A Vague Marketing Message Stunts Your Growth

Consider the following answer to “What do you do?“:

“We’re a women empowerment company. We facilitate courses and events to expand entrepreneurs and corporate leaders through education.”

This marketing message is so vague that it’s useless.

Let’s Dissect This Answer Phrase-By-Phrase, Shall We, Not to Ridicule the Writer, But to Learn from Their Example

What is a “women empowerment company”? Could the writer mean, “We empower women?” That’s more direct, it’s result-oriented, and it tells us who they serve without requiring us to stop and decipher the unfamiliar phrase used in the original.

“We facilitate courses and events.” The definition for facilitate is to, “make [something] easier,” or, “to assist the process of (a person).” Making a blind leap from “assisting” to “teaching” here, do they create and present their own courses, invite teachers outside their company to present to their clients, or something else? And do they plan and host events, or present their own?

We don’t know because the mysterious description doesn’t tell us.

“…to expand entrepreneurs and corporate leaders…” Hmmm…most of the professionals I know don’t want to “expand” themselves. Do you?

Entrepreneurs and corporate leaders want to learn how to do XYZ so they can keep more profits, hire better qualified employees, create and grow a YouTube channel, improve their marketing message, or any of a billion possibilities, but they don’t want to expand the way the writer uses the word.

“…through education.” Aha! Now we’re getting somewhere! But we still don’t know what topics they teach (or, as mentioned above, whether they do the teaching, or an outside company does). Sigh.

Let’s Look at the Description Again and Give the Company a Fictitious Name: Women, Inc.

“Women, Inc., is a women empowerment company. We facilitate courses and events to expand entrepreneurs and corporate leaders through education.”

How Can We Untangle This Mess and Turn It into an Effective Marketing Message?

Since we’re not given many concrete concepts, we’ll have to fill in the blanks ourselves, by guessing. The one thing Women, Inc. clearly communicates: they serve female entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. Gotcha.

But wait. That could be misinterpreted. Some might not realize that ALL of Women, Inc.’s clients are female, so let’s change that phrase to, “female business leaders and owners,” since the word, “business” is commonly understood to apply to both “leaders” and “owners.”

What problem(s) does Women, Inc. help their audience solve? Since we’re not given a single hint, we must concoct one: stagnant profits due to a lack of company focus.

What’s their process? Education via courses and events.

What result does Women, Inc. promise? Development of mission, vision, and values statements. Ideally, these will become each company’s blueprint for future growth, investing, hiring, and marketing, all of which result in higher profits.

Turn that around to put the juiciest benefit at the beginning and we get…

Women, Inc. allows female business leaders and owners to enjoy higher profits by developing their company’s three most powerful guiding principles.

Notice that this doesn’t answer every potential question. It’s supposed to attract the audience Women, Inc. was created to serve—to start a two-way conversation—if it does that, it’s done its job.

There’s more than one way to communicate this same concept, and each may be perfect. The fun—and frustration—of marketing is that you get to choose what to say and how to say it.

Though this example focused on a fictional company, the process is the same for every marketer.

Do YOUR Readers Have to Guess How Your Writing or Speaking Will Improve Their Lives?

The burden is on you to succinctly explain what your book or presentation is about, and the practical benefits it offers those who apply it.

I’ve been a marketing coach for over 20 years, and no one, including me, gets it right the first time. Give yourself permission to develop an uber-clear marketing message that includes 1) who you serve (specifically!), 2) their problem (as it relates to your expertise). 3) your process (the method used to solve their problem), and 4) their practical result (if they apply your message).

Tinker with it, set it aside, and come back to it as often as necessary. It takes a bit of persistence and brain power, but it’s oh, so worth it. Ask Christ to help you, for He is the perfect marketer and after all, He knows exactly how He wants you to communicate with your audience.

Your target market will now know—at a glance—that you’re the one who can help them. Adjust anything in your content, on your website, or your social media that needs to match your new, focused marketing message, and your business or ministry will finally begin to grow!

Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.