Are you accidentally marketing what your audience needs instead of what they actually want?

In today’s episode, I’m breaking down one of the most common mistakes I see entrepreneurs make — and how it’s costing you leads and sales without you even realizing it.

I’ll walk you through real examples, simple exercises to shift your messaging, and how to authentically speak to your ideal customer’s true desires without watering down your expertise.

This episode is a must-listen if you want easier sales and more momentum!

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh: 

Hello my friends and welcome back to the podcast. In today’s episode, we’re gonna talk a marketing topic that is very important and that is around what your ideal customer wants versus needs. This is a super common mistake that I see people making with the best of intentions. So when you are an expert at whatever you do, as most of you are, you may experience where your experience gives you knowledge that you feel like people think they need this, really, I know that they need this.

Usually this is, lemme give you some examples. So usually this is in the form of, for example, I’ve got a client in the health and wellness space and they’re like, people think they need recipes and calorie counting hacks. I know that, that what they really need is instructions on. What foods to eat, how to make lifestyle changes.

They don’t have to count their calories or they don’t have to have these hacks. She knows that because she’s an expert. She’s been through it. She’s coached hundreds of people. I could use me as an example. I know that most people’s marketing isn’t working because they have poor messaging. What. Most entrepreneurs think that they want is more leads, more sales, get ads live, and to focus on those type of problems.

The point being, regardless of what industry you’re in, in most of them, you have expertise that gives you knowledge that your ideal customer doesn’t have. So therefore you probably know better than them what they actually need to get the result that they want. But here’s the problem. If you change your messaging on the front end and you speak to what they need versus what they want, now your offer, whether it be your freebie, your paid offer is not attractive because you can’t change what somebody wants.

You can’t say it. It’s hard to say in your front end messaging. Hey. I know you want this, but you don’t really need that. You need this to get the same result. So instead, it is very important that you speak to what somebody wants. Not in a tricky way, but let’s say that for example, I know that you guys most likely have a messaging gap.

Your offer positioning isn’t good enough, or you need to dig, dig deeper into your language, how you simplify it, how you speak to the most basic desires, frustrations, problems that your ideal customer might have. Well, you as an entrepreneur probably are more focused on any more sales, like bottom line, I need more sales.

I’m not seeing enough sales, and I need more sales. So my front end messaging, whether that be a free lead magnet. Paid offer, whatever. The first thing I’m trying to get someone action to take, I need to focus on the fact that it’s gonna help you get more sales. Now, is improving your messaging gonna help you get more sales?

Yes, absolutely. The way that I position it is different. So let’s just say that I’m hosting a workshop where I teach you how to improve your messaging, your offer, positioning, the way you sell your offer. I have two ways that I could do this. I could say, come to my workshop where I help you improve your offer positioning and speak better about your offer and have the best messaging out there.

Or I could say, come to my workshop where I’m gonna help you get more sales through an irresistible offer, same exact workshop. Position differently. Also, this impacts things like the bonuses that you choose for your offer or the way that you. Position your offer to begin with or your free webinar.

Sometimes in a free webinar or a free experience, you can explain to someone what they actually need. So the key here is this. A lot of times we are speaking to what our ideal customer needs because we want them to get a result, and we know in order to get that result, they need to do these things. But the reality is.

It’s a losing battle if you’re going out from the beginning of your strategy trying to change what somebody wants. So step one is this. Are you crystal clear on what your ideal customer actually wants without judging it? Without changing it? I have a lot of clients who. This just happened and a lot of clients who are like everybody wants this.

Like everybody wants my client, everybody wants the recipe book. Everybody wants the quick workout videos. Everybody wants the hack. Yeah, because that’s what they think is gonna get them their result the easiest. And it may not, but you can’t change their mind. So you still have to meet them where they’re at.

So first thing exercise for you to do is sit down and literally make a list of what exactly does my ideal customer want? And really follow those, follow those thoughts. When you have those thoughts around, oh, it’s so silly that they want this like. They, it’s not actually going to change their mind. It’s not actually going to get them a result, but they want it.

So how do we make sure we position what we have is gonna still do that for them? And usually it’s, the way that they get there is different because you’re an expert and you know,

hold on. I have a thought I need to think about.

I recently did a one-on-one call with somebody who helps women. Specifically in their late forties, early fifties, with their health, with their hormones. I think her program has a mix, actually, no, it has a mix of, of dietary advice, exercise advice, and also nervous system regulation. So things like meditations, mindset.

I don’t know the, the depth that she goes into that. I think it’s actually a lot, but what she said to me on the call was, I know. That some of these little diet changes or exercising more will make a little difference for them. But what will make a huge difference is their nervous system regulation. And I said yes, but the reality is if you go front facing and say, come regulate your nervous system as a woman in your late forties, early fifties, nobody wants that.

Or maybe like a few people do, but if they want that, they’re very educated in why that is so important. So what I would do listening to this episode, some actions for you to take, make that list of in detail, this is what my ideal customer wants. If I were to have a conversation with them, this is what they would say.

