Are you a productivity junkie like me?
I have terrible trouble trying to relax.
Each weekend, after a hard week’s work of trying to achieve the 100 items on my to do list, I say I’m going to relax, only to spring out of bed and dive headlong into my ‘weekend to do list’ with an equivalent volume of tasks.
This has been driving my husband mad for almost 20 years. He comes from the school of ‘weekends are for relaxing’. He works hard Monday to Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday, he’d prefer to do as little as possible.
This clash of cultures has lead to many disagreements (okay, fights) over the years, but now, we’ve finally come to some agreement.
On Saturday and Sunday, we both do the really vital tasks in the mornings, the afternoons are for chilling out. No questions asked, no raised eyebrows, no guilt.
I have to say I LOVE IT.
I’ve reframed my view of the weekends from: yet another opportunity to achieve something, to: a chance to rebuild my energy for the coming week. A few of my (ridiculous number of) goals have had to fall by the wayside, but I’m okay with that.
This process of reframing the message I’m giving myself about how I spend my time has made a huge difference to our domestic harmony, and I feel SO much healthier for it. From now on I’ll be surgically attached to my sun lounger or sofa and a good book, every Saturday afternoon.
Reframing is a technique that you can use in your business too. It’s especially important to consider this in times of market turbulence (hello coronavirus) and recession.
Because, in a ‘bull market’ (or one that is growing) the most effective marketing message is aspirational. Or, something that your target audience could be trying to achieve, benefit from or subscribe to. For example:
- Buy our toothpaste – it’ll make your teeth whiter!
- Sign up for social media training – double your followers and engagement!
- Join our gym – you’ll be totally buff in just over a week! (If only.)
But, in a bear market (or one that is shrinking), your target audience is more likely to be engaged and take action when you use a marketing message that helps them to understand the risks of NOT doing anything. They naturally will be cautious, wanting to conserve funds by doing nothing, so it’s time to highlight the risks of ignoring their problem.
So, you’d reframe the message like this:
- Buy our toothpaste – avoid costly and painful fillings!
- Sign up for social media training – finding leads on LinkedIn could save your business!
- Join our gym – if you don’t get fit you could be at risk of a devastating disease!
Hopefully, it’s obvious that I’ve exaggerated each marketing message so that you can see the effect.
I know you’ll be groaning as I write this, but if all of your business messaging around the benefits you can achieve for your customers is aspirational, it’s time to get to work on adjusting it. Maybe just in a few places, and in your new content. Nobody loves a doom and gloom-monger, but perhaps a little re-framing could save your business? (See what I did there?)
We know this is tricky, and it’s probably the last thing you want to spend your time on. So if you need help with this, we have just the thing: The Illumination Lab.
This service will give you total clarity about the things that make your target customer tick, what it is that they are looking for from you, and help you to identify the messages you should use to help them decide to buy from you.
The deliverable from this process is two blueprints that you can use every day as a checklist for getting your messaging right.
If you suspect you may be putting potential customers off by sharing ineffectual non-converting messages, you might need our help to increase the rate at which you are converting prospects into paying clients.
Find out more here on our website: www.marketingarchitect.co.uk/the-illumination-lab
