If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?
– Tuco, The Ugly. (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)
When fine-tuning your message and copy, you’re looking to focus your value proposition, so the ideal user understands what’s in it for them quickly, easily, and effectively.
Otherwise, you’re preaching the wrong tune or preaching to the wrong crowd.
It’s likely that you have a certain idea in mind or have developed much more and can state what market you are aiming at, as well as who your audience is, but that is simply not enough.
You’ve got to figure out your target: is it a person, a group, a position, an account, a type, or a combination that would get the most benefit out of your offering.
As much as you may be a great Salesperson who can sell ice to the Eskimos, that makes you more of a charlatan and is also not duplicatable (or scalable in startup terms 😉 ). You may be able to sell to one, two, or three if you’re an amazing salesperson, but the flock won’t come running to you because the product is a must-have.
And you want them running, you want them asking, and you want them to tell all other target users about this special solution they cannot do without.
If you truly focus on your target user, the message and copy are honed, and clearly describe WTF your startup does and what it means for them, then they will look for you, reach out to you, and tell the flock the savior has arrived.
Heck, it also makes your work much more productive, increasing your chances of success.