Written by: Abigail Tiefenthaler, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
As a brand strategist and co-owner of a marketing and sales agency, I spend a lot of time working with clients who want to get more clients but don’t know how. Many have invested thousands buying programs that help them identify their client avatar, marketing message, and offer, but for some reason, they’ve been unable to use this foundational knowledge to build a better client getting system.
Our clients work with us because we develop marketing systems that are unique to our clients, their business, and their customers, and even if a client tells us they have their brand elements dialed in, we take time to assess their readiness to answer the question, “If I brought you a client today who would they be and what would you do with them?”
As basic as this question is, without your brand strategy in place, you will not be able to effectively answer this question. Why? The breakdown that happens with most coaches, speakers, and other service-based professionals is that their answers are too broad, not totally thought out, or incomplete.
Getting your brand to a place where you can answer the question above is simple. But it requires some risk and a willingness to commit.
Are you ready to AMP your brand? Here are 3 things to consider and put into practice. None are earth-shattering, but if you take the risk and commit to seeing it through, you will find answers to help you move forward and maybe even get a client or two!
AMP is an acronym for Audience, Message, and Position. Let me take the sections one by one.
Audience
Think of it this way. You own a stable with 6 horses. You’re going out riding. Which horse can you ride? A butt can only saddle one horse at a time, so which one do you pick? This is the same with your audience. Every expert has multiple target audience syndrome. We all suffer from being able to help different groups of people, but not every group is created equal. You don’t bring a nag to a ¼ mile race. You don’t bring a mare when you need a stud. They’re all horses, right? YES, and they all have different values to you as the stable owner.
I’m not comparing people to horses, but I am suggesting you think about what you want to do with your ideal client and then identify the target audience that can best receive and transform from that work. If you’re a grief coach, do you want to support a spouse who’s lost their partner? A family who has lost a child? A high-level executive who has lost their job? Even though grief may be the underlying issue, each of these groups are going to feel differently about their specific grief. And they may not relate to another group’s grief.
By the way, choosing an audience DOES NOT mean you have to walk away from any other audience. Your business. Your choice. You can always say yes to a prospect who fits your primary audience profile. And this also doesn’t mean that the audience you select now has to be a forever and forever audience. I recommend a minimum of 6 months and monitor as you work your business. You’ll quickly see whether this audience is a good opportunity for you. And you for them.
Message
At the end of the day, you want your message to sound as clear as you calling someone by their own name. Your message has to be compelling and disruptive and spoken in a voice that resonates with your prospect. The best example I can give you is to imagine that you’re in a playground with other moms or dads, and there are 20 2-year old’s playing. One gets hurt and cries, Mommy or Daddy. Anyone who is a parent knows what happens next. First, all the moms or dads are quiet and perk up their ears. Then with the next cry, some go back to their conversation or activity because they know it’s not their child. The sound of a child’s cry is unique to every parent. We simply know it’s them crying or not.
Your message is like this. You want your ideal client to hear what you say or read what you write and think, “This person is talking to me. They get me.” When a message is so relative that if you show up where your ideal client can hear it, they will. Now, they may not respond immediately. They may take time to really hear the message, feel your heart and soul in the message, and look inside themselves to realize they’re ready to heed the call. Consistency. Persistency. Redundancy. They are your messaging support system. Again, give your message a minimum of one month to get noticed. If it’s not working, change one thing about it and start again.
Position
Imagine you are standing on a street corner, and in front of you is a street lined with storefronts that do exactly what you do. What is it about your storefront that makes your ideal client walk in to browse or shop? How have you made your storefront more appealing to your ideal client before they even walk into the door? In other words, what’s your curb appeal. Have you sent them to your shop through marketing such as direct mail, email, billboards, a tie-in with another store, a referral from a complimentary business?
What space in your marketplace do you specifically own? Do you know? This isn’t about transforming the industry as Starbucks or Apple did. This is about staking a claim around a very specific result.
Performance. (BMW)
Safety. (VOLVO)
Brick oven. (Very specific style of pizza baking)
Most service-based professionals create generic positioning because that’s what everyone else is doing, and they don’t want to miss an opportunity. Or, they want to reach a broader market because they can help so many different types of people and/or situations.
By being generic, they not only miss opportunities, but they also reach no one because they drown in a sea of sameness.
Repeat after me. Generic positioning doesn’t work. And I’m going to say it again. Generic positioning doesn’t work. Generic positioning doesn’t give your ideal audience a chance to say, “They’re talking to me.” Generic positioning doesn’t give your ideal audience a chance to find you because you’re a needle in a haystack. Generic positioning robs you of being unique. And it robs your ideal audience of knowing the special sauce only you bring to your work.
Pick a lane. Find a horse. And create a language that makes your ideal audience say, “Ah, they get me.” Clients will come.
Abigail Tiefenthaler, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Abigail Tiefenthaler, known as the “Launch and Leverage Strategist,” is the Co-Founder of Savvy Sales Strategy, a marketing and sales agency that works with professional coaches, speakers, and consultants who are ready to minimize start-up struggles, leverage their expertise, and get online clients consistently, so they can spend more time doing what they love, in both business and life. With over a decade in the fast-paced corporate world of advertising, Abigail honed her strategic branding and marketing skills, working with prestigious clients such as Mrs. Smith’s, AT&T, Hershey Foods, and Kodak. Through these experiences, she learned that a hospitality approach created connections between companies and clients and that team member working in their zone of genius translated to more efficient and effective results. Abigail has a deep respect for business fundamentals and how the development and implementation of those are critical for a successful business. As the Owner of Sunshine Promotions, a company she started in 1997, she applied these, enabling her to hit the one-million-dollar revenue mark at the end of her second year in operation. Today, she is passionate about helping business owners create a solid foundation to support their biggest dreams. In 2019, after several years of working together through their individual businesses, Abigail partnered with Tami Crea and founded Savvy Sales Strategy, an agency that closes the loop between marketing and sales and moves coaches, speakers, and consultants into the six and seven-figure revenue arenas through brand strategy, messaging, and a pathway to create revenue and results, her clients say her practical, no-nonsense approach provides them with clarity on what they want to do and why they want to do it, shifting them from being practitioners of their expertise to a powerhouse professional and ultimately, fully stepping into the role of bona fide Business Owner. When not working, Abigail loves traveling and renovating homes. She can be reached at abigail@savvysalesstrategy.com or 954-804-9413
