The 3 Things Your Marketing Needs to Say (Before Anything Else Works)

Your Marketing Isn't Broken. Your Messaging Probably Is.

You're posting on social media. You're emailing your list. You're showing up consistently. And it still feels like nobody's paying attention.

Here's what I want you to consider: it's probably not that your marketing is broken. It's what your marketing is saying. So let's talk about the three things every piece of marketing needs to communicate before any of it actually works.

1. Who Is This For?

A lot of business owners want to speak to everyone. And in trying to speak to everyone, they end up speaking to no one.

I know it feels risky to narrow down. Especially if you're newer, you don't want to leave anyone out. But I've been doing this for decades, and I can tell you with full confidence: the more specific you get about who you're talking to, the more your marketing lands — and the more sales you make.

Think about it this way. If you're trying to pick a restaurant with 16 people, nobody agrees on anything. Two people? You're at your favourite place in ten minutes. Specificity makes decisions easy. Vagueness makes people move on.

There's also what I call the purse theory: the bigger your purse, the more stuff you try to cram into it. Take a small crossbody instead and you only bring what you actually need. Same principle applies to your audience. When you try to market to everyone, your message gets weighed down trying to carry too much.

Naming your people isn't limiting — it's what makes the right person feel like they've finally found exactly who they were looking for. In all of my marketing, I talk specifically to local service-based business owners. That means some people will land on my website and know immediately it's not for them. And that's fine — because the people it is for will feel seen in a way they don't when someone's trying to appeal to everybody.

So if you serve a specific type of client — a specific industry, a specific demographic, a specific kind of problem — say so. Specificity is what makes people stop scrolling.

2. What Problem Are You Solving?

Here's the thing people miss: your clients aren't buying your services. They're buying the solution to a problem they have.

There's a difference between describing what you offer and describing what changes for someone when they work with you. A wellness coach who says I offer holistic wellness coaching is describing their service. The same coach who says You're exhausted, burnt out, and running on empty — I can help you figure out why and fix it is speaking directly to the problem their client is already living.

Which one are you clicking on?

You have to understand exactly what problem you solve — not in a generic, vague way, but in the specific language of the people who have it. What are they feeling before they find you? What are they worried about? What do they want to be different? Get into their heads, and write from that place.

On your services page, this is the difference between listing everything you offer and describing the before-and-after transformation. Clear skin in three months. Booked out with clients who actually value your work. Financial clarity for the first time in years. The result is what people are buying — make sure your copy says so.

3. What Do They Do Next?

Every piece of marketing needs one clear, low-friction next step. And I think this is where more people get tripped up than they realize.

You might think it's obvious. You've got links everywhere. There's a button on your homepage. Your Instagram bio has a link. But obvious to you and obvious to someone landing on your website for the first time are very different things.

I recently audited a financial planner's website that had plenty of calls to action — but they were scattered everywhere, pointing to different places, sending people in four different directions. When I asked her what she actually wanted people to do, she said: book a call. So that became the only thing every button on her homepage did. One goal. One direction. Much clearer.

Think about your website the same way. What's the end goal? Booking an appointment? Scheduling a consultation? Shopping a product? Every button, every CTA, every link should be moving people toward that one thing — not competing with five other options.

And please — if you want people to get in touch, do not make it open a mail app. Nobody wants a mail app to open. Send people to a scheduler, a booking platform, a direct form. Make it as frictionless as possible, because every extra step between interest and action is a place where you lose people.

The Recap

Before your marketing can work, you need three things in place:

Who — Be specific about who you're talking to. Your people need to feel seen, heard, and understood the moment they land anywhere you show up.

What — Know the exact problem you solve, and say it in the language of the person who has it. You're selling a transformation, not a service.

What next — Give people one clear action to take, and make it easy to take it.

If you've been consistently showing up and it still feels like nothing's working, come back to these foundations before adding more. More content on a shaky messaging base just means more of the same results.

🎧 Listen to the podcast

If you're a local, service-based business owner who's done great work but struggling to put it into words, Market This is the podcast that helps you fix that. 

Listen to the show here: 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1rfllDKDEW62DQBb7HMBHS 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/market-this-local-business-marketing-content-marketing/id1719786195