It is probably the most simple, basic wants. If I was to have a conversation with you guys, this is what you would say. I want more sales. I want my marketing to work. I don’t wanna waste time and money trying to get it to work. I wanna feel confident in my strategy. I,

I want more freedom in my business. I don’t wanna be creating content all the time, but I also wanna grow my audience and grow my leads so that I can grow my sales. If we break it down into the most simplest form. It’s not complicated, what your audience wants, and it really almost always comes back to money.

So wealth, relationships, or health, those are the three main categories. So what do they want? Make your list of what they want. And then I want you to make the list of the things that are front of mind for you. Like when you see that list of what they want and you almost like roll your eyes. Maybe in a nice like, funny way of like, of course you want more sales.

What you don’t realize is more sales comes from X, Y, Z. Or of course you wanna lose weight, and you think that to lose weight you have to count calories or you have to go on a strict diet. But what you don’t realize is this, or your mindset plays a bigger part. That’s another big one in weight loss is your mindset.

Plays a huge part in your weightless weight loss. A lot of times why people are not losing weight is ’cause they have a belief about their self, their subconscious programming, blah, blah, blah. You can’t lead with that, right? Change your mindset and lose weight. No one thinks they want that. You can give them that.

But you can’t change their mind on the front end. So make the list of what they want as specific as possible, and then make the list of the things that you’re like, I know that to get them these results, that of what they want, this is what they need. Then look at the list and ask yourself, on the front of my marketing, like the first things that people see, are they seen?

Which list? Am I talking a lot in my content and in my copy and on my landing pages about what they need? Or am I talking about what they want? Now, here’s also where people get confused. So I will have people say, well, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna lie about what my program is about. You know, for example, if I don’t believe in counting calories, then I don’t wanna obviously say you’re gonna count calories when I don’t think they need that.

That’s not what I’m saying. So let’s use that as an example. If you are somebody who sells a weight loss program and you don’t believe counting calories is necessary, but your ideal customer might, might say, I need a program that tells me how many calories to eat. There’s a deeper reason why. So if you ask yourself, well, why do they feel like they need a program or something that tells them how many calories to eat and.

You know, what program to follow and, and how many calories to eat and how to structure their diet. If you say, well, why do they want that? The answer would be, well, they think counting calories and going on a diet is how they lose weight. So what they actually want is to lose weight, and they wanna do it because they believe that’s what’s gonna get them results by going on a diet.

You don’t have to go front facing and say, join my program where you’re gonna count calories if obviously that’s not what you’re gonna have them do. But what you can do is say, instead of counting calories in this program, I’m gonna give you everything you need on what you need to eat to be able to lose weight.

Because the root of the problem that they have is they wanna lose weight. That’s the root desire. So when you’ve got this like surface level thing that you think people want. A lot of times if we say, well, why do they want that? There is a one layer deeper or two layers deeper reason why they think they want that, we need to speak to that.

Another. I’ve seen people say, well they, for example, here’s another example. Here’s another example. I had a, oh my God. Here’s another example. I had a coaching call with someone who said, well, people, these entrepreneurs that she serves, they want clarity. They want clarity on what their strategy should be and what, what they should do in their business.

I said, do they, do they want clarity or do they want clarity because that clarity is gonna lead to something else. Nobody goes around and saying, I just really want clarity. Right. They say, I want a strategy. I want a method. I want to know what actions to take to get X, Y, Z result. So look at your list of things that your ideal customer wants, and then make sure it’s the most, most deepest layer.

Make sure it is the deepest layer of a want, and it is actually what they would say. Like read it back and say, I want. This on your list? Would they say that? Then look at your list of what they need and look at how you can create a strategy. Create, maybe it’s a webinar presentation. Maybe it is content.

Maybe it’s inside your program on how you connect the two. You speak to the want, you give them what they need.

Another cool thing you can do is when you look at the want, you know, most people want the fastest hack or the easiest way, and that is why people are attracted to things like recipes, food lists. Funnel templates, email swipe files, because they associate that with a hack. They associate that with less time, faster way to get to my result.

So when you look at your list of things that people want, are there things that jump out that if you used it in the form of maybe a bonus. For your offer, an incentive to be on a webinar. Like those are the things those core wants are the things that you wanna use to really push people over the edge in order to take action.

So I know that getting sales is the most baseline, foundational want that you guys have as my ideal customer. So when I think about bonuses that I offer, I’m going to choose things that, you know, if you have that you will get sales easier. So that could be a sales page build that we do. We’ve done that as a bonus.

That could be content that we write for you, that we can turn the people who see the content into sales. So I’m always bringing it back to sales in my program that you buy. The first part of it is hardcore messaging. It is very deep on these type of things that I’m actually talking about right now. It is identifying the emotions of your ideal customer.

It’s working on the offer positioning of your offer, because I know that is the most important part to your success. I don’t even. Tell people that, you know, when they, when I pitch my offer, I am focused on the bigger picture. I’m focused on the, the wants of making sales, generating leads. Having a strategy that works, that doesn’t waste time and money, I still get that result.

How I get it is because my expertise, my years of experience helping hundreds of entrepreneurs, I know the method, I know the process. So the best thing you can do is have your two lists. This is what they want. This is what they need. And then do an audit. Look at your messaging and look at, am I speaking only to what they want?

