The Easiest (Fatal) Mistake We Make When Writing Content - Christine Kane

When writing or recording content for your website or social media, it’s typical to use the lingo or jargon most familiar to you. Healers talk about chakras. Branding experts talk about brand attributes. Corporate types use acronyms that no one knows except them.

Now, of course, your current Ideal Clients may know this lingo. They’re hip to it. They’re already working with you – and if they’re not, they’ll find you and love you because they already speak your language.

However, let’s say you’re trying to get new clients in the door. These are the folks who have never worked with you. They’ve never experienced you. They don’t even know what a chakra is. They don’t know the difference between WD-40 and a W-9.

All they know is one thing: “Here’s where it hurts.”

I call this the place where your prospect “enters the ocean.”

“The Ocean” is the service, help, and transformation you provide. It is huge. And your prospect is trying to simply start wading in.

And because of your experience and expertise – you are way out deep in the ocean. You with your auras, audits, entities and other industry jargon.

And you’re so used to spewing this language out there, that not only do you lose your prospects”¦ but you do them a disservice. That’s because they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

They’re at the edge of the ocean, not even sure if they want to go in. And you’re way out there acting like it’s no big deal. They stand there with their challenges, issues, doubts, and obstacles. And you are chortling along using all kinds of language that confuses them or scares them off.

So, as a leader and marketer, here’s what you need to do…

You need to swim toward the shore. And you need to go get them. And you need to stand there with them and talk with them about how their hip hurts or their stomach is bloated or their partner dumped them or their P&L statement isn’t adding up, or how they can learn to love a spreadsheet. You need to let them enter the ocean from where they are. Not from where you are.

And this is where content is so crucial. And it’s why I devote the first few modules of my Uplevel Your Businessâ„¢ program to provide clarity about Ideal Clients and about their needs. (Not yours). Because you need to talk with them about their stuff. (Not yours.)

It doesn’t matter if you have the very best process for healing someone if they don’t understand anything about it. They just know that they hurt and that they’ve been hurting for quite some time. You can explain the other stuff later. But when they go to your blog, or find one of your articles or videos”¦ they need to know that you GET them. That’s all that matters at that point. That is where the connection gets made. Let them enter your ocean where they need to enter. Let your content make that very easy for them.

This doesn’t mean you have to “dumbify” your content. (I hate that word.) It just means you have to communicate simply. You are prone to complicating things because you are always learning and growing and experiencing new stuff – and you mistakenly think that the whole world (and all of your prospects) have been following along with you.

In my Uplevel Your Life Mastery program, I teach about how to set Intention and about how to use your Attention to create new realities in your life. In some ways it’s basic to me. I’ve taught it for years. And yet, for so many people, it’s their first time hearing any of it. And it’s all new. If I move too fast, they’ll feel behind and they’ll run to someone else who can spell it out more clearly.

This is a lot about being of service. Your content – whether in a program or on your blog – has to break things down to their most basic. This is challenging to your crazy mind that doesn’t stop looking for bright shiny objects to relieve it from the stuff it already knows.

But the stuff you already know is very interesting to your Ideal Client. Get simple. Get basic. Stop making everything so complex. People, more than ever, need connection and simplicity.

3 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • Roxane Lessa

    Right on! I need to remember this all the time every time I create course content for my in person and online classes. I so appreciate how you met me at the shore 3 years ago and helped me out into the ocean to develop my teaching business!

  • Brenda Jean

    This is great–thank you. I’m beginning to write again, have a lot to say, and this advice is extremely helpful.

  • Giovanna

    Absolutely true!! As a teacher I see that happening all the time and as a scholar I am always in danger to be inflicting that distance onto my peeps. Thanks for all these reminders Christine!