One major messaging mistake agencies make that causes ideal clients to ignore them...
... speaking to marketers as if they’re only just thinking about their challenges when they’re already way ahead in solving them.
The irony is that the more advanced the client, the more they value niche expertise (which means they’re willing to pay more for it).
For these clients, a marginal gain of 1% improvement is of huge value. They’re often the easiest to work with, and the clients that get the best results.
Most agency owners know this, but it's easy to forget it when this isn’t your average day-to-day client experience.
If these ‘advanced’ clients aren’t the people you speak to daily right now then it makes sense that they’re not top of mind when you come to write copy or thought leadership.
This can lead to:
-- Branding agencies writing about how a brand is more than a logo
(Branding teams know this and probably spend a great deal of time educating people in their business about it. They’re likely more concerned with how to apply their brand in new or more consistent ways).
– Performance marketing agencies breaking down Core Web Vitals
(Digital marketers have likely been working with specialists to improve their website speed or UX, but still aren’t seeing their rankings improve. They need to know what else might be holding them back).
-- PR agencies writing about why storytelling matters
(Comms teams are already using storytelling techniques, but if it’s not helped attract more publicity then they need to understand what’s missing in their storylines or wider strategy).
More sophisticated clients know what they need to do, and are already doing it. What they need to hear about are the nuances and tweaks that can improve their results even further.
Whenever you’ve had an ideal client like this in front of you in the past, you didn’t waste time talking about what they were already doing; you asked probing questions and looked for telltale symptoms that told you why it wasn’t working as well as they wanted it to.
Put simply - you adapted your approach.
And this is exactly what you need to do in your messaging to attract more clients who are easier to deliver great results for and happy to pay for it.
If you want these kinds of clients to be the norm rather than the exception, I can help you accelerate the shift in how you communicate.
It starts with booking a low-cost, high-value Epiphany Session where we’ll analyse who your ideal client really is and generate messaging and thought leadership ideas that will help attract them.
