Is Your Message Speaking “TO” Your Ideal Client or “AT” Them?

We recently received a lovely email from someone in our newsletter community thanking us for the information they have received from us over the past year and that,now, they had something exciting to share with us. They also asked for our professional opinion as well. Oh! How fun…I couldn’t wait to read on.

I scrolled down the email message with excited anticipation to see what my exciting surprise was. Suddenly, my anticipation took a huge dive! The first thing
I saw was the question “What is ECUA?” (Just so you know, the acronym has been
changed to protect the innocent : After forcing myself to keep reading (after
all, they had asked for my help.) and read through the very dry information
about molecules, Harvard studies and Atomic Physicists, I still had no idea
what in the world this had to do with me!

As you may have already guessed, they were marketing a new health-enhancing product (I think).

The Problem:

It was all about the product, the company, their mission and their vision and had no connection to their potential client (me). I had no sense of who their idealclient would be and no idea if I was one of them.

And I didn’t know anything about who the person sending me the email was or why they even cared about what they were offering. There was absolutely no connection for me because they weren’t speaking “to” me…they were speaking “at” me…fire hosing me with information and explanations, but not communicating their interest in me and a genuine desire to help me. The message felt like… “Here’s my great stuff, BUY IT NOW!” instead of “Do you have this problem or desire? If so, I really care, I can help and here is how.”

The Solution and Your Call to Action:

If you have a website, what does your homepage say? Is it all about you, your mission, your modality and/or your product. Are you explaining and trying to educate?

If you have a newsletter or put flyers out or advertise, are you tapping into what is going on for your potential client, or are you trying to educate them and convince them of how great your service is?

When you are talking with someone, are you talking about WHAT you do, HOW you do it and WHAT is so great about it?

If so, we invite you to take a step back and start putting your client into the equation – at the beginning! Put yourself in their shoes. What would you want to hear? Would you want to hear all about someone’s mission and vision OR would you want to hear that they really understand what you’re going through, they really get what you desire and they can really help you?

That is what you need to be writing about, sharing and talking about – them…not you. That comes later.