The one person who can help you solve your toughest marketing challenge
I get lost still. Even after over three decades of doing this. Maybe you experience this. You're digging into a complex challenge for the brand to address. You're examining all the variables of your offering. Checking the competitive forces. Reviewing the market conditions. Among all this, you start to feel uncertainty about how to proceed.
The one person who can help you in this situation
When that uncertainty hits, I instinctively want to simplify things in order to work through the murkiness.
Early in my career, I tried to simplify by asking, "What are we really trying to do here?' While that was helpful, it wasn't as powerful as the question that I learned to ask years later.
"Who are we hoping to serve?"
Notice the difference between the two questions. In the first one, we are focusing on ourselves. What we are trying to do. In the second question, we are focusing on others. When we focus on others, we discover that we are quicker to uncover what is most important to focus on. Because we start to see those things that will have the greater impact on those we hope to serve.
Here are a few ways to help yourself make the shift:
Make it about one person - don't try to address an entire segment. It's too easy to start thinking about all the exceptions and begin to create a whole host of sub-segments. Keep it simple. Think of one person. Think about her or his challenges, hopes, and desires.
Create a persona - write down who they are, how they think, and how they act. The simple process of writing it down will lead you to insights.
Build a journey map - consider what this person is thinking, feeling, and doing throughout the journey to engaging with you. Again, write it down. You'll be surprised by the clarity it can provide.
I'm not sure anyone ever gets to the point where they don't feel the uncertainty from time to time when faced with a marketing challenge. As I said, I still experience it after all this time. If it's any consolation, I can tell you that you get quicker at getting past it. Because you know you can rely on that one person who can point you to the answers. You just have to ask, "Who am I hoping to serve?"