Prospective Customers Have an External Problem. Give Them the Solution.
The best way to identify your customers’ problems and build a strong brand messaging framework is to answer this simple question:
WHAT are your clients, customers, and prospects actively looking for?
Let’s take a look together into the buyer’s journey. After all, to best serve your clients, you need to take a walk in their shoes to find what fits and what doesn’t. A customer searching for a product or service has a problem and a need to be met. We call this the “Initial Need” or “The External Problem.” This is the first problem a customer faces — and if you’re going to get your messaging framework right, you should start here.
Make Sure You Meet Their Need
“Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them.”
-Donald Miller.
If your customer needs something, you want them to know that you have it. That is the foundation of external messaging: providing solutions for your customer’s surface-level problem. Here are a few examples of companies successfully addressing the external issue.
Customer’s External Problem: “I’m craving pizza.”
Papa Johns: “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza, Papa Johns.”
Customer’s External Problem: “I need insurance.”
Allstate: “You’re in good hands.”
Customer’s External Problem: “I’m tired of dating apps.”
Hinge: “The Dating App Designed to be Deleted.”
Customer’s External Problem: “I’m looking for a platform where my team can work together and keep everything in one space.”
Monday.com: “One Platform, Better Teamwork.”
Clearly, each of these customers has a simple initial need. And, each service or product provider meets that need. But, what is it about those specific companies that draw their customers in over their competitors?
Stop Talking About Yourself
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller says it best, “Brands that fail to clearly understand what their customer wants end up talking about themselves.”
Although most external messaging focuses on the company, your customers want to know that you’ll solve their problems. When your customers come across your website, advertisements, and social platforms, they should be able to quickly and easily answer these three questions:
- What do you offer?
- How will it make their life better?
- How do they get it?
You must be sure you are clearly communicating what you offer while speaking to their problems. Remember, it’s not about the products and services provided; it’s about the solution your customer needs. Interestingly, your customers will not always buy the best product offered. But, they will buy one that communicates clearly and provides solutions to their problems.
Strong external messaging starts with understanding your customers’ wants & needs. Sharing your company’s mission, vision, and values as the solution to your customers’ problems provides them with an experience they have not yet had anywhere else — one that is entirely focused on meeting their needs. That alone puts you ahead of your competitors!
What Keeps Them Up at Night?
We love asking this question to clients that come to The Molo Group seeking solutions. Discovering what keeps company leaders up at night reveals their most immediate needs.
That’s when you can gain a greater understanding of your customer’s problems and go into the deeper details of what they are facing in their industry.
Ask questions such as:
- What is the current demand in your industry?
- What obstacles are limiting you?
- What certifications or quality standards are needed to acquire this product or service?
- What regrets might your customer have (as it relates to your industry)?
- How are you shifting strategies to provide for your customers?
- What risks are you facing?
This process will help you go the extra mile in understanding your customer’s problems beyond the initial need. Accordingly, it’s important to ask these questions so that your team can understand why these problems are such an issue for your customers. Otherwise, you risk your messaging falling flat from the get-go.
Brand Messaging Framework in Action
Identifying your customers’ external problems is the first step in building a strong messaging framework. For example, suppose your message isn’t meeting your customers’ initial needs and external problems. Then, your messaging framework will not provide the solutions your customers need to solve their much deeper problems. Next, seek to understand. If you don’t understand why your customers are facing these problems, you can’t meet their deeper needs. This is simply just scratching the surface!
In “Reframing the Message” Part 2 we will take a deeper dive into differentiating yourself from your competitors when it comes to your customer’s internal problems.
Want to make sure your external messaging is checking all the boxes? Reach out and let’s look at how you can make sure you’re meeting the initial need that will serve the deeper problems your customers may be facing.
