Let me share a hard-learned lesson from nearly 20 years in the game.
And let me do it with a true story.
The other day, I was having dinner with one of my mentees.
I picked a fancy pizza place close to my home. Walking distance.
We are talking about marketing, sales, back-end… but I couldn’t stop noticing what was happening at a table close to us.
A young couple with a roughly 2-year-old daughter and also an older couple that I assume were the child’s grandparents. Most likely on the father’s side because of where they sat at the table, but that’s irrelevant.
It was that typical family dinner parents love. Grandparents get to be with their granddaughter, and parents don’t have to do a thing.
I’ve done so many of these… and I still do.
But, as I was saying…
There was this family…
And the daughter was seated at the baby’s table. You know, the ones with the little tray for the kid to have space to play without messing with the grownup’s table.
Her mom put two or three toys on the tray for the daughter to play…
She was happy, and so was the family watching her conquering new things.
But for every ten seconds… one toy hit the floor.
The mom curved down with some difficulty, grabbed the toy, and put it back for the child to play.
This happened once… twice… three times… even ten times in just a few minutes.
And then there it was…
The mom gently rubbed her back as a sign of discomfort, at the same time as she complained… “You need to play on the table. Are you hearing mummy?” (read it with a different voice, please)
I looked at my mentee and told him…
Are you seeing this?
There’s a big marketing lesson here.
And this is what I explained to him…
Most people would try to sell her a back pain relief offer because it’s what she’s complaining about.
But you and I know that that’s not what she needs.
That’s a painkiller.
Not a problem solver.
And this is one thing where I see so many solopreneurs and creators wasting SO MUCH value.
They tackle the surface-level problem but not the true problem.
And people always have that feeling that something is missing.
Business owners don’t need more leads. Leads are a pain to manage.
They need sales. Effortless sales.
Also… no one needs ghostwriters or even copywriters.
That’s surface level. That’s the commodity.
This lady sure had her back sore. But unless she could find something that her daughter could play with without throwing to the floor, she wouldn’t solve the problem. She would just tackle the symptom.
And that’s where many creators and copywriters only end up scratching the potential of their offer.
Remember the lady in the restaurant.
Seeing her, I could try to sell her a back pain relief product.
And she would tell me… “Ah, no need, thank you. It’s nothing.”
But you know better where the problem was…
Because if I would tell her…
“Ma’am… I see you’re hurting your back because you’re picking up your daughter’s toys every few minutes.
Would you like to use this XYZ sucker on your table and attach these little strings to hold each toy? That way, your daughter could still drop them that they wouldn’t hit the floor, protecting your back and keeping her busy.
And each time one fell from her hand, all she had to do would be to pull the string and pick up the toy again. On her own. And training some independence.”
I’m just coming up with the product as I’m explaining this.
But see how I tackled the problem (toys hitting the floor), showed how much I understand her situation (how that is generating a new symptom), and also how I offered her a new thing she would value and would probably differentiate me.
Have you seen that extra layer of value?
It’s here, “…On her own. And training some independence.” It becomes harder to resist, right?
The message here is simple: remember this lady when you write copy. And ask yourself which problem you’re tackling. The one you see or the one they deeply feel.
One gets you some attention.
The other gets you sales.
Many sales.
Enjoy your weekend,
Pedro
P.S. I asked George if I could share some stories and tips from my experience working and mentoring creators and solopreneurs. He told me to do it. Let me know if this is useful or interesting, and I’ll try to add more value to this fantastic community.
Note: This post was originally written for George’s (@GrammarHippy‘s) CopyThinking Community.
Surface Vs. Deep Level Problems Masterclass: in my “Stand Out or Fade Away” book, where I give you the foundations to understand Positioning, you have a free bonus masterclass that covers this topic in depth. Understanding the topic of this post is where the gold is. If you want to understand it clearly, I’ll invite you to check Bonus #3 for yourself.
Following this post… I had an awesome question that I think it’s worth sharing my answer with you…
Question: What are some other common examples of surface-level problems that businesses try to solve – and their actual problem counterparts?
My answer:
Let me put it this way…
Why do you think industries like the self-help industry will ALWAYS be an evergreen industry?
Evergreen industries exist because people in these industries typically try to solve the wrong problem.
Most people don’t need an investment course. They need to have a better relationship with money. They don’t need dating apps, they need confidence around women.
There are always deeper layers to the surface-level problem people tackle. And people typically are wrong about their OWN problems.
That’s why we’re told to sell what they want but give them what they need.
But you can only do this if you identify and understand the root cause of your audience’s problem. And many creators and even copywriting ignore sadly this.
They see or hear people talking about their problem and they think they got it.
But let me warn you…
Most people think they know what they need but they don’t.
The biggest opportunity you have is to find the deep-level pain that is the root of their problem and show people you understand them even better than they do.
Because most times they don’t even assume to themselves the true pain. They fear sharing it. They even fear looking on the inside and identifying it.
They live like zombies.
And if market them as the zombies they are, that’ll get some front-end sales here and there.
But if you care to understand them at a deeper level than their zombie layers…
That’s when you open the doors to “infinite” front and back-end opportunities for them and for you.
Doors that can easily lead you to…
Surface Vs. Deep Level Problems Masterclass: in my “Stand Out or Fade Away” book, where I give you the foundations to understand Positioning, you have a free bonus masterclass that covers this topic in depth. Understanding the topic of this post is where the gold is. If you want to understand it clearly, I’ll invite you to check Bonus #3 for yourself.