Aug 30 • 5 min

Lead Gen Marketers:
Here’s 5 ways to get more leads using the power of clarity.

“I JUST CAN’T SEEM TO CUT THROUGH.”

It’s a complaint we hear over and over again. And it’s a problem that can make any lead gen marketer feel beaten down and frustrated.

It can feel like no matter what you try, the budget you pour in to digital just isn’t sending you returns. Maybe your content isn’t sending you leads. Or maybe you’re struggling to grow a following and engage your market online.

Whatever you’re trying to achieve with your digital marketing, there’s one key element that solves many communication issues.

That element is CLARITY.

CLEAR OVER CLEVER, ALWAYS.

Think about it like this. The digital marketplace is CROWDED. Your target audience is slammed with thousands of ads every day, from all sorts of platforms.

To get their attention, you need to make it 100% clear you are talking to them. And once you do that, you need to make it clear that you:

• Understand a problem they are facing.
• Can solve that problem.
• Will transform their life for the better.

Knowing this, here’s 5 easy ways to inject clarity into all your digital comms – so you can grab those eyes, minds…and wallets.

1) DITCH THE BIG WORDS.

It can be tempting to use big, creative words to get your message across – especially if your product is something inventive and new.

But jargon, big words and long sentences can actually turn off your audience.

Some quick facts:

• In Australia, about 44% of adults can only read at a primary school
• As education level goes up, so does the reader’s preference for simple content.
• The average ad on Facebook is only viewed for 1.7 seconds by mobile users (which doesn’t leave your audience a lot of time to read big words).

So – keep it short, sweet and simple. Then reap the benefits.

2) GET SPECIFIC.

When you try to target everyone, you target no one.

Too often, we see clients who are afraid to get specific with their target audience for fear of losing other audiences.

The problem is, this makes your offering less clear – meaning it’s harder for you to reach the right audiences…and your marketing budget goes down the drain.

We live in the age of hyper-targeting. With the rise of social media, Google and data mining, the best way to win is by getting super specific with your target audience’s likes, dislikes and behaviours.

Think about it this way.

If you’re fishing for a specific type of fish, first thing you’ll do is go to an area where you know more of that fish lives.

Next, you’ll try buy the type of bait that fish prefers. And you’ll try time your fishing trip with the time of day and season when those fish are most active.

While fishing for your preferred prize, you might still end up catching other fish (those other audiences).

But you have a much higher chance of getting the fish you want by fishing where they live, with the bait they like, at the time they’re active.

That is all to say – the more specific you get with your offering, the more chance you have of reeling in the big one!

Don’t let the fear of losing secondary audiences cost you the chance to capture your primary audience.

After all – if you’re worried about losing certain audiences by calling out another – you can always target those people with a separate campaign!

3) CALL THEM OUT BY NAME.

So, you’ve figured out exactly who your ideal audience is. You’ve created a strategy to hyper-focus your campaign targeting.

What now?

A simple trick that many marketers overlook is to name and call out your target market.

Make it impossible for them to miss that this piece of content was made just for them. For example, let’s imagine you’re launching a new plant-based burger for people who are trying to cut down on their meat intake. Your social ads might look like this:

LOOKING TO CUT YOUR MEAT INTAKE? Never get food envy at the family BBQ again. Our delicious meat-free burgers are made with the juiciest plant protein – to give you that meaty burger taste, without the guilt.

OR

REDUCTARIANS AND FLEXITARIANS – the ultimate meaty vegan burger is HERE. Our secret plant-based recipe means our burgers stay juicy and delicious – without the guilt or the cholesterol spike!

Name the label they identify with, or the problem they face. Call it out clearly and directly. Then, you’ll catch your target audience’s attention long enough to sell them on why you have the perfect solution to their problem.

4) CLEARLY STATE THEIR PROBLEM. THEN TELL THEM HOW YOU’LL FIX IT.

One of the fastest ways to cut through the market and capture your audience is to clearly state a problem they face (related to your product or service, of course).

With our meat-free burgers example, this issue could be food envy at a mate’s BBQ.

With so many meat smells and snags going around on plates, someone trying to eat less meat might look down at their dry bean burger and feel their resolve crumble. Which leads to them feeling like a failure when they cave in and eat that pork sausage.

In this scenario, we have a powerful combination of two elements. A physical problem (the vegan burgers being dry and gross) and an internal problem (giving in and feeling like a failure).

So, before we prove our burger solves that problem – we have to show them we understand their life.

FLEXITARIANS AND REDUCTARIANS: We know it’s hard to resist sneaking a sausage at the family BBQ…even if it leaves you feeling guilty after. We get it – most veggie options just don’t measure up.

At this point, our audience has been directly named – then had their problem clearly addressed. You’ve proven you know them – so now they’re ready to know you.

That’s why our juicy Meat Me in the Middle Burgers are made to taste just like real meat (without the guilt).

Instead of butting into their Facebook doom-scrolling to yell about yourself and your product – you’ve popped up as a helpful guide with a magical solution to an annoying problem!

5) SELL THEM THE DREAM.

Now, all that’s left to do now is to clearly tell our audience how our product will make their life better.

The key thing here is to show BENEFITS instead of FEATURES. It’s easy to confuse the two – and lose your audience’s interest in the process.

• A benefit explains how your product or service will improve your audience’s life.
• A feature is the way your product or service does this.

Back to our delicious burgers!

• A feature is that they are plant-based.
• A benefit is that they are guilt-free.

All these benefits add up, and help our audience live the life they deserve…

So you can stop missing out on good food, and feel good that you’re making a difference with every bite!

Aspirational identity: unlocked. By eating our burgers, they’ll get the food they like AND get to brag about being ethical at the same time. Now that’s a win-win.

TO RECAP:

1) Ditch the big words. Make your content easy to read/ view.

2) Get specific. Know your audience, and don’t be afraid to target them.

3) Call them out by name. Let your audience know you’re talking to them.

4) Clearly state their problem. Then tell them how you’ll fix it.

5) Sell them the dream. Let your audience know how you’ll change their life for the better.

For more help clarifying your message to reach the right audiences, why not get a helping hand? We’ve guided organisations big and small to reach their audiences – from Mitre 10 and IGA, to Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation and Muscular Dystrophy NSW.

Call me on 0431 560 177 or click the ‘Get Started’ button below.

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Sources:

Australian Government Style Manual.

Marketing Insider Group