What Is Solution First Marketing? (part 3)
Most web designers are stuck with a “Solution Last” approach to working with their clients. So, if that's you, then you're forced to market your services which are the same exact services everybody else is offering. So you blend into the noise sounding exactly like everyone else. Even if you do get a lead it's going to be a low-budget, one-and-done project.
Solution First marketing is a dramatically better approach because by developing your solution first you're able to establish yourself with authority and leadership. This leads to better clients, better results, and much better pricing.
Everything makes perfect sense except one thing. How do you get your first few clients? Now let's talk about, how to solve the problem of social proof when you are just getting started?
Five Pillars Support Every High-Ticket Offer
There are five things every high-ticket offer needs but only three of them are critical. The other two can be reinforced and included later.
So let's take a look at what you need to say on your website – at least at a high level – to land clients with Solution First Marketing even if you're just getting started.
What Is The Outcome?
What do I get?
The main thing you need to make clear as fast as possible is the result of your offer. This should be the headline of your website (or landing page).
It's very important that the outcome is described in a results-oriented way – not in a technical way. For example, when you go buy an apple pie you want to understand that you're getting an apple pie. Nobody markets an apple pie with the ingredients label, right?
So, point to a specific pain point that your client is experiencing and say that your offers solves that thing.
Who Is This For?
Will this work for me?
Next, we need to make it clear who your offer is for. It's great to be able to solve this big pain point, but I want to know if it's going to work for me. Targeting the right audience is critical because people are hardwired to assume that the “good stuff” is always for somebody else. People are quick to unfairly disqualify themselves. Even if you believe that this solution is good, it's really easy to think, “I'm sure this would work for them, but I'm different. It won't work for me.”
So, make sure you clearly define who your offer is for AND who it is NOT for.
How Does It Work?
What is the secret sauce?
The temptation here is going to be to describe all the skills and services you plan to exercise to get your clients the results they need but that's the wrong approach for Solution First Marketing. Resist the urge to get down in the weeds with all the nitty-gritty details of what you're going to do.
Present a few highlights for how (or why) your solution works not what you're going to do.
How Did You Figure This Out?
Why isn't everybody doing this?
At this point, people are probably going to be teetering on the edge of excitement but they might also be thinking this is too good to be true. They're going to be wondering where this idea came from. How were you able to come up with this brilliant solution while everyone else is stuck and struggling with the old-school, mainstream approach?
This is your chance to build your authority and establish your leadership by presenting your backstory. Don't talk about everything that's ever happened to you. Only talk about the relevant facts.
Share the aspects of your background and personal experience that positioned and prepared you to discover and build this awesome solution?
Case Studies
Even when you're first getting started you may still have some case studies that you can pull from. You could point to some of your past clients or possibly previous experiences from past jobs or even your educational history. The more support you can give the better.
But, even if you don't have any case studies to point to at all that's alright. The other four pillars above are strong enough to win your first few clients at full price. You do not have to discount your work even if you're just getting started.
It's very tempting to feel like you need to do free work to build up your portfolio but this is a terrible thing to do. The biggest problem is you'll burn out. But even if you don't burn out you build a low-value reputation which means all your referrals are going to be low-value referrals. Even worse, when you raise your rates later you lose all your leads because you're going against your reputation as a great way to get an “affordable” website.
Don't do free or discounted work.
Of course, having social proof is better than not having social proof. But to land your first few clients, leverage the other four components of your marketing:
- The awesome outcome
- Who (specifically) the outcome is for
- Your new and disruptive strategy
- Your authority and leadership in this space
Then, as you land clients your case studies will build themselves making it even easier to land clients in the future.
Let's Get This System Working For You
If you're ready to start landing high-ticket clients click here and schedule your call with me.
We'll get on the phone (for free) and talk about your business and how you can implement Solution First Marketing into your business so you can start landing five figure clients. This is serious stuff. It will radically change the future and the value of your business.
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