Where Is The Pain?

How often do you receive a marketing message that gets deleted or thrown in the trash before it is ever opened, read and integrated? We often find this is because the pain or problem your customer is experiencing is not expressed within the marketing message.

A marketing message was shared with our marketing team recently that shared all of the reasons that this service provider should be the chosen one when someone is looking to purchase an automobile. Experience, knowledge of the market, past clients assisted were all shared….yet never was the real pain of the customer this person helps ever described. Breaking news! No one cares about you. This realization can seem harsh, but it’s true! Consumers do not care who you are until deep into the sales process. Marketing should only emphasize the problems of your consumer and how you solve the problem. Your education, level of expertise and past client base are irrelevant at this stage.

So, let us dive a little deeper into truly identifying the pain of your customer and how you solve it. Begin with an exercise that describes the features and benefits of your programs, widgets and services. Dig a little deeper and dive into the real value that is brought when a person purchases your offerings.

For example, let us say you are buying a car. Most people detest the actual purchase of a vehicle, believing pushy sales people and “closers” will put them into an automobile that is not in their best interest, but instead is in the best interest of the sales person’s commission check. If your message is “we help you buy the perfect car”, the buyer thinks, “so what?” If your message says, “does the dentist appointment you have sound more attractive then buying a car?” you have dialed it in to true pain.

Here are a few ways to dig in and really get to the pain of your buyer:

1. Buyer Surveys – Ask your past clients about the problems they were having before they started working with you. They can be a huge resource when identifying the real reasons people buy from you.
2. Social Networks – We all have an opinion, especially on the social networks. People will share all of kinds of information when there is a computer screen between them and the source of the questions. Do not be afraid to leverage these networks to uncover issues. And go deeper then Facebook. Quora, Reddit and Twitter are excellent places to ask questions and get real responses.
3. Leverage Technology – Keywords are not just a buzz word put in front of us by Google to create more money for the SEO world. These are actual search terms being used by your buyers. Pay attention.
4. Be Patient and Quiet – We love to jump in and solve problems as we hear about them. In marketing research, stop it. Of course, we want you to acknowledge when some one is sharing pain, but do not jump in with a sales pitch. Listen fully, be present and take notes. Your chance to talk will come soon enough.

Are you struggling to identify the pain your consumer is feeling before they get to you? We can help. Sign up for our one-hour marketing assessment and discover a process that will help you plan, create, execute and measure your marketing efforts.