What we think we are saying to our customers and what our customers actually hear are two different things. Customers make buying decisions not based on what we say but on what they hear.

Photo by Marcel Gnauk on Unsplash

As communicators and marketers, we tend to communicate with our customers as though their peers in our industry. We use the same words and methods of communicating as though we are speaking to a co-worker, friend, or our employer without us realizing it.

What we’re saying and what are our customers are hearing are two different things. In the sense that the use of language, words, and methods we make use of plays a very important role in how our message is interpreted. Customers and people, in general, interpret the message they receive based on their own level of knowledge and understanding of it. You may communicate something of great value to them, but the use of language, words, and methods used, they may interpret it as something totally different from what you’re saying. The way you communicate with potential customers and customers makes or breaks whether they buy your offering or not.

5 Steps process to follow when communicating, so your message is clear and understood.

1.Define a problem

Define the problem being experienced by your customers & non-customers. Identifying the barriers preventing your customers from living and leading a happy peaceful meaningful life, draws them in that you really do care about them & what they’re experiencing within their lives and you’d like to assist.

2.Offer a Solution

You’ve identified the problem and you’d like to offer a solution. You’ve drawn your non-customers and customers in and now you have their attention. From here on, it’s about letting them into what you can do for them. Offering a solution to better improve their lives.

3.Communicating the solution

We’ve identified the problem and offered a solution. The next step is to communicate the solution. Communicating the solution, makes or breaks the message being delivered. It all boils down to, communicating the solution in a simple relating manner that taps into the way your audience speaks, lives, and leads their lives. If you can achieve that, you’re definitely set out to convert non-customers to customers and an increase in loyal customers.

4.Aligning the solution to your brand message

In order for you to align the solution to your brand message, you need to solve a specific problem and become known for it. Which entails specializing on a specific problem, solving it, and become known for it. Then applying the problem solved solution to your brand message and all your marketing material. To avoid confusion about what your business does, it’s best to be known for doing one thing and not too many things. Your customers relate to specificity. If your business can solve a specific problem that keeps your non-customers and customers up at night, then your work is done.

5.Share the brand message with your employees.

Your business has identified a specific problem, offered a solution, communicated it in a simple relatable manner, and aligned it with your brand message. The final step would be to share the brand message with your employees. Your employees need to know what the brand message of the business is. How it all came about, from where it was, to where it is, and where it would like to be. The step by-by process involved in getting it to where it is today needs to be shared with them. So they are included in the companies journey from where it was, to where it would like to be. The changes that are to occur and the new direction it would be taking. Through doing so they are able to live and breathe the brand message and they’re able to share it with anybody they come across or anybody who walks into the company office.

Following the 5 step process is key in stepping up your business up for success and through consistently applying it, you’re set to have a brand message that is its league of its own that is clear and able to understand, that is able to speak for itself without having to be clarified every now and again.