Does Your Marketing Explain Exactly What Problem You Solve?

Thanks to Patsi Krakoff of Writing on the Web for leading me to Michael Katz. He gets right to the heart of a major marketing challenge. How do we describe what we do in a way that will attract customers when they have a pressing need?

For those of us who provide professional services, we often suffer from knowing a lot about a lot. Even worse, we want to share as much as we can about our skill set with prospective clients. Then we hope they can determine how that passel of capabilities might match what they need right now.

Basically, we're asking our prospects to work too hard to understand how we can help when all they want is a precise solution to an urgent problem.
Simplify Your Brand Position: Make It All About Fixing One Big Client Problem
It boils down to a logical extension of the content marketing imperative of developing a deep understanding of your target customers so that you can provide relevant and compelling information. Michael takes it an important step further.

Determine a specific problem that you can solve and describe clearly and concisely how you can solve it. Here's how he puts it:

"So here's my recommendation. Think about common problems that your prospective clients have and align yourself with them:
-Don't be just a real estate broker … be someone who helps middle aged kids sell the homes of their elderly parents.
-Don't be just a life coach … be someone who helps divorced men change careers.
-Don't be just a carpenter … be someone who turns dreary basements into beautiful home offices.
You get the idea. Make it as easy and obvious as possible for people to think about you, remember you and find you in connection with a particular problem that they need solved. Because when the problem first arises, that's what they're looking for."

You may well be able to solve a broad range of problems, but focus on one really important problem that you can solve. Then you become the go-to solution provider when your prospects need immediate help with that problem.

For Michael, it's all about enabling clients to create newsletters that drive sales. I'm sure he has a broad-based skill set, but his online marketing ignores everything but his enewsletter expertise. When prospective clients are searching for enewsletter solutions on the web, he is right there--ready, willing, and able to solve their very specific and urgent problem.

Here's how he describes his focus:
"In my case, as someone who helps companies develop E-Newsletters, I don't spend much time at all talking about the fact that I'm a marketing consultant, and close to zero time trying to convince others of my qualifications.
Instead, I work on one thing: Making it very clear that I fix a specific problem… 'How do we get an E-Newsletter up and running?'"

This laser focus drives results for Michael and can for you and for me as well. In fact, I'm spending much of the weekend developing a similarly focused strategy. I just wish it was as easy to do as it is to describe.
Many thanks to Patsi for serving up this 'What Problem Do I Solve" inspiration . Of course, she illustrates this level of focus brilliantly at Writing on the Web.
If you want to start creating revenue-generating eNewsletters, be sure to subscribe to:
Michael Katz's eNewsletter.

To learn more about how to put content marketing to work for your business, go to ContentMarketingToday.com.