Last week I shared a principle about messaging in my post “The Inconvenient Truth: Your Brand Messaging is Not About You”  that may have left some of you a bit perplexed. I understand that confusion. While it’s true that your brand identity needs to be about you, your expertise and your unique differentiators, your messaging in your communications is most effective when it’s focused on your clients or customers.

Yes, your messaging is not about you it’s about them. Before you start giving me the side-eye, hear me out.

When your clients or customers visit your website, the only reason they’ll stay is if they feel you can resolve the problem they’re looking to solve by contacting you. They need to know that you understand what they’re going through, know how to resolve their challenge and that you are equipped and qualified to do so. The most effective way to accomplish these objectives involves three key steps:

• Positioning your clients as the focus of your communications, not yourself

• Positioning yourself as the guide who can solve their problem

• Connecting with your target audience emotionally

This post focuses on the first two points. You can read more about the third key strategy in my post Six Strategies To Create a Resonant Brand Voice.  

Position Your Clients as the Focus of Your Content

A framework I refer to a lot in messaging is the StoryBrand one from Donald Miller. In it, he compares messaging to a movie script, with the two main characters being the hero and the guide. He uses classic blockbusters like the Star Wars franchise to break down this principle.  As most of you know, in Star Wars, the hero of the story is Luke Skywalker, and the guides are Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi. As the hero of the story, Luke is the character that we most relate to. He is the one that gets our sympathy and cheers with every trial and win he experiences.

In your messaging, if you come across as the hero you are assuming your clients and customers want to experience your story. But do they? If you think about it, they want to understand how you can help them with their problem or challenge.  If your messaging is all about you, it will leave them cold in the same way that if Star Wars was all about Yoda and how great he is as a Jedi Knight teacher, it would have bombed. It’s the hero’s arc in the story that keeps us hooked. It’s witnessing their transformation that compels us to keep watching. In Star Wars, we emotionally connect to Luke’s pain and eventual triumph, not Yoda’s or Obi Wan Kenobi.

Take this same principle to heart in your messaging. You must communicate in such a way that your ideal clients see themselves in your content. When you show prospects you know what their problems are and can help them get out of them, that get’s their attention. Demonstrate that you understand them and their challenges and how you can uniquely and exceptionally provide resolution for them. You need to paint a picture of what it looks like when they achieve success--their success not yours.

Position Yourself as The Guide

In your communications, if you envision yourself as a guide like Yoda, you will be well on your way to gaining your target audience’s trust. Make no mistake, as the guide in your customer’s story you are instrumental to their success. Positioned in this way, you can then demonstrate why they need you to succeed in the area that you specialize in as a coach or consultant. In Star Wars, without the guidance of Yoda,  Luke would never have been able to live up to his potential as a Jedi Knight. Yoda’s training is essential to Luke's growth and eventual victory over Darth Vader.  Likewise, as a coach, your clients want you to help them realize their greatest desires. Your messaging must therefore demonstrate how you do that and what that looks like.

As your clients’ guide, your content should convey your care and understanding of them. A guide understands the hero's challenges and feels their pain. They empathize with them and by doing so creates an emotional bond with them. Yoda lets Luke know he understands him because he knew his father and had trained him and Obi Wan Kenobi. This understanding gets Luke’s attention.  Similarly, you will engage your clients when your content highlights your intimate understanding of their problems, frustrations, or challenges. Seeing their story reflected in your website’s content helps them feel known and validated, which engenders their trust in you and your services.

A guide must also demonstrate competency.  If Yoda was not an exceptional Jedi Knight himself he could not have gotten Luke on board. He would not have been able to convince him of the power of the force without first demonstrating it when he lifted Luke's humongous starship from the swamp. Yoda's mastery enabled Luke to see he needed him. When your clients can see evidence of your skill and talent in your website’s content, they are much more likely to stick around. You don’t do this by making it about you but by demonstrating how you help others in their situation.

By now some of you ladies reading this may wonder, “But where do I get the opportunity to talk about my skills?” I’m right there, hold on! Yes, you do want to let your clients know about your coaching certifications, your area of expertise, your awards, your consulting prowess, etc. But you don’t shout about all of that on your home page, friend. That could be seen as self-indulgent. You can dedicate your About page for that content so the client can opt to find out more about your credentials. My point is that what hooks most clients is not your credentials, but the evidence that you understand their situation, have a solution for it, and the capabilities to resolve it for them.

I know this way of thinking may have some of you still scratching your head. But trust me, communications is partly a mental game. It’s just like when you meet people and you ask them a bunch of questions about themselves how they immediately feel they connect with you versus talking a whole lot about yourself and making them think you are entirely self-absorbed. Which scenario engenders trust, curiosity, interest, and camaraderie? I’ll let you answer that. I hope I made my point. If you still have questions, drop me a note. I’ll be glad to address any outstanding concerns.

Until then, abound in your brilliance friend!