figuring out your messaging based on your USP - Issue #31
Dear you,
A few months ago, someone reached out to me asking me a very simple question:
"Blessing, how can I get my messaging right?"
When I asked about the business, he explained it, but it took us a while and many follow-up questions to eventually understand the service offering. He reminded me of many other clients and people I have encountered in the past. They have a brilliant solution but they struggle to articulate it to their target audience. It is not an unrealistic challenge to have.
Sometimes, you can have a great idea, and it might even be clear as day in your eyes but explaining it to someone just seems a little bit more challenging. I understand, and I am here to help you.
The easy approach: start with these four questions:
Whose problem are we solving? - Who
What is the problem we are solving? - What
How are we solving it? - How
What is the result? - Result
It often sounds like this: We help who? do what? by how? so that they can result?
Start by filling in the gaps. You want them to be able to visualize the transformation they will experience by encountering you. You want them to see how they fit in, be curious, and ask you for more information. E.g. we help (Insert target audience) do (insert what) by (insert how) and (insert the why or achievement or transformation here).
If it sparks their curiosity and piques their interest in a way that is not fuelled by confusion, but genuine interest, then you are on the right track.
Approach 1: Make it relatable and memorable
It can sometimes be too generic to just fill in the gaps above. You might want something more descriptive and unique and you can explore better ways to say what you do. But the most important thing is to simplify how you say it. It needs to roll off the tongue and be simple. Preferably one sentence. You have to make it crystal clear in one sentence. And that sentence has to make them curious. Curious enough to want to know more and be interested.
For example, Ingressive for Good (I4G) is on a mission to increase the earning power of African youths through (or by providing them with) tech training, resources and jobs.
This description is so easy for the Ingressive for Good target audience to relate to. Whenever they think about tech training, job, resources, they think I4G. They can relate with it and it's so easy for them to remember. Whenever I see people describe I4G to their friends, it revolves around this messaging and that means we have done something right.
When Disha was first built, it was described as a no-code suite of tools for creators. And while this makes sense to someone in the tech space, it did not resonate with many creators. It made sense to techies, but techies were not the primary target audience or users. At this time, Disha had launched on Product Hunt (visited by mostly techies), and the product was stuck on about 1000 users after almost five months of launch. The product was not attracting its target audience in the expected volumes. It wasn't very clear on the specific way it would add value to the creator's life. Creators couldn't see how it could help them. It was built for creators, but creators couldn't resonate with it. The biggest question was always, "What is a no-code tool?" A few things were missing, but most importantly - The exact value the product was adding to the life of the creator, described in a way that the creator can understand/relate to. So, we listened more. I took the team through an exercise, and we asked ourselves:
How are creators (our target audience) describing their problems?
How do they explain their problem and the current solutions they are using?
What words are they using?
How can we show them the benefit and help them understand that benefit?
How can we show them that this product was built for them?
Answering these questions helped us reimagine our USP, and we changed the description to "Disha helps you build one-page sites in less than 5 minutes. If you can use Instagram, you can use Disha. Zero code required". It was easier for people to understand, explain, tell others about it, connect, and even believe.
So figure out what you are doing exactly and how it adds value/benefits your customers. One way is to ask your current customers or target audience and listen to how they describe their problems or how they describe you. Explain the solution to them and listen to how they recant it. Listen to how your target audience describes their problems and the vocabulary they use and insert it into the messaging. Listen to how they describe your product, service, or company. Listen to what they think is special about your offering. Finally, let them experience the product and give you feedback.
To figure it out, try to use examples or a case study of a successful client experience to explain it. Also, consider figuring out how you'd say it in one sentence. Finally, think about saying it in a way your target audience understands.
Approach 2: Make it easy to brag about and talk about
Another really interesting approach is to ask yourself: How can I talk about my company in a way that it rolls off the tongue of users and investors in a way that they feel like they are bragging when talking about it to someone else, in a way that is a conversation starter, in a way they don't have to do too much work to explain.
Stax used to be described as a Utility tool that automates USSD flow. This is not bad, but it is a mouthful, and it is not really saying much to the average person. Many people who were users and not techies did not understand it. But we found a simple way of saying it that sparked joy and made it memorable and easy to explain.
Stax is an android app helping Africans send money, buy airtime, pay bills, and request money OFFLINE.
Sometimes, we expand it to - Stax is a universal money app that leverages USSD automation technology to power offline and online payments for individuals and small businesses in Africa. Stax helps Africans send money, buy airtime, pay bills, access USDC, online and OFFLINE.
Describing Stax like this made it easier for people to brag about and talk about. Sending money offline is unique, it's special. Accessing Crypto offline is special and unique. It's worth talking about. It's worth bragging about. It is a great conversation starter and the best part is - it is true!
Approach 3: Make it simpler and easy to understand
If you value simplicity, then you would love this approach. Ask yourself: How would you explain your business to a five-year-old or a grandma?
To make it easier and simple to explain, try breaking it down in a way that you can explain to a child or a significantly older person. You can try the actual exercise by sitting with them and trying to describe your solution to them. Note what questions they ask, what key elements of your explanation confuses them or clarifies things to them. This method helps with simplicity.
Not all businesses require simple explanations, depending on your target audience. Generally, the simpler your business is to explain, the easier it will be for people to share and talk about it.
Get to work
The next step will be to test this out. Craft something and test it with a few people (preferable your target audience), says the statement and see how they react. It's always great to test it on people who don't know your company, that way; you can monitor their emotions. See if they are confused or if they understand. If they are confused and have a quizzical look, or if they are not curious about the solution, it means you still have to do a lot of explaining to do, so go back to the drawing board.
I hope this letter helps you figure out what is unique about you, your product, service or business. Share it with someone.
With love,
Blessing Abeng