Today’s episode is about building a message that connects and converts!
Messaging is the thing that most people need help with when it comes to getting more clients online and growing their business, so I think this is going to be helpful for absolutely everyone.
Here for the links referenced in the show notes?
Core Message template: tashcorbin.com/coremessage
Take Off program: tashcorbin.com/takeoff
Let’s dive in…
Whenever I ask questions about what people need help with, the number one answer that I get (regardless of whether they are in startup, launching a course, or trying to scale their business) is how to ensure they have great messaging.
Messaging is the thing that convinces someone that they should buy what you’re offering them. Messaging is what builds an audience, gets engagement on social media, and goes on the sales page when you’re trying to sell a course.
Of course, messaging is one of the most foundational, critical parts of growing a business online.
And having a message that converts is so important.
To me, that is something that seems very obvious. Yet there are a lot of people out there who are teaching online courses for all different stages of business (how to start a business, how to create a course, how to launch a course, how to run a challenge, how to get more clients, how to nail your social media, etc.), and yet messaging is completely glossed over.
There’s this tendency toward prioritising the quantity of content rather than the quality of content. There’s also this assumption that you as the business owner know how to speak to your audience, know how to express the value of what you offer, and know how to connect with people and get those conversions with your messaging.
A lot of that advice is focused more on the strategy to attract and convert, and it completely misses one of the most powerful parts of whether that strategy works or not… and that is the messaging that connects and converts.
People underestimate the power of that messaging or the extent to which they need to get good at that messaging. They just see content as posts and other free things, rather than something that contributes to a brand message or an overall message that connects and converts.
This makes it no wonder that everyone is so excited about AI.
We’re seeing things like ChatGPT and AI tools that are promising to write content for you.
However, if that content is just spat out as content and doesn’t take into consideration the foundational core messaging ecosystem that you are building… it doesn’t actually do its job.
Whilst AI might be able to write a great blog post for you, is that blog post actually aligned with your core messaging?
If you don’t know that, then there’s foundational work that needs to be done first, before we can use those tools effectively in our businesses. Otherwise, all you’re going to be doing is pumping out a bunch of content that looks and sounds like everyone else’s content, and does not do its job.
Your content’s job is not to just simply exist and fill up space on the internet.
Your content’s job is to share your message, connect with your audience and convert them into paying clients.
That is why every copywriter that I know is completely unthreatened by AI writing.
They know the value of what it is that they do. They know the difference between churning out a bunch of content that sounds like everyone else’s, versus really crafting powerful content that is on brand, on message, and does its job.
Whilst I sometimes use ChatGPT in my business, I do it through the lens of knowing I have nailed my messaging, and knowing how to discern whether the structure of content that ChatGPT has created for me (I mostly use it for ideas and structure) really aligns with my messaging ecosystem, whether it needs to be refined, or whether it’s completely off the mark.
I have a quick story about my last time using ChatGPT (this is just a little aside, I will get to the point of telling you how to create content and build a message that connects and converts soon)…
Recently, I had an hour set aside to do some content creation and writing. I’d been asked to submit some articles for a few websites so I figured that I might as well use ChatGPT to help me with some of the structures and getting me started.
It was absolutely hilarious to me because, for every single article title that I had come up with around what I want to be sharing, the advice that ChatGPT was providing was the exact opposite of what I would say.
It was so fascinating to me… but it’s no wonder!
I am someone who teaches consent-driven marketing. I am someone who teaches high connection, high conversion marketing. I’m someone who is creating content and teaching marketing strategies that are based on a very flat structure rather than creating hierarchies.
The stuff that I’m teaching is the complete opposite of what else exists out there.
This means that when ChatGPT and AI go and trawl the internet trying to find this advice, it’s going to find the bro marketing advice, the hustle club advice, and the toxic marketing strategy advice, because that is the norm online.
It was actually really cool for me to see! Not only did it show me that there’s no one that can create the kind of content that I do by using ChatGPT or AI, but it also really reinforced for me that I need to show up and share my content more consistently.
I need to help contribute to this conversation of consent-driven marketing and heart-centred marketing. Because look at what the majority of people on the internet are saying! I need to be just as loud as them. I need to share just as much as they do.
It was the best little AI writing exercise I’ve ever been through. Despite the fact that all that came out of ChatGPT was basically unusable for me in my business, it showed me the exact opposite of what I wanted to write. But it was great because it actually helped me to be much stronger in my messaging of the things that I wrote.
I love AI and I love ChatGPT, especially for prompts and when you’re in a bit of a pickle, you’re feeling a bit low, or you’ve just got that blinking cursor of doom staring at you and you can’t get started. AI is great for that. But it will never replace the work that needs to be done in creating a powerful messaging ecosystem.
