Finding messages that convince and convert

Kirsten Back Author

How to discover messages that create internal urgency

What is it that tips the scale and makes your audience want to buy? What messages do you need to share that convinces your audience that you are the right person to lead them through their struggle? What insights does your audience need to convert to clients?

In the past, most of my clients signed up to different programmes or worked with other coaches. Some have achieved impressive results – but many have experienced time-loss, shiny-object syndrome, overwhelm, losing their true path, procrastination, and confusion.

They have invested money and time in activities that have not led to their desired outcomes – or only took them part of the way. And often – they have no real clarity about the outcomes they want to achieve and thus are not clear on their strategy and the actions they need to take.

They have worked with social media marketers, signed up for online course creation programmes, learned everything about manifesting or changing their mindset…

And yet, their goals remain hazy – and despite the amazing programmes they have created – and so do their messages.

They are simply not attracting the right audience, prequalifying their leads through their content, and converting them to clients.

It is hard to deliver convincing messages when you lack clarity about…

• Yourself and the person you want to be, your purpose, lifestyle, impact, and the value you want to provide to others
• Your ideal clients and the scenarios they are experiencing right now and how not having worked with you is affecting their life now and their future
• Your offer and whether working with you is worth the time, money and effort and will serve their goals
• Your brand and how your brand can create internal urgency rather than external pressure and FOMO

If you want your audience to buy from you, then you need to help them make informed and strategic decisions (based on “real” needs rather than spontaneous desires) about the multitude of offers they are exposed to every day. You need to help them to identify those offers that serve their agenda rather than someone else’s (i.e. the offer creator).

Defining “real” needs allows saying no to offers that don’t serve you

The first things that you need to be clear on, before investing any time and money in a “solution”, are your goals and higher purpose.

When you come across an offer, you should ask yourself:

Does this offer take me closer to my goals?

Does this offer serve my purpose and if I don’t invest in it – will I fail miserably?

Do I need this offer NOW or when does it make sense to invest in it?

Are there any alternative paths that I can take and that is better aligned with me?

Let me address the last question in a little more detail because it ties to addressing “real” needs instead of “spontaneous” needs created by marketing.

Just as an example – almost every marketer tells you to use FOMO and scarcity marketing techniques to get people to sign up. (“limited number of spaces available”, “offer closes in 10 days” etc.)

But does this kind of marketing align with your values and how you want to feel about marketing and selling?

I, personally, don’t like this type of marketing - and selling with FOMO gives me a really icky feeling – because these tactics are not congruent with what I believe in. 

My purpose is to listen, enlighten, and empower – and that includes empowering my audience to make informed decisions on their own terms and in their own time. That means that I’d like my clients to be very clear on their internal urgency rather than giving in to external pressure.

So, every time an intriguing offer comes across your screen – evaluate it carefully and ask yourself those questions (above).

But back to your messaging…

How can you discover messages that create internal urgency?

When you buy something, you never buy the object, you buy how this object makes you feel. You buy the object because it lets you experience scenarios that feel great and that are aligned with what you want to feel and experience in life.

This could be the feeling of safety when you know how to consistently generate the income that allows you to be more with your family, the satisfaction you get from spending more time rescuing animals, the creative power you feel when writing a book, the feeling of wellbeing because you have more time to exercise or the excitement of creating memories through travelling to dream destinations.

The scenarios you experience could be working 30 hours a week instead of 50 (and all the stuff you could do if you had more time), enrolling your daughter in a university programme without taking out another loan, being the wife, husband, a partner you’ve always wanted to be, feeling good about taking more time for self-care, serving as a board member of a charity…

These feelings and scenarios result from a deep understanding of your ideal client’s avatar, of their values, beliefs, purpose, and legacy that they want to leave.

When you allow your audience to see how you can lead them through their journey to live those scenarios and feel those feelings, then you can create a desire and the internal urgency to work with you.

By empowering your audience to make their own decisions in alignment with their purpose and beliefs, you gift them control over an aspirational future. And that is a strong motivation.

To discover the messages your audience needs to hear, you need to dig deeper and identify their drivers, the impact they want to leave, where they need more control (over their lives and the choices they have to make).

But there’s something else I’d like you to consider…

How do you create messages that cut through the noise and reveal the real impact on your clients’ lives?

We all know that we are bombarded with too many marketing messages every day – and that it is difficult to be seen, heard, and loved by the right people.

But what is it that makes the right people listen up, process your message, and translate it into a vision for their future?

It’s impact – and not the impact of getting in your audience’s face with a lot of flashy advertising, FOMO, and noise – but rather the understanding of the impact that working with you has on their future.

If you want your audience to listen to you, you need to demonstrate the impact that your solution has on your clients’ lives. (And you do that by sharing high-quality content that leads to desirable outcomes.)

You need to solve an equation for them – how do their time, effort, and resources impact their future in terms of their Return on Investment.

How quickly will they make their money back, how much more money are they going to make on top of their initial investment, and for how long are they going to see the benefits of working with you?

How will work with you grow their brand and create continued traction in their market? How can you turn clients into evangelists that help you grow your brand?

How is working with you influence their personal development? How and for how long will they grow as a person because of the work you are doing with them?

How is working with you affecting their lifestyle beyond greater spending power but related to leading more meaningful lives?

These are questions that create internal urgency because they touch your clients on a higher awareness level. These are questions that motivate your audience to think beyond a spontaneous need, FOMO, and shiny-object syndrome.

These are more strategic questions that allow your audience to fit your offer into their plans to achieve outcomes that are aligned with their most authentic selves.

I am not sure whether this post will save you from impulse buying but I hope that it leads you to answer some of the questions I’ve posed and strategically choose offers that are better aligned with your most aspirational goals.

And as always – send me a message if you want to discuss this further and how I can help you to find the messages that convince, convert, and align.

My contact form is right below this post!

Categories: Brand Messaging, Branding, Clarity, Contentwriting, Copywriting