If your audience already knows their problem, why haven’t they been able to solve it?

In her book, The Red Thread, Tamsen Webster raised this question, which made me stop in my tracks. That’s the power of a simple question, I guess. Simple, yet powerful. Made me look at the ceiling, as I got lost in thought.

The audience is already feeling the pain. They know their problem. And yet they have not been able to solve it. Why?

Marketing communication usually follows two steps 

Whenever we want to grab the attention of our audience and gain their trust, this is what we usually do –

  • First, we say something to the effect of – “Hey, do you have this problem?”
  • Then we follow that up with, “Great, we solve this problem.”

Easy, peasy, right?

Step 1 – Filter out the audience that has a specific problem 

Step 2 – Convey that you solve this problem

There are a couple of issues with this approach.

Going back to Tamsen Webster’s question – If your audience already knows their problem, why haven’t they been able to solve it?

It is likely that they have tried their best to overcome this problem, and yet none of their efforts have been successful. Are we not going to acknowledge this struggle? Are we going to ignore all this and jump straight into the solution? Merely conveying the problem may not grab their attention. Even if it does, it may not be able to hold it.

Here’s an example. 

Let’s say a nutritionist writes their Sales page that starts with the headline, “Want to lose weight?”

What would be the implication of that? After all, that is the problem his audience wants to solve, right?

Would it grab attention, and would it enhance trust?

Want to lose weight? Yeah, no kidding, Captain Obvious.

Someone who has been trying to lose weight for years looks at that headline, rolls his eyes, and goes back to the Instagram scrolling. They have been burned way too many times. 

The message doesn’t acknowledge what he went through and all the other ways he has tried to overcome his problem. There’s nothing counterintuitive about the headline.

So if stating the obvious problem doesn’t work, how do we describe the problem in a way that it gets their attention and also builds trust?

There is an invisible barrier 

That prevents your audience from reaching their goals. And the reason this is invisible is because… well… they can’t see it. They have been struggling… yes. And yet they can’t quite articulate why they have been struggling.

As Experts and Consultants, it’s our job to shine light on this invisible barrier and reveal the real reason they are struggling to achieve their goals. It’s like you are putting a hand around the shoulder, comforting them and saying, “Have you considered that maybe_____?

The goal here is to help them see the blind spot that’s been holding them back all along.

But how exactly do we do this?

The two-pair problem

 In the book, The Red Thread, Tamsen Webster suggests stating the problem in 2 parts.

Part A – The obvious 

Part B – The non-obvious part

The obvious part is the problem that the audience already knows. To continue the weight-loss analogy, the obvious part of the problem could be – “You are not losing weight, because you are not in calorie deficit.” Or “You are not losing weight because you are eating too many carbs.”

This is obvious and doesn’t catch them by surprise. So we supplement the obvious part with a non-obvious part. Something they haven’t considered before. Something that makes them go –  “Hey! I hadn’t thought about that before.” 

So the nutritionist could say, “You are struggling to lose weight because you are not in calorie deficit (the obvious part.) But the irony is that the harder you try to be in calorie deficit, the more you struggle. You need a plan that matches your current lifestyle and eating habits.”

Now, suddenly, there is curiosity. 

As they wrap their head around this idea, they feel, “Oh, that is why I haven’t been successful in solving this problem. It’s because I was using the wrong strategy.”

Suddenly, it all makes sense. A light bulb has gone off. The invisible barrier has now become visible. The lightbulb moment creates trust. They now look at you as a trusted source who just gets them.

Let’s turn to one of my favourite movies, Kung Fu Panda In the movie Kung Fu Panda, the big, overweight Panda is trying to learn Kung Fu to beat the powerful snow-leopard Tai Lung. Po has no background in Kung Fu. Not surprisingly, all his attempts to master the craft are failing.

According to Po, the problem is that he is not disciplined and capable like the other Kung Fu warriors. To solve this problem, he pushes himself to mimic their techniques and training methods, completely ignoring his own natural abilities.

But is that the real problem? 

It is… and it’s not. Later, in the movie, through a series of events, Po realizes the non-obvious problem. Something that has been eluding him for quite some time, finally clicks. These events finally make Po see the invisible, non-obvious truth – he is not accepting himself.

That he is trying to be someone else. 

And in the process, forgetting his strengths and unique capabilities.

  • Known problem: I am struggling with Kung Fu, and I would never be able to beat Tai Lung.
  • Unknown Problem: The reason I am struggling is that I am not accepting myself. In the process of wanting to be someone else, I am rejecting my own unique traits and quirks.

(By the way, I recently made a video breaking down Po’s journey and what it teaches us as experts and consultants. Check it out here – https://youtu.be/pEd-XLLSclc)

Vikram Shetty’s Big Idea 

My client, Vikram Shetty, helps DEI consultants get more leads. His Big Idea is – ROI of DEI. To put it simply, he argues that the best way for DEI consultants to get leads easily is by moving away from ‘feel good’ DEI, which is merely a checklist activity… and instead start connecting their work to ROI.

He could break down the problem of DEI consultants in these 2 ways –

  1. The obvious problem – DEI consultants struggle to get clients.
  2. The non-obvious problem – DEI consultants struggle to market and sell their services with confidence because deep down, they worry their work won’t lead to a measurable impact for the organization. They fear clients will eventually see through this.

(By the way, I also analyzed Vikram’s Big Idea of ROI of DEI. It’s a helpful resource if you are crafting your Big Idea.) https://youtu.be/g9i-WeUVslY

To summarise 

Merely stating the problem to the audience doesn’t help grab their attention or earn their trust. The audience knows their problem already. Why haven’t they been able to solve it? It’s because there is an invisible barrier that is preventing them from seeing something. Your job as an expert is to earn their trust and shed light on this and show them the non-obvious part of the problem.