Imagine this…
Your company is growing fast, and you’re looking for a web designer to revamp your website.
Now, you don’t need a jaw-droppingly gorgeous stunner that would sweep all design awards. You just want a functional site that’s optimized for conversions. That means, you’re on the lookout for someone who understands how design impacts conversions and sales.
They don’t have to work lightning fast… but they do have to take the time to really understand your goals and needs.
Seems pretty straightforward, right? Well…
Imagine also that, as you’re searching, you encounter web designer after web designer — all promising the same things.
(For added effect, please read the quote below in the most obnoxious movie trailer / energy drink ad voice you can think of.)
“We make amazing-looking, award-winning websites that run buttery smooth, and we can do it FAST! Need it done by yesterday? We already shipped it last week! That’ll be $20,000” *plays sick air guitar riff*
Wow. This is not at all what you’re looking for.
I mean, “running smoothly” is definitely on your list of considerations for a new business website, but everything else? It couldn’t be MORE off the mark!
So you don’t hire anyone. Or worse, you hire the cheapest web designer available. After all, the job has got to get done somehow — might as well be cost-effective about it!
Here’s why I’m telling you this:
You are not the business owner in this hypothetical.
You are the interchangeable designer. Here’s why…
Are you making this mistake in your brand message?
Now, I have totally made up those hapless web designers for the purposes of my intro…
…but business owners in all industries make that same mistake. (I know I have!)
We put our best foot forward, projecting a certain image into the world that WE think would convey quality, professionalism, and competence.
BUT — and this is critical:
You see your brand and your offer very differently from your ideal customers. Selling points that seem amazing no-brainers to you can actually be irrelevant, or even a deal-breaker, to them.
And that misalignment is a huge problem for any business looking to *checks notes* you know… actually make money!
So today, we’re going to fix it.
In this week’s article, I will walk you through a simple 4-step process to elevate your brand message and align it with what your ideal customers are ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR.
By the end, you’ll have a specific list of promises that will resonate with your prospects — as opposed to just a series of assumptions and stabs-in-the-dark.
Be warned though: this process is simple… but it’s not necessarily easy. You’ll have to confront preconceived notions about your brand head-on, and ruthlessly discard — or completely transform — anything that doesn’t serve your target audience.
In return, you will get a message that resonates with your dream-fit customers and makes them pay attention.
Is that a fair deal? I think so, too. So let’s begin.
Step 1. List what makes your company and your offers awesome.
Now, before you can create a properly aligned brand promise, you have to zero in on your awesome. And that means asking yourself:
So… what’s so good about your brand and your products or services, anyway?
To start with, name the TOP reasons someone should buy from you and put them into a list.
Uncovering what makes your brand and your offers awesome is a necessary first step. This should be a cakewalk for you — aim for around 3 facts about your brand, followed by 3 statements about your offer or offers.
For example, let’s say that you sell financial planning services.
(I decided to pick something more challenging than our web designer scenario from earlier — no offense to any web designers reading this!)
So, a financial advisory firm’s list could go something like this:
“What makes our brand awesome?”
- “We’ve been in the financial services industry for 20+ years and counting.”
- “We have multiple advisors on staff, who each have a dedicated pool of clients.”
- “We take client appointments both face-to-face and online to fit anyone’s preferences.”
“What makes our services / products awesome?”
- “We are fee-only, so our services don’t eat into client returns like those of other advisors.”
- “We don’t just send dense investment reports but have a custom dashboard for clients to have a full view of their assets”
- “Because we’re fee-only, our services are super accessible even for people with small portfolios.”
(Again, to reiterate: don’t go with just ANY value statements, but stick with the ones you think are MOST IMPORTANT.)
Wonderful. Now that you have a specific list of top 3 things that make your brand and your offers awesome…
…you can confidently cross it all out!
Because guess what:
Your prospects don’t care about any of that.
They aren’t really interested in knowing what makes your company awesome, or why your products / services are the greatest thing since dill pickles (you know, those ones that you ate at that random corner deli in NYC, and then could never find again).
What your target customers want to know, more than anything, is how you can make them FEEL and BE awesome. And that’s what we’re going to focus on in Steps 2-4…
Step 2. Sharpen the focus on your prospect
Now, take a look at your freshly composed list of awesome things about your brand and products or services.
It’s time to examine each one and ask yourself:
“Why would my customers / clients want this?”
Or, to put it into even more snappy terms:
“SO WHAT?”
Why should they care about your decades of experience? What do they get out of it?
For this step, your goal is to transform your earlier points from a company-centric perspective… and into a customer-centric one.
I recommend simply rewriting them using a simple “You’ll [verb]…” template.
Like so:
“We have multiple advisors on staff, who each have a dedicated pool of clients.” ==> “You’ll work with a dedicated financial advisor who will learn YOUR unique goals and needs intimately.”
