s all bundled as part of our purchase. The scary part comes a little later, when we have to actually consume the darned thing.
That’s when you step in. And reduce the choice.
Yes, I bought because you were offering me more. But now that I’ve bought, make sure you show me less.
That way I can make my call on my Nokia without wondering about how to call the moon. 😉
Imagine you do a course with Psychotactics (e.g. the Article Writing Course). And you learn specific steps to write an article. Well, heck you’re copying the steps, right?
And that makes you a clone, right?
Wrong.
Well, not exactly wrong.
The chances of you becoming a clone are very high.
You will become a clone at the start. But only if you get stuck at the start.
So if, for instance, you were to simply copy what we did on our website, and put it on your website, well, you’d be a clone for sure. But then things would change. Or not change, as the situation changed. If you did update your website;if you do start selling and doing your own thing then the cloning starts to go away.
Kids start off as clones of their parents
A child copies the actions, accentof its parent. As humans we’re all clones. If the entire human race walked on one leg, you can be sure that our kids would learn to walk on one leg. Kids and adults learn specifically by cloning. But only at first.
And if they stop at this point, they are exact clones. But if they progress (and they do), then the cloning becomes partof a layer of many clones. So a child may first clone their mother, then their father, then their friends,then their neighbours, then their teachers, then their colleagues, and so on.
Each cloning layer builds on each other
And because the experiences are so varied, the experience becomes rich, and indeed unique.
So as the child grew up, they would still find themselves cloning parts of their behaviour, even as they created a distinct uniqueness. So a child would become an adult and come over for a dinner, and learn something from the mother (and that’s cloning)
For example: I learned how to cook a dish without burning the food, the other day. You just keep a cover with some water on top of the dish, and the contents don’t burn. Now this isn’t my idea. It was my wife’s idea, whoin turn got it from her mother. And it’s a cloned idea.
But I’ve got enough layers to create a dish that uniquely my own, even if I do clone some of the methods. I’m going to take bits and pieces and still do my own experiments.
So my dish becomes unique.
However, let’s go back a bit to when I first started cooking.
At that point, I wouldn’t want to experiment at all. I’d want to be told exactly what to do, and how to do it, downto the last ingredient, and the last measure. At that point I’d be a clone. But as I grow in confidence, that cloningfactor doesn’t get reduced. It just goes on the top of other factors. And so my ability becomes richer.
This is why I still read the work of authors I’ve read before.
Attend seminars of speakers I’ve heard before. Because while at the first stage I would have possibly been a clone, now it’s no longer a factor of cloning.
I’ve become more ‘layered’, and funnily, so has the speaker/author. So the continuing education helps me enrich my knowledge and application. Not to speak of profits and an increasingly comfortable lifestyle.
Cloning is only possible if life becomes a full stop
If life is a series of commas, cloning moves to layering.
And layering is fun 🙂
It’s late at night. You’ve been breaking your head over your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and finally you think you’ve got something that suits you to the T. Before you go and plaster that USP on your website, business card and everything else, do you have the two ‘U’s in your USP?
Two ‘U’s? Huh, where did the second U come from?
The first U is kind of obvious. It stands for unique. The second one is kinda harder. It stands for U. As in YOU. And yes, I know, it sounds kind of obvious that you need to talk about the customer. But what’s obvious, doesn’t always translate into reality. Let’s look at a few straplines that have tried and failed because they haven’t considered the two ‘U’s.
Here we go deep into strapline country
1)Serving fine steaks since 1952
2) Set your sails for success
3) Our service is second to none
4) Winning in Our Way
5) Breaking the Barriers of Mediocrity
I heard that yawn…
You think these straplines/supposed USPs are putting you to sleep, don’t you? Well…wait till you get to your own strapline. You’ll do exactly the same as these straplines above. What’s worse, is that you’ll be darned proud of your so called inspirational strapline.
So let’s corral one those dumb straplines and see if we can turn them around a bit, shall we?
Serving fine steaks since 1952
The steaks we serve, only 2% of America gets to eat.
See how quickly we got the uniqueness and the u factor in that line? The first line was all pompous and uppity. The second one was precise (read unique) and gave you, the customer an immediate benefit.
Personal Experience:
When I was in Las Vegas earlier this year, I had squillions of restaurants to choose from. And yet, I consciously chose this steak restaurant because of the strapline was so arresting. This steak house had both the ‘U’s going at the same time. I paid thrice as much to get the unique taste of steak that just 2% of America eats.
Needless to say, I waddled back to my hotel room.
