I met with a potential new client this week. They approached me about a specific marketing activity but I quickly knew that this wasn’t their real need.
How did I know that?
I asked them the same question I ask every business owner I speak to…”What do you do?”
For the next 5 minutes they explained their new business to me. At they end they asked me, “Does that make sense?”
Nope. Clear as mud.
It’s a problem I encounter almost every day. Most business owners aren’t actually very good at explaining their own business in a succinct and meaningful way.
That 5 minute explanation should have taken 5 seconds. Ten seconds at most.
Until they get that message right, the rest of their marketing will struggle to be effective.
Your short explanation should quickly identify who you help and what problem you solve for them. It shouldn’t be about you.
If that quick elevator pitch hits the mark they’ll definitely want to know more. Like, how you do it…what is your process / system / difference.
When someone asks me what I do for a crust, I could say I run a digital marketing agency…we do strategy, SEO, Adwords, lead generation funnels, websites etc. And their eyes would glaze over and they’d lose interest very quickly.
Instead, I tell them that “I help small to medium business owners attract more of their ideal customers sooner.”
That usually leads to them asking how I do that. Then I can explain my process.
I know that they don’t really want a digital marketing agency. They don’t want Adwords. They don’t want SEO. They don’t want all the mysterious and technical stuff we do.
But they do want more of the right customers. And they’d like to get them ASAP.
The thing is that most people aren’t as passionate about your product or service as you are. And they probably don’t understand (or even care about) the technical aspects of your business.
They’re more interested in whether it solves their “problem”. Does it make their life better or easier?
In order to explain that you need to dig deep on your ideal target market and understand their real needs as they relate to your business.
You need to imagine that “what do you do” actually means “how can you help me?”
Crafting a good message isn’t easy.
It takes time. It takes real insight into your audience.
But it is one of the most important things you can do.