See the difference? Now, let’s do the same with all the other statements to make it sink in.
- “We’ve been in the financial services industry for 20+ years and counting.” ==> “You’ll partner with established professionals who have served clients like you for 20+ years.”
- “We have multiple advisors on staff, who each have a dedicated pool of clients.” ==> “You’ll work with a dedicated financial advisor who will learn YOUR unique goals and needs intimately.”
- “We take client appointments both face-to-face and online to fit anyone’s preferences.” ==> “You’ll have your financial advisor available for 1:1 meetings face to face or online, whichever works best for you.”
- “We are fee-only, so our services don’t eat into client returns like those of other advisors.” ==> “You’ll keep 100% of your investment returns and only pay a fixed fee for advisory services (no paying out 1% of your total assets every year ‘just because’).”
- “We don’t just send dense investment reports but have a custom dashboard for clients to have a full view of their assets.” ==> “You’ll get access to a comprehensive investment dashboard, updated in real time, so you always know exactly how your investments are doing.”
- “Because we’re fee-only, our services are super accessible even for people with small portfolios.” ==> “You’ll be able to receive professional financial advice even if you don’t have a 7-figure portfolio. We believe everyone deserves high-quality investment support and guidance.”
(Note: when you want to incorporate any of these statements into your messaging, get rid of the “You’ll…” — and you’ll end up with a punchy list of specific brand promises / benefits!)
Can you see how these new statements have become much more compelling and persuasive — simply because they now focus on the prospect? That’s exactly what will happen with your brand messaging when you implement them!
And now, for the hard part…
Step 3. Now, deep-dive into your ideal prospect’s head
Time for a reality check:
Do YOU know what your prospects actually want?
Up until this point, you’ve just written down what makes your brand and your offers awesome, and rewrote it in a customer-centric way.
…But you still don’t know if the things your audience cares about — and the things you THINK they care about — align at all!
So for this step, I want you to brainstorm:
- Top 3 things your ideal clients / customers want
- And top 3 things they FEAR OR HATE, passionately
For example (in keeping with our financial services scenario):
- They want to have enough money to retire in total comfort.
- They want to leave a good inheritance to their kids.
- They want to have peace of mind around their investments.
And also…
- They hate overpaying fees, AKA giving up a percentage of their total assets to an advisor.
- They are afraid of running out of money in retirement.
- They hate working with an advisor who’s unavailable / doesn’t listen.
Now, I want you to take the last 3 statements on your “customer POV” list — the ones that deal with fear / hate — and also reframe it around their wants and desires.
(This positive reframing will help you create more compelling brand promises. Negativity may get social shares, but it doesn’t always drive conversions and sales!)
Like so…
They hate overpaying fees, AKA giving up a percentage of their total assets to an advisor. ==> They want to preserve their investment returns, and stop handing a chunk of their future over to commission-based advisors.
Do that with all 3, so at the end you have a list of 6 things your ideal customers / clients want.
And now… *drumroll* …it’s the final step! Huddle up and let’s bring it all together.
Step 4. Compare and combine your twin lists
Examine your two hard-won lists side by side: the list of your client-focused brand promises AND the list of things your clients want, and fear, and hate (reframed in a positive light).
Can you spot any matches?
If so, great! That means your messaging aligns with your target audience’s actual desires (especially once you tighten it to be more customer-centric).
Do you see any gaps, where something your target customers want isn’t reflected in your promises? That’s an opportunity to articulate NEW brand promises that speak to your target customer’s desires, or solve their objections and concerns.
And lastly, can you identify any “loose” promises that don’t connect to anything your ideal customers or clients need? Feel free to cut those ruthlessly, because they are unnecessary!
By the end, you should end up with a list of promises that perfectly align with your target market. THIS is your little “black book” of brand messaging, AKA the list you will use when creating ads, sales copy, or any other asset you need to convert like gangbusters.
The final list that remains… is your brand promise toolkit.
Save it somewhere you’ll always have access to it, and refer to it whenever you need to craft new marketing and sales messages. That way, you can be sure that anything you create from now on is going to be aligned, resonant, and irresistible to your ideal customers!
Tap into your ideal customers’ frequency
The secret to unignorable, high-converting brand messages is simple: you have to step outside of your own perspective as a business owner, and become obsessed with your ideal customers’ problems, needs, and goals.
The more you can sync your brand promises to what your target audience wants and needs to hear, the more compelling and magnetic your messages will become.
I know: it’s been quite a theme over the last few articles. And for good reason!
Because once you’ve mastered this approach to marketing and messaging, you will never be just another “face in the crowd” — yet another generic brand in an ocean of competitors.
Instead, you will become the go-to choice for your ideal customers. A category of one. Their best and ONLY option.
After that, you’ll be unstoppable.
Go get ‘em!
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