5 Questions You MUST Ask Before You Market Your Next Offer

You’ve spent a long time and a lot of energy and money mastering your craft and getting your business to where it is today.  You know your God-given talents and skills have been gifted to you for a reason - and you’re eager to live up to the amazing potential you and your business possess. 

Yet, sometimes it’s a struggle to know just how to put together products, programs and services your clients will be excited to invest in.  And once you’ve designed your offer, you wonder how to get the message out in the right way—in a way that your audience will respond to.

And even when you do everything ‘right’ with your marketing—you write articles, you’re on social media, you publish an Ezine, you offer free reports or teleclasses, you attend networking events—you’re still not bringing in clients the way you know is possible.

It’s not that you haven’t got something valuable to offer.  It could be that you’re just not asking the right questions before you select, design and offer your services and products.

Here are 5 questions you MUST ask yourself the next time you’ve got an idea for a new program, product or service. 

1. Am I so crystal clear on my ideal audience that I speak directly into their experience using language they ‘get’?

If you’re not speaking their language, they can’t hear you.  It’s as simple as that.  So you have to take the time to really listen to how your audience talks about their experience.  Use vocabulary they relate to.  Forget the buzz words and industry terms you speak.  Translate what you do into words they can hear.

One of the best ways to capture this is in day to day conversation with prospects and clients.  Keep a notebook by your phone and after every encounter with a client or prospect, write down the exact phrases they used.  This notebook becomes gold when you want to start talking about your new offer.

2. Have I specifically addressed the problem or situation my ideal clients are INVESTED in resolving?

In business, an idea is only good if your audience is willing to invest in it.  Make sure your product, program or service is directly related to a problem, situation or passion your audience is eager to solve.  If they aren’t invested in resolving it, they won’t invest in your program or service no matter how great you or your content is.

3. Do I have a way to engage my ideal audience around this topic?

Are you in conversation with your market?  Do you blog? Are you visible on social media? Do you write articles or host classes, workshops or teleseminars?  All of these are fabulous ways to engage your audience around the issue your audience faces.

By engaging them you learn the language they speak, the level of investment they have in the topic, and how they are responding to your approach.  This is critical to build a warm list of people eager to join you for a program or buy a product because you’ve become their go-to person on the subject.  And it gives you a real sense of how much impact your idea will have when you launch it.

4. Is there a natural first step my ideal clients can take?

It is a big leap to expect someone to come to your site, see what you’re about and invest at your highest level of service.  For most experts, the highest level of service is one-to-one, and too often this is the primary offer being made. 

Have an easier first step.  A program or product that engages them around the issue they’re invested in resolving, but that allows them to experience you without having to invest in your highest level service.

A Signature Program is perfect to use as a natural first step to engage clients, show them the value you bring and introduce them to the next steps they could take with you.  Think of using a Signature Program as a way to give new clients a solid foundation for becoming a fabulous long term client.

5. Have I showcased my strengths, expertise and skills so my uniqueness shines through?

Let’s be honest.  There just aren’t that many ‘original’, never-been-thought-of-before ideas out there.  To really stand out in a crowded market and be relevant, YOU must shine through.  What’s your unique experience, story, skill or twist on the same-ole solutions your market hears every day? 

There’s no right way to design a successful Signature Program or product, but there definitely is a wrong way.  And the wrong way is to model, mimic or force fit yourself into a format that doesn’t work for you and your audience. Choose a format that gives you an opportunity to wow people. Leverage what you do best and ditch the rest.  

Now is the time for you to reposition your business and repackage what you know and can do in a way that honors the time and energy you’ve invested, gives you a path to make a significant difference in the world and gets you the rewards and recognition you deserve.