There’s something to be said for knowing your stuff. As speakers, authors and coaches, you’ve worked hard to get to where you’re at — the knowledge, the experience, the expertise has been gained along the way. And that constant drive and push to know more, to integrate fully all that you’ve done makes you even better, every day.
Are you getting too clever?
That’s a great thing and adds a bunch of value to those people that get to benefit from your services. But it can have a downside. We can get too ‘clever’. Trying to share before people are ready to hear what we have to say. Saying something ‘smart’ to those who don’t yet get where we are coming from.
It’s easy when you are an expert to forget that others around you are not yet at the level that you are at. They don’t know what you know. It’s easy to start to jargon, or go over people’s heads with what you get excited by.
If your marketing is not ‘landing’ — check your language.
One of the things we find more than anything when working with our members and clients is that they forget to go back to ‘meet the avatar where they are at’. They go for ‘clever’ in their marketing, to prove that they really are the real deal — rather than just being clear — laying out simply what they do, so people understand and want more.
Being clear, not clever is what gets you the gig, lands you the client, gives you the opportunity. Clear is about reducing the assumptions you have about what they already know. (Here’s the thing: they NEVER know as much as you do, so even when you’ve reduced your assumptions, take them back even further).
Be clear about the problem you solve, be clear about the issues your avatar faces, be clear and simple in your language, be clear when explaining your ideas and take it even more basic that you think you should.
Here’s the core rule of thumb.
The longer someone’s been in your world, the more complex and clever you’re allowed to be. Because the longer they’ve been around you, the longer you’ve been educating them around all you know, and the more they understand.
THAT means that when you are marketing, your job is to be clear, rather than clever. Because they don’t yet know what you know, and when they do, only then will your prospects really understand what you are offering and the true value you can bring to them.
Being clear, usually at the beginning of your relationship with your potential clients, helps you earn the right to get to that point where you can share your ‘clever’. The key rule of thumb is this: When marketing, be clear. When speaking or teaching, be (a little) clever.
Our call today is to recognise where you are jumping the gun a little, and where you are leading with clever. It’s a waste of your time and theirs when you are trying to teach something, when what you should really be doing is laying out the problem.
The way you know you are being clear, by the way, is that people start talking to you right at the beginning of your user journey and want to know more. The earlier that people start to respond to you, the less clever you are being in your marketing. That’s smart!
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