Why Is Marketing So Dad-gum Hard?

"Build a better mousetrap," the saying goes, "and people will beat a path to your door."

Only it's not true.

What's more likely true: Build a better mousetrap and people will beat a path to your door if they know about it. And if they believe they need it and ought to buy it. From you. Now.

So how do you reach out to them and persuade them they ought to whip out their plastic and buy your mousetrap, now.

Marketing.

The lifeblood of any business.

It seems like it should be so easy.

And heck! It is easy to write out the basic idea.

What kind of mice are running rampant in your prospects' kitchens at night?

How will your mousetrap get rid of them?

Speaking generally: find out what some group of people wants, what pain point they share.

Position your product or service in front of them as offering the best relief. Now.

Assure them their lives will be better. You'll have solved a problem for this group.

Marketing is about problem solving for some group, or niche. And getting paid for it.

As I said, easy.

So why am I struggling to put this into practice? Why are you struggling (I'll assume some of you reading this are)?

We can take solace from the fact that many folks in business struggle with marketing.

I suspect that many (most?) new businesses fail because they have a product they don't know how to market.

How do you do it?

I confess, I am often baffled by it.

Is it lack of empathy? Not understanding what prospective customers' or clients' really want, what their pain points are?

Sometimes. Those of us running our own show get caught up in it, how great it is, how great we are, and forget the servant's mindset completely.

That is, we forget that we're in business to serve others, and if we make a profit, it's because we've succeeded at that.

Or is it just in reaching out to that market?

Getting your prospects' attention in our world of constant distractions is a challenge in its own right.

We can all take stock, and write out two lists. What skills do we have that will solve problems for others? Or relieve a pain point?

In my case, it's writing skills. For copywriting and for other purposes.

Also editing skills. Because for whatever reason, errors in others' copy leap out at me. Errors in nearly anything I read leap out at me. When reading I often find myself thinking, if the writer had just said it this way, instead of that way....

Some of us can teach. Others of us have fantastic artistic and design skills.

There's plenty of other things can be monetized. My wife is a fantastic cook, and also an ace at repairing clothing so that it looks brand new.

What are you truly passionate about? Listing your passions and then honing them is important, because if you've embarked on a business and discover you aren't all that enthusiastic about it--you're just not passionate about it--then even if you enjoy small successes your business will seem more of a burden than a joy. And what's the point in that? Life is too short.

The point is for each of us to get the fruits of our passions in front of people who need them to solve their problems.

And be excited about it!

If you're not excited about it, then why should your prospects be?

That's the science, or perhaps it's an art, of marketing in a single package.

In sum:

(1) You have a skill-set.

(2) You identify others who will benefit from that skill-set.

(3) You reach out to them. You get their attention. And persuade them that you have the best immediate solution to what's bugging them.

Yours is the best mousetrap!

(4) They buy. You make money.

(5) Wash, rinse, repeat.

An implication every success coach stresses: you may have the skills but your message can't be about you. It shouldn't even be about your product or service, at least not initially.

It must be about them and their pain. Make it forceful! Make them feel it!

Because you can make it better! You have something, or can do something, that will make their life easier, more convenient, more pleasant, more interesting.

Whether it's writing, editing, designing, or what-have-you.

Can you make your solution unique? I've heard through the grapevine that this is called branding.

Can you be the big fish in a small pond?

The marketing conversion system: the right message, placed in front of the right people, at the right time, so that they raise their hands in interest. You have their attention. Now you elaborate the specifics about how this mousetrap, this information ebook, this sales letter, this corrected copy, this design, solves their problem.

You just might convert prospects to buyers. And then, with the right follow-up, you might convert them to lifelong customers. Although this calls for additional steps I won't get into in this piece.

Marketing.

Seems it should be easy,.

The ideas don't seem hard.

Are you struggling?

It's worth doing deep dives into where you--where each of us--stands regarding empathy with our potential prospects. Understanding where their heads are at, where their hearts are at, what they are feeling, where their pain points are.

This probably isn't so easy.

People are fickle. What solves a problem today might not seem interesting tomorrow....

But the past year has convinced me, what may seem like a swamp after dark is worth navigating.

Best I can tell, our ability to thrive as solo-preneurs, freelancers, depends on our doing so.

So are you good at marketing? What do you think I've missed?

Or are you, on the other hand, struggling? Has any of this been helpful?

Maybe we should get our heads together and compare notes.

Write a comment and let us all know.

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