This isn’t a health post with tips on how to lose weight, build mass, or prepare for a marathon.
It is about a startup’s positive return on investment if they clearly define WTF they do, who their audience is, and decide who they’re really talking to.
You’d start with truly figuring out the pain your potential audience is going through. Is the pain clearly defined? Is it concrete and can really be felt? Is it strong enough that a remedy is of interest?
If you do not know what is painful for your audience, how can you possibly suggest you can alleviate that pain?
For example, When offering a time-saving solution, is your end-user looking to save time, or are they actually frustrated with a lack of work-life balance, working too many hours without seeing their family, and possibly always feeling behind on their tasks?
One must figure out what the problem or the issue is in terms of the pains their audience feels, cause we make decisions based on how we feel…and rationalize them with reason.
A family man may need a family van but feel he should buy a sports car instead cause he really wants one, and he would rationalize so based on safety statistics, consumer reviews, and monetary capabilities. True, that reasoning doesn’t make it the wisest decision, but we’ve been through this cycle before…when we want to buy something we may not truly need.
Once the pain is clear, you can figure out how to relieve it, and with that relief…what the user actually gains: peace of mind, more time with the family, extra income at the end of the month, getting their boss off of their back, extra time to do the things they really want to, or whatever else.
Of course, knowing what pains your customer feels will help you get your message right and improve your sales enablement process to generate better results and feedback.