The Pain of Marketing

When it comes to marketing your business, you will often hear you need to identify your prospects pain. As coaches, we are trained to see “pains” and “problems” as “challenges” and “opportunities.” The idea of pain seems very negative and we shy away from it.
But, how does that relate to marketing?

Marketing is about sharing your message. The formula for a core marketing message is:
Your target audience + the pain / problem or solution they are currently seeking + the benefits you offer + your proof or unique selling proposition.

Although your message can contain either pain or the solution, the more powerful and attention grabbing route is addressing the pain.

Why?

We are always looking for what can harm or help us. This is a basic survival strategy we have in order to keep us safe. We still possess this strategy. We are more keenly attuned to what can harm us because that is the more immediate danger. Therefore, we live in the pain.

When sharing your message, it’s crucial to speak to where your prospects are at. Yes, it is a choice to see pain over solution, good over bad, or opportunity over hardship.

However, your prospects are currently living in some sort of pain. Your job is to help them see the choices they have in front of them, AFTER you have developed a relationship.

Pain is a normal part of the human condition. We need to feel the pain in order to be motivated to change. Recognizing the pain, normalizing it, and speaking to it will grab your prospects attention, draw them to you, and establish trust.

Don’t avoid the pain. After all, pain in inevitable, suffering is optional.