Have you ever thought this:
“My product is great. It helps a lot of people. I know it can help even more people. But I can’t seem to reach a bigger audience. What’s wrong?”
First, you should know, this is normal. It happens all the time.
Second, there’s a simple way to solve this problem so that you can connect with a wider range of buyers.
The problem is called Marketing Bias… it’s like a virus that sneaks into your copy and makes a mess of the whole thing… causing good potential customers to ignore you, creating objections, and reducing sales.
It’s a conundrum that all marketers, writers and biz owners fight, and most would admit that bias still creeps in more than we realize.
Marketing Bias is particularly insidious because:
- It makes it difficult to see the world through your customer’s eyes;
- It starts with a few simple misconceptions and quickly spirals into a big problem that might not be fixable down the road;
- It is especially destructive when you are in a heavily saturated market like weight loss, or if you do person-to-person sales calls for high ticket items, like coaching packages.
Why? Because it’s invisible.
And how do you overcome something you can’t see?
How to Overcome Marketing Bias
There are 2 ways to handle Marketing Bias:
1- You can try to ignore it. Marketers are commonly trained to preface moments of speaking from inside a bias with “I know I’m not the market here, but…” and then proceed to judge things like copy or price or marketing medium through our bias.
It sounds like this: “I know I’m not the market here, but if I were… yea, I’d think that was compelling copy, I’d feel that was a fair price, or I’d be likely to buy from a Facebook ad.”
Now. All of those things could be true. But there’s no way to know without time-consuming, expensive testing. And then there’s always the risk that you’ll change the wrong element in your copy, and accidentally end up further and further away from connecting with your ideal customers.
2- You can blast right through it. A story: I was recently brought in to write for a health product. It was a tough project because it’s in a big, heavily saturated market, so it’s difficult to stand out.
But the hardest thing about it was that the product helps lots of people from different walks of life, so it didn’t make sense to “niche” the product.
So the question became: “How can you write to everyone all at once?” And the answer is: You can’t.
Now I’ve got an unsolvable problem:
- I can’t niche to one person, and
- I can’t talk to everyone at once.
And then I had a brainstorm…
What if I wrote to the hidden emotional questions that we all share?
This way, I can write to many people as though they were one person. And. I can avoid Marketing Bias because all buyers ask the same 9 hidden emotional questions.
When you know those questions, the Marketing Bias “blinders” fall from your face, and you see your market with a clarity and an understanding that you never knew was possible.
How 2 Different Buyers Feel About The Same Product
I’ve created a simple way to quickly identify the 9 major Buying Types and understand exactly what they need to hear from you in order to make the sale.
I do it by decoding their objections.
Here’s what that might look like for Buyer 1:
Say I’m selling an ebook… and sales are going pretty good. Customers are sending in feedback. I’m even getting emails that ask questions like:
“What happens if I don’t like the product? Can I return it? What if I have questions or need help?”
When I look at these objections, I see that I’m working with Buying Type #8 (a Leadership Buyer) because what he’s really asking is:
Does this purchase make me feel like… I am in control of what goes on around me?
You answer his objection on 2 levels:
- The logical level: State what your exact policies are for returns and customer support, and
- The emotional level: Say this: “You are in complete control. I respect and admire your independent and decisive manner. This makes you one of the few who are ideally suited for this program. You have complete authority to take this process and make it your own. Your results are the direct result of your quick action. And that’s exactly how it should be.“
No matter what Buyer 1 ultimately decides, you can feel confident that you answered both his open and hidden questions.
Now imagine that you meet with a completely different type of buyer. Buyer 2’s objection might sound like this:
“Do I really need this? I can’t afford it. It probably won’t work for me anyway.”
This tells me I’m working with Buying Type #6 (a Security Buyer) because what he’s really asking is:
Does this purchase make me feel like… are you being straight and fair with me?
You answer this objection on 2 levels:
- The logical level: Explain how this is cheaper than buying a competing solution or continuing with their existing problem, that living with the existing problem is no longer an option, and talk about how it has worked for similar people in the past, and
- The emotional level: For this buyer, the tone of the letter and the sound of the words are critical: Speak in a friendly manner. Use clear, simple words. Avoid sounding overly hype-y. Say this: “You belong here. I have reserved a spot especially for you. You will find other strong, friendly, no-nonsense people here who are waiting to help you get the results you are after. You don’t have to struggle alone.“
How to Use Bias Blasting to Increase Sales
The goal of Bias Blasting is to help people make their best decisions. Letting objections interfere with making a good decision is not fair to them or to you. Yes and No can both be good outcomes… as long as you feel you’ve presented your offer in a way that gives the customer everything they need to make a solid decision.
Here’s what to do now:
- Discover your Personal Buying Type. It’s fun and easy. Click here to download the “9 Buying Types Quick-Start Guide”. Look through the hidden questions people ask themselves before they buy. Do you see yourself on the list? Read the suggested ideas. Would these simple changes have helped you say “yes” to past buying decisions?
- Discover your Customers’ Hidden Questions. Look at the 9-Types Guide again. Do you see customer objections that have stumped you in the past? You’ll see several ideas for how to immediately improve your copy or smoothly close your next sales call.
- Apply the 9 Hidden Questions to your own offer. Here’s why: As good as you are at copywriting and sales… and even if your Ideal Customer Avatar is 100% on point… there are still lots and lots of different people in your ideal client pool. And they’re all making decisions from these 9 vantage points all the time. You’ll see what needs to be adjusted in your copy and you’ll get suggestions for exactly where to beef up your copy.
Key Learning Take-away:
Even when you are working with ideal customers, there are 9 types of buyers with 9 different reasons not to buy at any moment in time.
And depending on when you happen to catch that person’s attention, you could miss out on closing a deal with a great customer, because he’s having a stressed-out day… and isn’t able to respond to your regular marketing messaging.
If your product is truly a good fit for them, then using the Bias Blasting technique will help you connect with them no matter where they are at emotionally.
