Still struggling to nail your marketing message? The reason why your message does not land could be three-fold.
The other day I was working with a client (let’s call her Marie) who is offering a great home study course. She had worked diligently on putting the modules together for months and was finally getting ready to launch it.
Marie’s strategy was to do a sequence of webinars where she would give her audience a taste of her expertise and sell the course at an affordable entry level price. To fill up her webinars, she was planning on running a series of Facebook ads.
This is a great strategy, would you agree?
The only hiccup Marie encountered was that her ads were not converting. When we took a look at them we found her message was quite UNCLEAR.
The benefit of why somebody should click on the ad to learn more was not immediately visible and that is a problem.
Especially nowadays when studies have shown that people only spend 3 seconds online to decide if they are going to click on an ad or scroll right past it, you have to be really succinct and to the point with your message.
A confused mind does not buy or in this case click on an ad to learn more.
If this sounds familiar to you (and we are not just talking Facebook Ads here), the reason why your message does not land could be three-fold:
1. You have not YET niched down your target market and gotten really specific about who you serve.
This is hands down the #1 thing you MUST be clear on BEFORE you start doing anything. Hear me on that. It will save you time, money and frustration.
2. Your offering is not tailored to their needs. In other words you THINK what you’re offering is what they need but you have not listened to them or vetted the idea with them first. The good news here is that you can quickly remedy that by doing some research and having conversations with people so you can re-jig your offers accordingly based on what THEY TELL YOU they really want and need.
3. Or you are not speaking to them in their language. As an expert in your field, you might be using terms that are familiar to you but to your audience they sound like Chinese. Hence your message does not ‘land‘ because they are not hearing you. Which is exactly what happened in Marie’s case. She was using words that were convoluted and way too technical for her ideal clients to understand.
As a marketing strategist for a big movie studio, I look at copy and messaging every day and often times all it takes is a few tweaks to get it whipped into the right shape provided you are 100% clear on your target market and have vetted your product or service with them.
The most important things to remember are these:
- Keep it simple! No long-winded convoluted sentences.
- Be succinct! Keep it to the point.The attention span online is short.
- Showcase the benefit immediately. Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal client. Why should I bother reading on? Why should I buy? What’s in in it for me?
- Follow up with showing them THE BENEFIT of the benefit that provides a tangible solution.
- Add a specific CALL TO ACTION of what you want them to do next. People like to be directed. Just think about when you walk into a theater, you are thankful for the usher to direct you to your seat.
And here is one more to keep in mind.
Your people are not interested in what it is you do, they are interested in how you can help them.
In other words, they are ONLY interested in the SOLUTION, so in your messaging ALWAYS show them the solution. This is how it will resonate with your audience. Give it at try and post in the comments below how you are getting on with it.
Simona Ksoll is a brand marketing strategist and business mentor positioning coaches and entrepreneurs to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Follow her on Facebook and LinkedIn and join her private Facebook Community.