I wrote in an earlier blog: A key plank of the Million Dollar Expert methodology is to start with one message, one market and one mode, and stick to that until you get to white belt. Only then should you add a second “cluster” (a cluster is the combination of message, market and mode) to take you to yellow belt. Today I’m going to focus on the message part of the equation.
For seven years I went to market with the wrong message. My coaching business was Love Your Business, and my message was I’ll help you, your customers and your staff love your business.
Great message - and I was out to save the world with my message. The world needs more love and less fear, and organisations, corporations and businesses need it more than anyone. If I could show them that looking after how people feel was actually a better way to make money etc etc then I could transform business globally. (Cringing slightly as I re-read that paragraph).
Problem with the message is it's all about what I want, and has nothing to do with what my target market is after.
There are no business owners lying awake at night thinking I need more love in my business ... if only there is someone who can help me do that. My target market has two primary issues, not enough money and not enough time.
I would have been much more successful if my message was all about growing your business. Ironically my content could have been pretty much the same. When I started working with a client, I could have said that customers make purchasing decisions based on how they feel, you need to build emotional engagement with your team etc, and that’s how we’ll grow your business. But the one message that sits at the top needs to talk into the customers world.
Tathra’s key message on her audacious leadership site suffers from the same issue. She says "Audacious leadership supports organisations to cultivate an authentic and lasting relationship with sustainability, from a holistic and deep ecology perspective. "Again no one is lying awake at night wondering how they can cultivate an authentic and lasting relationship with sustainability. Which means Tathra has to first sell a prospect on the idea that they need to do that, and then convince them that she is the best person to help them.
A pitfall for us as thought leaders is we get so impressed by our own thinking that we wrongly assume it's what the market wants, what it needs and what it will pay for. When you are crafting your message, make sure its something that your target market already wants and will pay for. And test it - check it out with a few of them before you become too wedded to it and get it tattooed across your neither regions.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, please leave your comments below.