The key thing to understand when it comes to crafting a message that connects and converts, is that you and your audience see their problem differently.
Again: You and your audience actually see the problem that you solve differently.
When we understand and accept that, we stop running around the internet yelling at people that they’re doing it wrong, and instead, we start creating a message that actually connects with our audience. We start creating messaging that actually draws them in, instead of repelling them away.
It also helps to relieve your frustration that you just wish people would get it. You want to run around and shake everyone’s shoulders and say, “Why aren’t you getting this?! This is the thing that you need. Stop focusing on that! That’s nothing.”
As an online business owner, you’ve likely experienced that feeling before. It’s something that comes up consistently in the Take Off and Leverage and Launch programs. So many of my students struggle with this feeling of their audience not getting it. But it’s not their job to get it!
They are in the space of not quite knowing how to fix it.
If they saw their problem exactly the same way that you saw it, they’d be able to solve it without you.
But that’s part of the reason why they need you. They’re looking at this problem in a different way to the way that you’re looking at it. You’re seeing it differently.
When you accept that as reality, then the messaging that you create is far more high connection and it’s far more high conversion because you’re no longer just ships passing in the night.
They’re floating along thinking that they need X, and you’re saying they need Y, and you just miss each other.
Instead, in order to create that resonance with your messaging and have people finally see what they truly need, we need to be on the same page.
I’m going to give you a very practical exercise to do here…
For this exercise, make sure to grab the Core Message template here: tashcorbin.com/coremessage
This is to help you to get started on creating a message that connects and converts.
This exercise is for you to do on a piece of paper.
Create three columns. Leave the top of the first column blank. Write “They say” at the top of the second column. And write “I know” at the top of the third column.
Then in that first column, I want you to write what the problem is, what the solution is, what their goal is, and what their drivers are.
We are going to identify what the gap is between your interpretation and understanding of their problem, and their interpretation and understanding of their problem.
For example, when people come to me and they want to grow an online business, they think that the problem is that they’re not reaching enough people. But I know that the problem is that they don’t have powerful, effective, high-connection messaging, and that that messaging comes from strong foundations of having a clear niche, articulating your value proposition, and crafting an offer that people actually want to buy.
People aren’t coming to me saying that their niche isn’t specific enough. They’re coming to me and saying that they need to get in front of more people.
See how I can identify that difference?
They say the problem is that they need to get in front of more people. But I know that if they get in front of more people with that terrible messaging they’ve crafted and continue to use all of those shiny, sparkly buzzwords without actually connecting with their audience, it’s not actually going to achieve the overall goal that they have.
Their overall goal – the reason why they want to get in front of more people – is because they want to make more sales. But they’ve already decided that the way to make more sales is to get in front of more people.
If I run around the internet telling people that they don’t need to get in front of more people, then they won’t read my articles. They won’t listen to me. They’ve already decided what they need. They’ve decided that the problem is they’re not getting in front of enough people.
When it comes to crafting a messaging ecosystem and messaging that resonates, I need to acknowledge that my audience wants to get in front of more people.
I can actually help them to do that. But it’s not a this-OR-that. It’s a this-AND-that.
When it comes to what I do, the content that I share and the way that I help people, I help them get in front of more people AND I help them do it with clear niching, strong foundations and a great value proposition, so that it actually makes more sales.
Getting in front of more people makes more sales when we add this to it.
This is a really powerful exercise for you to do, because it’s going to help you identify that gap and know what you need to bridge.
They say the problem is this. I know the problem is that. They say the solution is this. I know the solution is that.
A lot of people come to me and think the solution is that they should be making reels on Instagram, instead of focusing on building a Facebook page. Or they think the solution is they need to find ways to promote on their Facebook profile, rather than their page because pages don’t get any reach anymore (that’s totally not true).
They’ve heard of these ideas and solutions online (usually little snippets of it in lots of different places), and so they’re coming into my audience thinking that they know what the solution is that they’re looking for already.
I’m going to identify what they say the solution is, and what I know the solution really is.
In the next line down, write what they say their goal is, but what you know their goal is.
A lot of people come to me and say their goal is to reach and help more people. But I also know their goal is to grow an online business that’s sustainable.
I need to speak to them about their goal in their terms. I need to make sure that I’m not dismissing their goal as silly or wrong.
I’m actually helping them achieve both goals. Ultimately, if they want to achieve goal A, they need to achieve goal B anyway.
Rather than a bait and switch, it’s a value add. It’s this-AND-that.
Then the final line is their driver. What are their drivers?
They say the core driver is that they need it for this. But I also know a key driver is that.
