One of the biggest communication problems most businesses have is that all their communications are business-centric — they’re focused on themselves, not on their customers.
This couldn’t be a bigger problem.
Here’s why.
Look, No One Cares About Your Business
When customers come to your website or store, they’re there because they want something.
They have a problem that they need you to solve. That’s it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be there.
They don’t care about you. They don’t care about your business. They don’t care about anything other than the problem that’s driving them nuts.
The one they’re hoping you can solve for them.
But if all your marketing content is focused on your business and what makes you awesome, they’re not going to wade through it to find out if you can help them or not.
They’re just going to go to someone else.
Because that’s how our brains work.
How the Brain Works — And Why It Matters to Your Business
Look, there’s a lot of brain science behind this that we could go on and on about, but the main takeaway is that our brain does a few things that it’s been doing as long as human beings have been around — and those things haven’t changed just because we’ve gotten more advanced.
Our brains are always scanning the environment for threats and things that can help us survive. There’s not much processing power devoted to this.
If what you offer isn’t clearly something that helps your customers survive (which in the modern world means “something that solves their immediate problem”), then the brain will pass over it.
When you add to this the fact that we see about 5,000 marketing messages per day, you basically only have a few seconds to get the brain’s attention with a message that is clear and powerful.
To make matters worse, if you start talking about yourself and your business, the brain completely shuts down because now you’re just a competitor — remember, your customers see themselves as the main character in their own story. When you talk about yourself, you put yourself in the main character’s position — and they wonder why they should care.
Fortunately, the brain working this way gives us an easy way to get someone’s attention.
If we focus on the customer, on what we can do to help them survive (i.e. solve their problem), and we don’t talk about ourselves or use abstract language, then they pay attention.
Focus on Your Audience
All good marketing communication starts with your audience — your customers.
Who are they? What problems do they have that you can solve? How do your products/services solve those problems?
What are their pain points? What is it, specifically, that’s making their lives less than what they could be if only they came to you?
You might have several different audiences, but you don’t want to be a one-size-fits-all solution. The reason for that is one-size-fits-all isn’t a perfect solution — everyone is going to be left wanting more.
When you have a specific solution for a specific group of people, you’re more likely to get their business.
Now look to your solution. How, specifically, does your solution remove their pain and solve their problem?
The Problem Solver Method
The Problem Solver Method is a specific method of writing marketing content that helps you reach customers the way their brains are set up to be reached.
It removes confusion, increases clarity, and makes people more likely to become a customer.
The Problem
Above all, you need to be really clear about what the problem is that your product/service solves.
Now, you probably have more than a few products and/or services, and that’s okay — figure out what the problem is that each product/service solves.
The Bigger Problem
Now that you have a clear idea of why customers are coming to you in the first place (what the problem is that they have), you need to use some old-school marketing techniques — you need to show them that not using your product/service is going to lead to an even bigger problem for them.
Think about the consequences. What’s going to happen if they don’t go with your solution? How will their problem get worse? What new problems will come up?
Your Unique Value
Now it’s time to offer the solution. What you don’t want to do here is talk about yourself and your business — not yet.
Right now, you want to talk about the solution itself and how it relieves their problem.
Focus on what’s unique about your solution.
Is it a higher-quality solution than other products out there?
Does it cost less?
Will they get better customer service and support if they go with your solution?
What sets your solution apart? Make sure you put the customer front and center here — what does your solution being different from other solutions matter to them?
Your Credibility
Now that you’ve reeled them in and bypassed the lizard brain that only cares about survival, you can get a little abstract and talk about yourself.
You need to be careful here. Your goal is to make them feel better about the solution they’re going to purchase from you — not to talk yourself up.
They want to know that they’re buying from someone they trust. Reviews and testimonials help a lot here. Listing how many years or decades you’ve been in the business helps too.
Try to focus on setting yourself up as a guide of sorts, the person who can help the customer solve their problem in a way no one else can. Try not to make yourself the main character here.
The Solution Process
Now it’s time to show your customers exactly how your solution works.
What do they have to do, specifically, to go from where they are now (investigating solutions) to where they want to be (problem solved)?
You only want a handful of steps here — 4 at most.
Make the steps as simple as possible. The more complicated something is, the less likely someone is to spend time on it.
Get a Website That Moves Your Customers to Action
If you do everything above, your customers are going to be more likely to take action when they’re on your website.
Which basically means you’re going to make more money.
Maybe you could do this yourself…
But do you have the time?
Wouldn’t your time be better spent doing what it is you do best — solving your customers’ problems?
Let’s talk about how we can build you a problem solver website that moves people to action.