Gargantuan.
Fight Club was considered a gargantuan failure by Hollywood’s financial standards … a failure, that is, until it found its way to the heart of its target market…on DVD.
Fight Club’s release date was pushed back on numerous occasions.
It struggled to find a successful marketing strategy leading up to its opening, and millions of dollars were blown in the process. Millions.
You’re telling me pre-Angelina Brad Pitt and Edward Norton and kick-ass director David Fincher couldn’t put butts in seats? In 1999 – when people actually still went to the movies for less than $50? What is this world coming to?
I broke the #1 rule of Fight Club for this reason:
If you feel you’re failing marketing yourself or your business, you’re not. It’s more likely that you haven’t found your way to the heart of your target market.
“But how do I do that?!” you’re likely asking yourself.
One question at a time, friends.
No seriously, that’s my answer.
One question at a time.
Everything you create – content, products, emails, chatbots, web site copy – should speak the language of your customer. And the best way to learn the language of your customer?
Ask them questions.
We’ll touch on this a lot in our conversations – but I’m going to take it easy on you this time.
I’m going to start with the FIRST question you should be asking.
Hey man! What’s your problem?
Except ask it nicer than that because asking it that way may get you a face punch.
But yea – start by finding out the exact problems they have.
If you can ask enough of your ideal clients this question (or know the places to look where they’re talking about their problems in public) – you will start to see some themes emerge.
These themes will shed light on how to design your products + services + messaging better.
These themes will literally spell out your content for you.
These themes will save you hours, upon hours, of headbanging, editing, ‘gramming, and face-palming.
In short, these themes, these questions, these answers – will save your life. And the life of your business.
Start a Google doc, an Evernote file, a bullet journal, whatever … just start collecting the answers.
You want their actual answers. The answers they tell you in their emails, on their Instagrams, in the online forum, in conversations at Starbucks.
Get a running list going, and then start to see the themes that emerge.
Start incorporating solutions to those, in snackable sizes, into your content. And watch the magic happen.
I’ll be rooting for you,
Nikki
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