And in a way that’s authentic. You don’t have to lie. And if there’s things that you specifically know that people want that you don’t agree with, then you can. Front facing, call that out. Here’s why I don’t do this, because I don’t believe it’s gonna get the result. So an example that I could use for this is, I don’t believe in templated marketing.

I don’t believe in everybody copy the same strategy, take this exact template, this, you know, plug and play thing and plug it in. So I call that out. I call that out in my content. I call that out on my sales pages. I call that out in my webinar because that’s not gonna work. So I just squash that. Desire and say what you really want.

Why you think you want templated marketing is because you think that if you have a template from somebody who got success, you’ll be successful and you’ll make sales bringing it back to the core want. But really that’s not gonna make you sales because templated marketing won’t stand out. What worked for somebody else may not work for you.

And so my way is actually better and is going to get your results. So if there’s truly something that you don’t believe in, like counting calories or. You know, dieting or fasting or whatever, or templated marketing, whatever it is, those things which you should actually be, the more loud you are about those things, the more it will attract people to who are like, wait, you’re right.

Templated marketing is dumb. Like, of course that’s true. I never thought about it that way. Marketing is so much more simple than we make it. The core desires and core frustrations and problems that people experience are not complicated. It. They are simple. And so all of our messaging, our copy, our content, the way we speak about anything in our marketing, just needs to connect back to those core desires and those core problems, those core frustrations, and not overcomplicate it with your years, maybe decades of experience and knowledge.

That’s for in your program. That’s for in your offering and your service and your product, that’s where you deliver what they really need. You’ve gotta speak to what they want on the front end. So take inventory of your content, your sales pages, maybe your free lead magnet. I see this happen where people create a lead magnet and they’re like, I got it.

I know that my ideal customer wants this. They really need this, so I’m gonna give them this thing they need in my lead magnet. And then nobody downloads it. Nobody signs up for it because it’s, you can’t change what someone wants. You cannot convince someone that what they want is wrong. You gotta speak to it.

You gotta go with the flow. You gotta make it easier on yourself. So take that audit, do that audit, and then in the cases where you know that in order to get to what they want, the way they think they need to get, there is miss speak it. Say it directly. Say it. I’m, I would never tell you to misrepresent your program.

There’s always a way to speak to what somebody wants, and then make the connection of your offer being what they really want and be fully within Authent authenticity. Still, if you’re struggling to make this connection, send me a message if you’re like, I just don’t see how to do that. And then the last thing I’ll say on this is there are some cases.

There are some cases where people feel like, I don’t wanna give that to them because that’s boring. So I sometimes have seen people in the case of, uh, let’s just say weight loss go, well, I don’t want to give them the recipes or, the more like templated guidance. But that’s what people want. And I could give it to them and I could tell them how to cater it to themselves, but I don’t want to, sometimes you have to kind of check yourself on, am I making this about me and what I wanna do, or am I making it about what my ideal customer really wants and how to serve them in the best way?

That one gets like a little bit more nuanced, but I do see this where people get almost like bored. In their industry. And then they move away from the basics and the simple things that people want because they’re like, I’ve been talking about this for 10 years or doing this, and like, here’s a better way.

And I think in some cases you’ve, you’ve gotta still be like, well, that’s what they want. Maybe you have a next level thing or, or whatever, that can be more nuanced because I think most of the time there’s a way to give someone what they. Need and speak to what they want. But there are some times when I see entrepreneurs completely change their offer.

An example might be they get tired of talking about weight loss strategies and they just wanna talk about mindset. And they’re like, I know that that makes the biggest difference. But the reality is, most people, even if you’re going to address mindset and losing weight. You still have to give them the tactical what to eat, how to exercise and pair those things together In marketing, if all I talked about was messaging and offer positioning and I didn’t give the tactical strategies anymore, it would no longer be a valuable offer.

I have to give both. So sometimes over time. Yeah, we almost get, I think, bored of what we’re teaching, what we’re talking about, what we’re serving. We overcomplicate it, and then it gets away from what people actually want. And the reality is everything you sell, every free offer, everything you do in your marketing should come from a place of serving in the best interest of your ideal customer.

Obviously within alignment of what you wanna be doing too, and your purpose. That’s a whole different conversation if that needs to shift, but it’s not really about us. It’s about using our gifts and our experience and our wisdom and our expertise to create the environment, the information, the steps, the process, the methods, the guidance to get somebody the result that they want at the end of the day, whether that’s a free webinar that they go through to get there, and then your offer, like whatever experience you’re creating, that’s your role and making it about the person going through it.

And how to make it as simple as possible for them speaking to what they want, but setting them up for the most success, which only you know how to do because you’re an expert at what you do. So I hope you guys found this quick episode helpful. Go to an audit of your messaging. This is one of the most common mistakes I see people making.

They’re in the thick of it. They are in the weeds, and they, without realizing it, only are speaking to what somebody. Needs and have forgotten about the simple, simple things that they want.

All right, everybody, I’ll talk to you next time.