If you’re running a business, part of that is sales and marketing. It’s one of the most important things in your business and a big component of marketing and sales is your messaging. Messaging has the power to make or break any sale.
This episode shares:
- The Essence of Effective Messaging: Understanding its impact and how to harness its power.
- The Trap of Overthinking: Why doing something is better than perfect inaction.
- Learning from Client Interactions: How your clients’ words can shape your best messaging.
- Simplicity in Messaging: The power of going back to basics for clarity and impact.
The Essence of Effective Messaging
When I first delved into the world of marketing, I realised that messaging was the heart and soul of any successful strategy. It’s the way you answer pivotal questions: Who are you? Who do you aim to help? How do you help them? And, crucially, why should someone choose you over the competition? This discovery was an eye-opener, leading me to understand that messaging is a blend of creativity and precision, a dance of words that captivates and convinces.
Tip:💡Reflect on these key questions and write down your answers. Be authentic and clear, as these responses form the cornerstone of your messaging.
The Trap of Overthinking
In the pursuit of marketing excellence, I often found myself in a labyrinth of overanalysis. The desire to find the ‘perfect way’ of doing things can be paralyzing. However, I learned an invaluable lesson – doing something, however imperfect, is infinitely better than doing nothing. Embracing this mindset freed me from the shackles of perfectionism and propelled me forward.
Tip:💡Start with one small marketing task or decision. Don’t wait for perfection; embrace progress.
Learn from Client Interactions
A crucial turning point came during a conversation with my coach about why clients choose my services. It dawned on me that clients themselves provide the most potent insights for effective messaging. Their reasons for choosing you, their feedback, and even their casual remarks can be goldmines for crafting messages that resonate.
Tip:💡Review past client communications and feedback. Identify common themes or phrases that can be woven into your messaging.
Symplicity in Messaging
The epiphany that simplicity can be powerful in messaging was transformative. It’s not about fancy words or complex jargon; it’s about clarity, directness, and resonance. By focusing on the basics – who you are, who you help, and how – you can create messages that strike a chord with your audience.
Tip:💡 Strip your message down to its essence. Use straightforward, relatable language that speaks directly to your audience’s needs and desires.
And… that’s a wrap!
The journey through the world of marketing and messaging is ongoing, but the lessons I’ve learned have been invaluable. Remember, effective messaging is about clarity and resonance, not complexity. It’s about action, not perfection. And most importantly, it’s about listening – to your clients, to your instincts, and to the changing world around you.
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Follow along with the transcript
E22 Going back to basics: Messaging made easy
Hello, hello, hello everybody. Welcome to this week’s episode of The [00:01:00] Audacious OBM. I’m your host Leanne Woff and today we are talking going back to basics. Messaging made easy. Today I want to talk to you about marketing. If you’re running a business, part of that is sales and marketing and alot of the time we go into business because we’re good at what we do and then we get to all of the marketing, the sales, the mechanics of business and we fall over a little bit because in our heads when we start, it’s great to be able to do what we do and we’re super skilled and we know that, but then to have to learn all this other stuff really quickly so that people can actually find out about us and work with us, it’s a whole different ballgame.
Marketing and sales. It’s one of those things. And it’s one of the most important things in your business. And a big component of marketing and sales is [00:02:00] your messaging. I think that messaging has the power to make or break any sale. So your messaging is that, who are you? Who are you here to help? How do you help them?
And tell me why I should pick you and not somebody else. In a nutshell, that’s what messaging is. And it can be really creative, and it can also be really intricate. When you’re crafting messaging, it’s all about coming up with something to start with, investigating, releasing that kind of messaging, seeing how it lands, adapting it, and then repeating that whole process again.
Ongoing. Because people change. The things that resonate with people change. The people that you work with might change, you might change, [00:03:00] and with all those things your messaging changes too. The impact of that is, that it can feel really big and overwhelming. It can feel like a big deal. Especially if we start overanalyzing and we start thinking too much.
Because then it feels like we’re on a hamster wheel. Now, because this is a known fact, there are so many people out there who want to help you with this. As is with a lot of things, and every man and his dog has an opinion about how to market and how you can market right now better. It’s always, Don’t do all these things.
Do this. Do this one thing. And, I’ve tried doing that. I’ve tried doing this and it never works. And no, no, no. If you’re not doing this, you’re wrong. Or if you’re not doing this, you’re wrong. Or, skip all the hurdles and do this instead. And then we’re in this overwhelmed, [00:04:00] trying to do everything, overthinking spiral.
