Connect With Your Audience

“Connect to your audience through their priorities, not your product offerings”.

This was a standout sentence for me in a recent Google article on content, in relation to Search Engine Optimisation.   (http://b2bdigital.net/2011/12/06/game-google-no-risk/ if you wish to read the whole thing.)

Basically – it says exactly what I’ve been beating a drum about for most of the year…  get into your clients shoes, head, and walk along his/her path for a while.  It’s not about what you are selling, it’s about what they are buying.

Such a subtle shift in words, but a massive move in attitude.

Are your clients buying the product or the outcome? Are they focused on the service, the cost, the quality or the end results?  Ok – I know there are always going to be those who do care more about the price than everything else, and I’d like to say ‘Forget them’…  or at least shift your own focus to those people out there who care more about what your product or service will help them to achieve.  These are the customers who will value you more than they will worry about the change they’ll get out of $100.

The clients you most want to be working with are those who know that you will solve a problem, that you understand why it is a problem, and how much it means to them to get rid of it.   Everything comes down to this… whether it’s a dripping tap, fitting a dress better, feeling fitter financially or physically, or being able to do something better, smarter, more quickly.

So – how do you ensure that what you do, does solve the problem he or she is having?  How to you convey fully what you can do, the outcomes your client can expect by working with you or buying your product?   How indeed!

You get very clear about your marketing messages, your brand communication, and enlist the help of others whom you’ve already solved problems for, to rave about how well you did so.    This is how you connect with your audience through their priorities!