Market to Your Members
In the marketing world, there's a lively debate between trying to market to your actual members vs. ideal members.
I prefer marketing to real people. It's easier for me to create a human-sounding message this way. If I market to the idea of a person instead of a real person, I often sound more abstract and less genuine. But when I market to a real person, my gut tells me, "this will resonate" or "this needs work."
The Pain, Benefit, Feature Breakdown:
With this in mind, now we can think of how to do this effectively. The way I recommend positioning your community follows a simple format:
Clearly articulate the pain point.
Then work to write out the benefits that solve that pain point.
Next, create features that you offer to provide that benefit.
In my calls with clients, I provide a wide swath of benefits and features to help make this process easier. For now, here's a brief overview of the distinction between benefits and features:
Benefits vs. Features
Benefits are the outcomes or results that members will experience by using your product or service. They answer the user’s essential question: “What’s in it for me?” Benefits focus on the value your product adds to the user's life. This often entails solving a problem, providing relief, or delivering enjoyment.
Features are characteristics of your product or service. They describe what you offer or how your product works. They are factual descriptions of the product, such as specifications, attributes, or capabilities.
Here's an idea of what this could look like with our Crossfit example from 2 weeks ago:
Pain point: Crossfit demands too much time from new dads seeking a way to stay in shape.
Benefit: Saving time to spend with your family
Feature: 20-min EMOM workouts every day with no equipment needed.
We want to advertise the benefits first, this is what piques curiosity. It promises to meet a tangible need that your niche is looking to solve. Clearly define your benefits and you'll generate more interest.
Once we have our pain points and benefits articulated, we need to focus on the community features. Anyone can make those promises, but not everyone can deliver on them.
The process of determining which features to offer takes time and research. You have to factor in what it is realistic for you as the Founder as well as what resources you have. Most important, you need to determine if the features you offer actually deliver on the promise of the benefit. If not, there goes your referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.
Here's where I see almost every founder mess up: They try to offer too much. They can't deliver on everything they thought they could. And their communities suffer as a result.
Your features don't have to be ground breaking, they just need to deliver on the promise you made.
The more you deliver on your promises, the more people will talk. They'll begin to do the marketing for you with their own networks.
Be in the business of delivering on promises and your community will deliver you more leads.
It's that simple.
