The news cycle moves so darn fast it’s almost impossible to keep up.
People get all worked up or outraged over something. They shout on social media for a day or two. Then they move on.
If you’re late to the party people don’t listen to you.
Imagine sending an email NOW about how great Tiger King is. Or how you can’t believe the things Dave Chapelle said in his Netflix special. Or how “eerie” it is that places that used to be bustling are now ghost towns because of quarantine.
For those talking points, the time has passed.
Other stories, however, still have legs. Whisper the words “Hilary Clinton’s emails” to the right person and you’ll send them into a blackout rage.
The same thing happens in marketing with your messaging.
There are certain “talking points” that fade over time.
Beliefs regarding your product or market that your audience no longer holds. Objections that aren’t as strong as they used to be.
And new beliefs or objections you now need to address.
A big mistake I see businesses make all the time is they get clear on this information ONCE and then roll with it for years. (A bigger mistake is never getting clear on all this ever.)
Then they wonder why their open rates are dropping, their click-through rates are dropping, and their funnels aren’t working as well as they used to.
Certain messages fade over time. They wear out. Some faster than others.
For example, people used to be afraid to buy online courses because they felt “scammy”. This was years ago back when online courses were a pretty new thing.
Now, online courses are a huge industry. It’s normal to buy them. A bigger concern is people who “already bought a bunch of courses and never used them.”
You don’t need to dedicate quite as much time and attention to prove you aren’t a scam. But you need more time and attention to show how they’ll actually get results with your course.
Another obvious example is how the daily stress and struggle people used to have is wildly different today than it was a year ago today. Now they may be less concerned about finding a job they love, they may simply want to find a way to get work done while being stuck in the house with a 5 year old that needs attention.
Audiences and markets shift. If you’re not in a constant dialogue and asking the right questions you can miss that shift. You’ll be the person going “How cool is Tiger King!” months after everyone finished talking about it.
How exactly do you keep that dialogue going? A few ways:
You can send surveys asking about their pains/desires/struggles.
You can mix it up in through email or in your Facebook group. See what people are saying and dig deeper into their problems.
If you work with people directly you have great access to how they are thinking.
But the best way is to have a third party do a deep dive into your customer’s journey.
Get the full story from your customer– how they found you, objections they had, beliefs they had, why they trusted you, any “ah-ha” moments they got from you, what helped them the most…
This way you get to see what resonates NOW.
And you don’t just know WHAT is resonating, you know WHY. Because since they’re having an actual conversation, they can go way deeper into their experience than if they were replying to a survey.
Having a third-party do this interview is critical. Because your customer will tell them things they won’t tell you.
Asking someone “What’s your favorite thing about me?” is weird. If someone else asks your customer what they love about you then get ready for them to start gushing.
Ever notice how people wait until someone is dead to pour their hearts out about how amazing they were? Same idea.
What’s awesome about this is not only do you get your messaging nailed, you also get an awesome case study you can promote to attract leads and clients.
Getting these stories and creating these case studies is one of the main things I do for clients. I wrote a book on how you can do it here.
I even have a way to take the quotes and stories from your case study interviews and turn that into sales pages, webinars, funnels, autoresponder sequences, and more. You can learn about that here.