“What Problem Does This Solve?” — An Excerpt from Unleashing Your Superpower

Every human being has three fundamental areas of concern: money, relationships and health. Given all of life’s complexities, most all problems can be tossed into one of these buckets. Offering solutions to issues in one of those categories is a great way to motivate people to take action.

The common practice in marketing a product or service is to stress its selling points. But that’s not often the most effective motivation. If you want people to care, show them how what you’re offering will solve a real problem they face.

Start with the problem/solution model: My audience has a problem and I can solve it. If nothing immediately stands out, this would be a great time to reread all your content and identify the problems that you can potentially solve. People will pay attention if you’re solving a real problem for them.

I regularly use an app called SendJim. It’s a service that sends out hand-written notes, has gifts delivered – it does all kinds of things that I have difficulty finding time to do on my own. I understand the value of the extra gesture, of a personalized service. But I’m a businessman and a dad, and I generally just don’t have the time to do all that on my own. So I’m willing to pay a surcharge for it.

My monthly razor service is another example. It saves me time. It solves a problem.

So what are you bringing to people that they’re willing to pay you for? That’s what you need to focus on – not on all the bells and whistles and all the wonderful things your product or service can deliver – at least not yet. No. First you need to articulate what problem you’ve arrived to solve.

So can you, in one succinct sentence, explain what that is?

Look at these two sentences. What’s different about them?

1. My new book, PIxels Are the New Ink, gives advice for building your social profiles.
2. My new book, Pixels Are the New Ink, teaches thought leaders like you how to make money sharing information already in your head – online.

While the first sentence is true, it isn’t persuasive. The second sentence, on the other hand, assumes that my reader would like to make more money (and that’s probably a fair assumption of most people) and offers the opportunity to do so.

Do you think I have their attention? Likely so.

Time to move on to the next step.