And you know what? We end up doing nothing. Let me tell you something, doing one thing, just one, even if it’s not the best thing, even if it takes you too long, is better than what you’re doing now. Why? Because at least you’re doing it. You’re doing it and you’re trying something. And it’s the truth.
It’s something that I have to remind myself about all the time. And just, Do one thing, just get started. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be the thing. And when it’s not me reminding me, it’s my coach reminding me. I am the queen of wanting to [00:05:00] find the very best way to do something. And it makes me fantastic at my work.
It makes me really skilled. And it also holds me back a lot because I want everything, I wanna find the best way for everything. And it’s just not practical. You can’t do that in life. So I’ll give you an example. My coach was asking me about the clients that I wanna work with and why it is that clients choose me.
And I was sitting there and I’m looking at her going, I don’t know. No, Leanne, you do know. Pick this client. Tell me why they picked you. Okay. So I started to talk and, she said to me, what are the things they actually asked you? Like, when you first had an intro call, what was it? And so I said, oh no, they picked me because they really wanted a team [00:06:00] who knew what they were doing.
So they saw my expertise and they didn’t want someone whose hand they would have to hold. They just wanted someone who could run with it and who was capable. And I kept talking and she paused and she goes, And that’s what you say. And I stopped. I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’m trying to think about how to market better and get my messaging better and, had been swirling around with all these different ideas trying to find the right words.
And she was just sitting there going, you already know why. You’ve, they’ve told you. They’re your words. Just take them and put it over here. It was obvious. But for me, in my, but I want the best way. I couldn’t even see the obvious thing. Another example. So I have this podcast. Thank you for listening. And I’ve done lots of [00:07:00] presentations in different people’s communities.
Like I’ve done training and I’ve done guest podcasts and I’ve spoken at events. So I’ve done, a lot of things where I’ve been featured in those groups. And I want to be able to put all those as featured in things on my website. And so I said to my coach. I haven’t done it because I don’t know where on my website these things should go.
And it’s really silly. And she’s like, oh, you just put it on your speaker page. And I was like, yeah, I know, but I don’t have a speaker page. And she’s like, why? I said, because then it’s a whole thing. And then I have to work out what to write and what to say and what topics and call to actions and all the messaging.
And she just starts laughing and she’s like, No, you’re making it too hard. You just need three things. [00:08:00] Who it is you’re speaking to, what you speak about, and some testimonials. And then look, here’s some places that you’ve already spoken at. Job done. So stop making it a big thing. It doesn’t have to be this full blown, page.
And I found it hilarious. So in my head, I had made it this really big thing, and now it’s on my list of things that I have to do to get this page up. But. In thinking of it in just three sections, three things, say it like it is, fill the page, get it up, and then you can add to it as you go. And again, it’s me trying to find the right words in the right way, the best way of doing it, so that for whatever reason, before I do anything.
And because sometimes I get so entwined in messaging, and I can go down many rabbit holes because I want it to be amazing messaging, it can hold me back. So I [00:09:00] just wanted to say sometimes in business, in marketing, with messaging, we just need to go back to basics. And so if you want a really great way to get better messaging or just to start somewhere, think about reality.
Think about the literal conversations you’ve had with clients or people you’ve worked for and think about the questions that they’ve asked you, the objections that they had or look back at the testimonials. That you’ve been given and see what they say, see what words they use. And I actually find this one really good.
It’s when I look through random chit chat conversations with my clients. That’s where I find the gold. Because there’s no shiny parameter put around it. Just people organically saying what they really believe. Especially if you have a good relationship with your clients. And that’s [00:10:00] where your good messaging comes from.
And so it doesn’t have to be perfect. And if you’re trying to craft messaging, go back to those conversations, just like I did, and then add an, ‘Are you looking for a….?’ at the beginning. So from my example before, it would be, ‘Hey, are you looking for a super capable team whose hand you don’t have to hold to keep your business running like clockwork now?
Come talk to me. I’m for you.’ It doesn’t have to be lots and lots of fancy words if you’ve got something someone else has already said. And I really hope that this has made it a bit easier for you and that you can jump on the bandwagon with me of trying to make things more basic to get the outcome that we want instead of going into this overthinking spiral.[00:11:00]
So with your messaging, I want you to think about who are you, who are you here to help, how is it that you help them, and tell me why you are not the person next to you. Bye guys, have a great day.