It allows you just to see, sometimes you’re on the same page. They say their key driver is that they want to spend more time with their children, and I know that’s exactly the thing. That IS the driver that they have. I know that that’s the driver that they have. And I know how to help them get there.
Sometimes when you draw up this table, you realise there are certain parts where you are on the same page as your audience.
They are seeing it through the same lens. But there are also certain areas where there’s a disconnect.
A strong messaging ecosystem doesn’t just tell people that they’re wrong.
If I spent 90% of my content telling people they don’t need to get in front of bigger audiences, then most of the people who actually would benefit from working with me, would have scrolled on by. They’d already decided that they needed to get in front of bigger audiences.
We don’t just run around the internet telling people that they’re wrong and that they’re focused on the wrong problem or they’re focused on the wrong solution. Instead, we build a bridge with our messaging.
Creating a message that connects is not about picking one perfect line.
And remember, messaging is not a one-liner. So many people try to wrap that core messaging and that bridge up in one sexy, snappy line.
That’s never as effective as actually seeing it for what it is. There needs to be a full ecosystem here of messaging that is all contributing to helping bridge that gap.
Rather than putting the pressure on one sentence, one elevator pitch, one sexy hashtag, or one tagline to somehow elicit from people that they don’t want X, they want Y (because in essence, if you try and sum it up in one sentence, you have to straight up tell people they’re wrong). Instead, we want to facilitate a lightbulb for people with our content. And that content needs to be built with this messaging ecosystem in mind.
When it comes to building a message that connects and converts, the way that we connect with our audience is by speaking in their language. It is presenting content that meets their needs, how they describe the problem, and how they understand the problem is to be.
We create content that meets them where they’re at. That’s where we connect.
The way that we then convert, is we facilitate a lightbulb where they then know HOW to get in front of more people, but they realise that in order for it to result in sales, they also need to ensure they have a great messaging ecosystem, a strong value proposition, and an offer that is built based on what people want, rather than the prescription for something their audience is not interested in.
It’s a this AND that. That’s where we connect and convert.
We connect by meeting them where they’re at, and we convert by bridging them to that deeper understanding that we already have as an expert in our field, and that is through facilitating that lightbulb moment.
The final part of your little messaging template that I have for you then looks at what lightbulb you need to facilitate so that people are ready to hear the message that you have in the ‘I know’ column.
I’ll say that again… in that final column, look at: What lightbulb do I need to facilitate in order for the people who are thinking in the ‘They say’ column to be ready to hear the message that I have for them in the ‘I know’ column?
What is the lightbulb that you need to facilitate?
From now on, if every piece of content that you create is helping to facilitate that lightbulb and move people closer to being in the ‘I know’ column where they are actually getting it, then it’s all contributing to you being able to convert more people into paying clients.
Hopefully, that’s been really helpful for you.
I understand that it’s really hard to get a bunch of messaging advice and training into one podcast episode.
This is an entire section of the Take Off program.
In the Take Off program, we actually build that messaging ecosystem as a core asset in your business. But we don’t just build it based on your theories. We actually build that through the lens of identifying who your niche is, and proving that that niche exists and has demand for something that they want to pay for.
Once we’ve proven that you’ve got a niche that actually works, then we look at: What is the value proposition for this niche in the transformation that I facilitate? And what is the model that I use to create that transformation for them to deliver on that value?
We prove that by going out there and sharing it with our audience.
Then we look at: How do I craft an offer that people are actually hungry for that delivers on what they want? And what is the transformation that I want to facilitate?
We go and test that by making sales!
Once you’ve got all of that proof, then the process that we use to create all of those things and move through those stages is to actually build a messaging ecosystem that is informed and based on evidence rather than just based on your theory.
I’m not able to present all of that information in one episode. There are probably 12 or 13 modules that go into that entire section of the Take Off program.
There are strategies and tests and market research that we do to actually prove it every step of the way.
But hopefully, this has been a really helpful way to get started and ensure that you’re not making those key messaging mistakes of running around the internet telling people that they’re wrong (whether you say it in those terms or not), building your messaging based completely on theory, not accepting that you’re in different places, and not accepting responsibility for bridging the gap between those places.
If we can at least solve those things, the messaging that you craft from here is going to be far more powerful and far more effective.
Of course, if you would like my step-by-step guidance through that process – if you’d like my eyes on your messaging, my feedback on that messaging, and my mentorship through crafting that messaging and making sales through proven strategies – then of course, I would love for you to come and join me inside the Take Off program.
Join the Take Off program here: tashcorbin.com/takeoff
If you have any questions about the Take Off program, how it works, what is covered in the program, and whether it’s the right fit for you and your business, then feel free to get in touch. You can slide into my DMs on Facebook or Instagram, or email me at support@tashcorbin.com.
Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast!
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
