The Market Your Message Show
The Market Your Message Show
Ch. 8: The Big Three (How to Connect with Your Audience)
Connecting with Your Audience: The Power of Empathy and Simplified Solutions
To see more books in this series, go to: PlatformGrowthBooks.com
In this episode of the Market Your Message show, host Jonathan Milligan delves into Chapter 8 of his book 'Launch Your Platform,' emphasizing the significance of understanding and addressing the top frustrations of your audience. Using historical examples like FDR's empathetic fireside chats, Jonathan highlights the importance of connecting with your audience by identifying their top three struggles and offering a clear, jargon-free roadmap to solutions. He provides practical steps on how to reflect this understanding on your homepage, ensuring visitors feel heard and guided. This episode offers valuable insights for writers, coaches, and speakers looking to build a trusted personal brand.
00:00 Introduction to the Market Your Message Show
00:43 Chapter 8: The Big Three
02:02 Understanding Audience Struggles
02:26 Common Homepage Mistakes
05:25 Identifying and Addressing Pain Points
07:05 Offering Solutions to Audience Challenges
08:38 Enhancing Homepage Engagement
10:23 Using Clear and Familiar Language
11:52 Personalizing Your Homepage Copy
12:56 Day 8 Exercise: Creating the Big Three
14:18 Day 8 Key Takeaways
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Hello and welcome to the Market Your Message show. I'm your host, Jonathan Milligan, an author of the Your Message Matters book series. We are currently going through book number two in the series called Launch Your Platform, a 21 day launch plan to build your personal brand and share your story online as a writer, coach or speaker. And as a special thanks to you, my podcast listeners, I'm releasing the audio book. One chapter at a time. If you'd like to grab any of the books in the series, just go to platformgrowthbooks. com. Okay. Let's jump in to today's reading.
Chapter eight day eight, the big three. During the great depression in the 1930s, many Americans were struggling to afford food for their families. Unemployment was rampant reaching 25% at its peak. Family stood in soup lines just to get a meager meal. In the midst of this hardship, one voice powerfully connected with the emotional reality people faced. Franklin D Roosevelt regularly addressed citizens in his fireside chats. Over the radio opening with quote. My friends. I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking. End of quote. He didn't promote his political agenda first. He didn't boast of his expertise and accomplishments as president. He bonded with them as my friends who faced difficult times. Showing he profoundly understood their struggles. Roosevelt established many critical programs. For example, he created social security, which addressed people's needs and improved lives dramatically. His ability to connect empathetically was a key to his success. This story demonstrates why truly relating to your audience's frustrations. First fosters trust. It also fosters belief in your ability to help them. FDR did just that. Before presenting your solutions lead with your audience's big three struggles. The rest will follow. Day eight. The big three. Most websites dump all of their services, products and features on the homepage. Without an overarching strategy. They use industry jargon that visitors may not understand. The focus is entirely on what the business offers rather than what the visitor needs. Often businesses will try to cramp everything onto the homepage. There's no greater purpose flow. Just a splattering, your products, services, blog posts, testimonials, and more. It's a shotgun approach that hopes something will stick. Of course, the business knows what each item on the page means. But from an outsider's perspective, it quickly becomes an overwhelming flood of information. The lack of organization makes it tough to find relevance as a visitor. Uh, businesses also tend to rely heavily on industry terminology. They use the shorthand familiar to insiders. Without explaining concepts clearly. This leaves, visitor's confused as terms fly over their heads. Too often businesses only think about themselves. The homepage becomes a showcase of everything they do and offer. But the visitor doesn't care about the business, at least not yet. They first wonder what's in it for me. The homepage. Doesn't answer that critical question. The shotgun approach, overwhelms visitors rather than engaging them. Throwing everything out there makes it hard for visitors to connect the dots between their needs and what the business provides. It buries the most relevant connections under an avalanche of information. Industry jargon flies over most visitors heads. People understand the world through their own experiences. They don't know the insider terminology without some translation. Leading with the language only an expert would understand drives visitors away. Focusing solely on the business instead of the visitor is a fatal mistake. Homepage visitors ask themselves one question. How can you help me? A homepage that only talks about the business fails, this basic test. The visitor leaves without having their needs addressed. A common mistake is trying to cover every service product and feature right up front. But different visitors care about different things. Trying to be all things to all people makes it hard for visitors to self-select what fits them. Many businesses use language only insiders would understand. But simple, everyday language is more engaging and accessible to homepage visitors. Avoid industry jargon without context and explanation. It's easy to fall into the trap of an organization centric homepage. But focusing on visitors, their pain points and how you can help is critical. Don't just talk about yourself, talk about them. Step one identified the big three challenges. Start by identifying your audience's top three challenges. What frustrations keep them up at night. What problems and pain points can you relate to and empathize with? As Theodore Levitt famously said, quote, people don't buy drills. They buy holes. End of quote. Likewise. People aren't looking for your specific offering at first. They want solutions to their struggles. Identify what challenges your audience needs to overcome? Reflect these core frustrations and pains back to them upfront. Show you truly get what they're going through. For example, an organizational consultant could reflect frustrations, like feeling overwhelmed by clutter at home. Unable to stay focused and productive at work stuck in constant reaction mode