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Focus on: Clarifying your core message to banish confused marketing and drive sales
At this stage, it sounds like you’re struggling with the core message of why your product or service is valuable. In the marketing world, this core message is called your “value proposition.”
You’ll know this is you if any of the following are true:
Networking is a little tough. When asked to explain your company, you struggle to clearly and concisely convey what you offer and why it’s amazing. You might say something boring or generic that doesn’t reflect the true awesomeness of your company and doesn’t differentiate YOUR stuff from anyone else’s. Or, you might go on a long-winded, passionate spiel about your company… that’s ultimately confusing and impossible to remember.
Every time you have to write something for your business, especially important, revenue-driving stuff, it feels like you’re starting from scratch. You can’t seem to remember the words or even the overall concept you used last time.
You tend to over-rely on images or matter-of-fact descriptions of your products or services, because it’s easier to let the “facts” do the talking rather than try to explain why someone should want it.
You have a nagging feeling that your marketing copy is lifeless, vague, or generic. Your vision for your company is full of heart but everything you write seems dry. Nothing pops. Nothing is “sticky” (i.e. memorable). It sounds just like every other similar company out there.
You have put off seriously taking advantage of other marketing channels (such as email, social media, or digital advertising) because it feels too overwhelming to try to connect with a whole new audience.
Your website has a high bounce rate, which means people are visiting one page and then quickly exiting without buying. Whatever is on there isn’t working.
Many business owners who resonate with this might have a brand new business, one that they have not yet developed their marketing around.Others may have a more established business that has morphed so much over the years that they’ve lost site of the core message behind it.
And others may have been relying on third-party platform traffic like Etsy or Amazon to drive sales and never needed a strong core message to stand out.
What to do next:
Ignore all the marketing advice out there that tells you to throw everything you’ve got at the wall and see what sticks. Once you’ve got your core message sorted out, you’ll have an instinctive understanding of what will work for your business. (What a relief!)
Continue to do your current marketing, but don’t invest a lot of time in it right now as the business owner. (Seriously. Put it on autopilot. Stop stressing for a moment. It’ll be okay.)
Ask yourself the following questions:
Does my product or service solve a clear problem for my customers? If yes, what is it? If no, what’s the biggest (maybe even life-changing) benefit my customers get from my product or services?
How does a customer’s life look different after they buy from my company?
What are my customers typically looking for when they buy my product? How do they want to feel?
What do I offer that my competitors don’t?
How does my service or product help customers achieve a deep-level desire, such as one related to identity, security, or reaching their full potential?
Use your answers to start chiseling away at the big thing that makes your company special. This will become your core message.
This core message guides your future marketing. Everything you write or design or create for your business now blooms from this core message.
Core message example:Abeego’s core message is that Abeego products help people develop a healthier relationship with food and reduce waste, supporting a sustainable lifestyle.This core message is bigger than their product itself; it speaks to a deeper desire and a more existential problem than to simply preserve food for longer.As a result, their messaging is memorable and clear.You don’t have to do it alone.It’s hard to excavate your core message alone. When you’re deep inside your business, you can’t see it clearly.So if you’re still struggling to pinpoint your core message, you’re not the first one. I might be able to help you figure it out.Book a free call to see if hiring a copywriter might be exactly what your business needs right now.