Tell us if this sounds familiar: you know what your business does, but you have difficulty explaining it to people. Friends at parties ask you about work, and you struggle to make it sound interesting. You fumble for a succinct pitch to new potential clients or business partners.
The good news is that you’re not alone. Inconsistent messaging is a common issue with many organizations. Business owners suffer from the curse of knowledge—you understand things so well that it’s difficult to share that information with other people.
The bad news is that this is hurting your business. Clarity is key, and confusion is costing you. People rarely do business with organizations they don’t understand. If they don’t know the value you provide, why would they spend their money with you?
Let’s break down this common marketing issue and how we can fix it.
Understanding the Problem of Unclear Communication
At its core, marketing is founded on clearly communicating your value to potential customers. So, if you miss the mark with your value proposition, you’ll always struggle with marketing.
The key is to think about this from the perspective of your leads and target audience. Are they hearing uncertainty with your messaging? Are they having to work harder to understand what you do? Are your competitors sharing an easier message to grasp?
People rarely work with the best company or buy the best product. More often, they choose to work with the company that’s easiest to understand. Unfortunately, clear marketing can often trump quality or a technological advantage.
Why is Inconsistent Communication a Common Challenge?
If inconsistent communication is such a burden, why is it so common among companies?
That’s because it’s the default to slip into. Creating a crystal clear message that resonates with a target audience is difficult. It doesn’t happen by accident and requires real effort.
It’s also common because businesses often rely entirely on their internal resources rather than seeking outside help or expert advice. Writing website copy or an effective email campaign isn’t as easy as you might think.
Trying to accomplish marketing quickly or within a limited budget can sacrifice clarity. Organization leaders usually fail to properly consider who their target audience is and default to their internal perspective. This blinds us to the real reason people might buy from you.
What Confusing Messaging is Costing You
Without a clear message at the foundation of your marketing, you’re hamstringing your business. A bigger ad budget or fancier website can’t overcome your audience’s confusion. In some cases, it only serves to accelerate the problem.
As a result, your business sees lower conversion rates, more difficult sales conversations, declining revenue, and erosion of brand credibility. Remember—a consistent and compelling message is at the core of your relationship with your customer.
Regardless of a B2B or B2C setting, people buy from a business because of a story. You should present yourself as the solution to a problem they face. If they can’t tell what problem you solve, then they won’t understand why they need your help in the first place.
The good news is that the inverse is also true. Once you discover and embrace a powerful messaging strategy, everything about your marketing becomes easier.
The Solution: A Messaging Strategy
The solution to this common marketing problem is to create a messaging strategy.
This strategy serves as the internal core of your marketing efforts, including your website content. Developing an effective strategy takes time and effort, but that’s a lower cost than entirely misguided and misleading marketing.
Even once you’ve created the strategy, it takes work to implement and stick with it. You’ve got to weave this message into each of your marketing platforms and the language you use when speaking to your audience.
If this sounds like too much to handle yourself, reach out to a trusted marketing partner (like GreenMellen) to escape the curse of knowledge and unlock your marketing’s full potential.