without progress on goals. A personal trainer could reflect frustrations, like feeling stuck in an exercise, right. Getting easily discouraged and giving up. Not seeing results fast enough. A reflection of yep. That's me builds rapport quickly. When visitors see their own emotions and challenges mirrored back, it communicates that you understand their world. Identify the top three pain points. Your audience faces. This shows you empathize with their situation and builds trust. It makes them receptive to the solutions you'll offer next. Step two. Offer three big solutions. Once you've connected with their frustrations offer. Hope by presenting solutions. Identify the three main ways you can provide answers to their pain points. Position yourself as a guide who can clearly simplify the path ahead. Think of it, like a map that highlights only a few fastest routes to get somewhere. Cutting through the clutter of side streets and back alleys. You are promising to map out the best and most direct solutions. For example, that organizational consultant could now promise. A proven system to declutter and find focus. Research back tools to be proactive and achieve goals. Accountability and support to stop reacting and start making progress. A personal trainer could now promise. A customized workout program to break through plateaus. Encouragement and motivation not to quit, but to keep improving. A visible step-by-step plan to stay on track and get results. The key solutions show you don't just empathize, but also have concrete ways to help them move forward. Visitors can quickly see how you specifically can guide them to a better place. Offer the three main solutions that can help lead your audience. Out of their pains and frustrations. Position yourself as the expert guide, ready to simplify and illuminate the path ahead. Step three. Add the challenges and solutions to the homepage. With the top three frustrations and solutions identified. It's time to lead your home page with this crucial information. Place the pains and solutions front and center before diving into details. Consider how our writings coach homepage might speak to the frustrations and solutions of their audience. Quote overwhelmed by writer's block. And self-doubt. Struggling to finish your book, get the motivation and guidance you need. Our writing courses provide an encouraging community and expert instruction. Learn practical tips to overcome blocks and keep writing. Finish your manuscript with confidence. Enjoy. End of quote. This immediately positions the writing coach as empathetic to an author's frustrations. And as the solver of those pain points. Now visitors will scroll happily to learn more specifics. Next you want to display your three big success steps. If you had to boil down your process to just three things, what would they be? When I did this exercise, I came up with the following. Step one, discover your message. Step to launch your platform. Step three market your message. Each of those three big points contains out a lot to unpack. But it provides a simple roadmap that my audience can understand and remember. Hook homepage visitors by leading with the top three pain points they face along with your three main solutions. Make them feel heard and understood. Provide hope you can guide them forward. Step four use clear, familiar language. Avoid using industry jargon in specialized terminology, only insiders would understand. While impressive to fellow experts. This lingo is over the heads of most homepage visitors. I study found that industry insiders greatly overestimate how much outsiders comprehend their field vocabulary. Without explanation. Visitors feel overwhelmed and alienated by foreign terms. Instead, explain topics simply using everyday language, familiar to the average person. For example, instead of leverage agile frameworks say learn a flexible approach. Instead of omni-channel synergies say consistent experience across the internet. Instead of frictionless human centered design. Say intuitive, easy to use product. Everyday language welcomes visitors in jargon and buzzwords distanced them. Speak plainly like you're explaining concepts to a friend. Not impressing colleagues. I avoid insider jargon and specialized terminology without a clear explanation. Converse with visitors using simple, familiar, everyday language to enhance them more fully. Step five. Right in the second person. Make your homepage copy. Feel personalized. By addressing the visitor directly using you and your. This conversational tone feels like you're speaking to them. Versus simply presenting information. As Einstein observed. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. You second person language to distill complex topics into tidbits that speak directly to each visitor. For example. Have you wanted to try meditation, but weren't sure where to start. Get personalized meditation tailored exactly to your goals. You'll get a meditation coach to support your practice every step of the way. People perk up when information seems tailored specifically for them. Use you frequently within the homepage. Copy. Guide visitors personally, rather than broadly discussing concepts. Day eight exercise. Create the big three challenges in success steps. To immediately apply these concepts to your homepage. Do this quick 10 minute exercise. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Grab a blank sheet of paper and a pen. At the top, right. Audience frustrations. Underneath brainstorm and jot down the top five to seven core challenges and pain points. Your audience faces. Really get into their shoes. If you don't know, ask on social media. Now. Under that, right. My solutions. Jot down the three to five main ways you address those visitor challenges. How will you simplify the path ahead? Finally. Open up your home page. How can you quickly add in three core frustrations and then three solutions using everyday language. When done, read it aloud. Does it sound like you're speaking directly to someone using simple language. Or is it organization focused and full of industry lingo? This quick exercise will help you refine your homepage. It will better attract and engage visitors by leading with empathy and solutions. Set aside, 10 minutes to try it out. Day eight key takeaways. Reflect your audience's top frustrations high up on your homepage to show empathy. List your three main solutions right after to position yourself as the answer. Lead with pains and solutions first, before details to set the stage. Explain topics simply without jargon using language visitors relate to. Use you and your to speak directly to them about their needs.