December 7, 2020 7 min read
The opinions expressed by the entrepreneur’s contributors are their own.
There is nothing worse for an entrepreneur than putting all of your efforts into building a service and marketing strategy to continually attract people who say they cannot afford it.
While many business owners turn their attention to making sure they have an obvious “foolproof” plan in place to get people involved, they can nonetheless come across audiences that are not right for them. This can be frustrating because people don’t understand why, despite being good at what they do, prospects don’t buy or, worse, ask for discounts on everything.
The good news is that there is a way to stop attracting those who can’t afford your services and shift your attention and marketing efforts to getting people ready to buy. It all boils down to having and implementing a branding strategy that resonates deeply with your target group and enables you to appear authentically every time.
1. Make it clear who you want to attract
In order for your business to thrive and attract the right people, you must first understand who your ideal customers are on a detailed level. The more effectively you can connect with the right audience and address their problems and needs, the more revenue you will generate.
To be very clear about who your ideal customers are, you need to go beyond demographics to understand the psychological and emotional elements that affect their lives and which, in turn, drive their purchasing decisions.
The better you understand your audience, the more effective your messaging will become, as you will be able to speak to them directly and they will finally feel seen and heard. Pricing becomes less important when they see you as the best solution to the specific problem or need they have.
For example, saying that you are selling a program for women who want to lose weight that is very general is nowhere near as effective or effective as saying that you are helping busy women over 40 who are frustrated after they tried low carb. High fat diets with no permanent results will lose weight. Not only is the latter version much more detailed, it also addresses a very specific pain point, meaning these women experience an immediate sense of appreciation and understanding.
2. Stop underutilizing your services
Many entrepreneurs pay too little for their services because they believe they need to build a solid reputation or have a large audience before they can charge premium prices.
In practice, however, lowering your prices can primarily hurt your reputation. If you are building an audience based on people looking for a cheaper solution, once you raise your prices it will be very difficult for you to make sales.
If you want to attract customers who can afford your services as an online coach or consultant, you need to charge the right price instead. Trying to sell a service by being the cheapest option out there is going to be a straight race to the bottom. After all, there will always be someone in the market with a lower price.
Instead, you want to set your price based on the value you have supplied. To do this calculation, first determine what the value of the outcome of the results you are generating will be.
3. Position yourself as an authority
To attract the right people, you also need to position yourself effectively as an authority or leader in your field by developing a powerful branding strategy to target your marketing with.
In order to build an effective branding strategy, you need to be absolutely clear about who you are, what you stand for, and what kind of experience you can get from interacting with your company.
It is fundamental to have a well-defined brand message that clearly communicates your value by showing the real result you are helping your customers. What you need to ask yourself as a business owner is “What am I really selling?” because I can assure you that it is much more than the service you give them. It’s really about the transformation, the outcome and the results they get by hiring you.
Focus your brand communication on them, not you. Many service providers make the mistake of simply saying things like “I’m a web designer” or “I’m a fitness trainer” to explain to others what kind of service they offer. In doing so, they concentrate on themselves and not on the needs of their audience.
Instead, you want to change your messages to reflect the outcome of helping others. For example, if you say things like, “I make websites that drive conversions,” or “I help women lose those stubborn 10 pounds,” it will be more specific to the results you will get.
4. Real brand differentiation
While market saturation appears to be peaking, it is really just an illusion.
The real problem is not that there are too many vendors and competitors in an industry, but that most entrepreneurs don’t know how to effectively differentiate themselves from others.
In order to attract the right audience, it is important that you position your offering as the best solution and ideal vehicle prospect required for success. One of the best ways to do this is to create a framework, methodology, or process that is unique to your business. This signature system sets you apart and sets you apart from the rest.
Furthermore, according to the theory of George A. Akerlof, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Rachel E. Kranton, Professor of Economics at Duke University, in their book Identity Economics, people make economic decisions based not only on financial incentives, but also on their identity.
This is important to you as a business owner because if you want to attract the right people, you have to effectively differentiate yourself from others while standing up for something. Consumers today are increasingly making choices based on their identity and the way that others’ identities form their own. This means that given the many different options, we are more likely to choose the one that strengthens our beliefs the most.
If you as a brand don’t do a great job at clearly communicating who you are, you’re making it way too difficult for the right people to choose you.
Put the parts together
Ultimately, it comes down to attracting the right people to make sure you are very deliberate with your message and the way that message is being conveyed. In this way, you can change your audience’s perception of you while also involving the right people in your company. Taking the time to develop your complete branding strategy can also help you get more effective results from your marketing plan.
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