What I'm about to say here might be considered a hot take, but it might just be the game-changing piece of information you need to hear. So, here it goes....  you are NOT the hero (you can say this in a Jerry Springer voice for more dramatic effect). That's it. You're not the hero.

Phew. Okay, now let me explain what this means. Last month, my team and I were able to attend a couple of conferences, one was geared towards Digital Marketing as a whole and the other being Social Media Marketing specific. The one message that remained constant throughout both of these conferences was....you aren't the hero, you're the GUIDE.

What the heck does this mean to you? When it comes to marketing your business it's easy to start rattling off all of the products or services that you offer and what you do on a daily basis that you think might be interesting for your prospective customer to hear about. The reality is, you telling your customer what you do actually does nothing for them. You're the expert and you work in your respective industry so everything you're saying makes sense to you and sounds like total gibberish to them.

What you need to do is re-frame how you're speaking about and marketing your business in a way that places you as a guide in your clients' story, in order to guide them to a win. This puts your CUSTOMER in the place of the hero and in the end everyone is happy.

Let's break this down into a more digestible way of thinking. A prospective customer has a problem, and they need help solving it. In this case, let's say they're a small business owner who doesn't know anything about social media or have the time in their day to run both their business and their social media pages. You, own a digital marketing agency that specializes in social media management and content creation as well as paid media placements. You might think you're the hero in this situation because you can provide a service that helps your customer out, but in reality your customer needs to see how your product can help them solve an ongoing problem in order to be the hero in their own story. You, then, are actually the guide to your customer becoming a hero in this situation.

Re-framing your marketing materials to appeal more to your audience will help your potential customers see your business as a way for them to succeed will change the way your prospective clients start to see you and will ultimately help you reach your goals as well!

Cheers!