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Today’s episode is spicy! This episode came about because there’s a lot of conversation happening in the business space that speaking to pain points in your marketing is not the way to go and instead you should only speak to their desires. A lot of this conversation is happening on Threads. So in this episode I’ll share my thoughts on how I believe pain point marketing is a strategic tactic that is very powerful not just for you getting sales but for helping your community to feel seen.
In this episode, Is pain point marketing dead?, I’ll walk through 6 ways to effectively use pain points in your marketing:
1. Get specific
2. Use pain points to emphasize and empathize, not shame
3. Use pain points to help people better understand the situation they’re going through
4. Use pain points to serve people on a higher level
5. In marketing come from the energy of “this will help someone feel seen and heard”
6. When you are calling out mistakes share it from a “me” and not “you” perspective
Welcome to today’s spicy episode
Alright before I dive in I want to give some context to today’s episode because it won’t make sense why I’ve titled it what I have unless I do. So this episode came about because there is a lot of conversation happening in the business space that speaking to pain points in your marketing is NOT the way to go and that it attracts disempowered customers and instead you should only speak to their desires or empower, inspire, and bring awareness to something instead.
First things first, and you might’ve already seen this comingggggg cuz I’ve said it a few times but if anyone says do not do __, I’m either going to do it or highly question it and see if the logic is sound so of course I’m going to break down my thoughts here
Now I just have to say that I called BS on the whole “don’t use pain points in your marketing” from the first second I saw it but I also loved that it’s given me an opportunity to dive deeper and really understand the why behind pain point marketing so the first thing I did was hit the good ole google and started researching the origins of pain point marketing. Cuz what else would I be doing on a Tuesday afternoon in winter? Definitely not more important things haha.
In my research I found that the term “pain point” first came around in the early 2000’s to define a moment in which a situation becomes so irritating that a consume feels compelled to seek out remedy (according to an article by bruce Watson)
So what is a pain point? It’s a specific problem, frustration, or limiting factor that a customer experiences and I might add that they want a solution to
For example: you want your baby to sleep through the night some pain points might be…
-getting your baby to bed at night is a struggle so you dread nights
-your baby wakes up every 2 hours to feed which leaves you exhausted each day
-you aren’t sure if you should pick your baby up when he/she is crying or let them cry to sleep which gives you anxiety
When you address the pain points in your marketing, you let your customers know that you get it. You’re basically saying to them “hey, I hear you, I see you, I understand and I’m here to be a helping hand”. How many times have you wished someone would say that to you when you’re going through something hard aka a pain point? I know I wish that would happen every single time for me haha
So understanding the pain point helps us to not only create better offers for our customers and better serve them but it’s also the gate-way to us sharing how our offer fills the gap between the pain point (where they are now) and the outcome (where they want to go)
And here’s something mind blowing *wink wink*… people who have a pain point are the ones that are most likely to become customers? Why? Because most people don’t buy something they don’t feel they have a need for. So when they have a pain they want alleviated, they seek out a solution. Pain is a great motivator to change
Think about the last thing that you purchased. Now think about WHY you purchased it. You bought it to fill some sort of pain point in your life, big or small.
The last thing I purchased was a microphone stand off of amazon that clips onto my desk and has a longer arm. Why? Because I’m tired of not being about to get my microphone close to my mouth without having to be at the very edge of my desk because my mic has to be on my desk. And the clip will also hook to a shelf in my podcasting room aka my closet and will make my life so much easier
The pain point? Inconvenience of having a mic that can only be moved around on my desk and needing more flexibility to move around
It’s not icky, it’s what I was feeling that drove me to buy.
Now, why do I think that there are people out there that are against using pain point marketing? I think it’s because they’ve seen people do it the wrong way and it feels icky so they’re like nope don’t wanna replicated it OR they are doing it the wrong way because that’s all they’ve been taught it feels icky so they think “pain point marketing must not be for me then”
I do believe that there is a negative way to go about using pain points and there are 100% people other there using pain points as a way to make others feel like crap (whether that be intentional or unintential who knows) but I also believe that there is a right way to go about sharing pain points so let me share my recommendations on
How to effectively use pain points in your marketing:
NUMBER 1—
Get specific, notice how all the pain point examples I gave around baby sleep were very specific? It wasn’t just the pain point of lack of sleep — I shared very specific feeling and situations. when you get specific, your marketing is going to better connect with your audience because it’ll feel like you’re talking directly to them and that you understand their situation and desires
NUMBER 2—
Use it to emphasize and empathize, not shame. Use it to emphasize that it’s a real struggle and they are valid in having it and empathize letting them know that you understand which will build a connection
NUMBER 3—
Use pain points to help people understand their situation better. How many times have you seen a post that says “struggling with xyz”, it could be __ and you’re like wait that’s me, I’m struggling with that and I didn’t realize that there was a solution or I didn’t realize that xyz was the problem
Pain points can education people
NUMBER 4—
Use it to serve people on a higher level. Pain points can uncover blindspots that people might have and when they recognize those blindspots they are going to then be that much more likely to work towards their desired outcome and understand HOW to work towards it. What I mean by blindspot is a lack of knowledge or understanding in an area
Pro tip here: use your situations and circumstances where you’ve uncovered blindspots in your journey to allow others to see their blindspots through you
NUMBER 5—
Don’t use pain points from the energy of “this will get someone to buy” and instead from the energy of “this will help someone feel seen and heard” — such a simple shift but it’ll help your marketing come off in a way of service vs shame
NUMBER 6—
When calling out mistakes, share it from a “me” not “you” perspective. What do I mean by that? When you say “this is why you suck at xyz” vs “this is why I sucked at xyz and what I did to shift from it” it’s a totally different feel.
I’ll leave you with this thought which I love so much — a pain point is a moment of desire for change
Resources & Links:
- List Building 101
- Stories that Sell
- Manychat
- IG University
- Kajabi 30 day free trial + 20 free story templates
- Around the Clock Masterclass
- 100 Hook Ideas – FREE GUIDE
Connect with Mya:
- Follow on Instagram @myanichol
- Join my email list
Related Episodes:
- Episode 11: Building a tight-knit community on IG w/ Nicole Jaques
- Episode 46: Selling on Instagram Stories – 10 in-depth ideas
Some of the links mentioned are affiliate links, which helps to support this podcast at no additional cost to you.
More about the Radical Disruption podcast:
Are you wanting to make waves in your industry, push the envelope, and change the Bu way things are done in a radical way? Are you looking for tangible, tactical, and actionable steps that will help you build a sustainable business that stands out? You’re in the right place!
Radical Disruption is home to the disrupters. Here you’ll learn how to take your business to the next level, break the status quo, and build a disruptive business.
Nursing student turned business and social media expert, host Mya Nichol (hey that’s me!) shares the real and raw of the crazy journey of entrepreneurship and building a multi-six figure business.
Through solo episodes and special guest interviews, you can expect honest conversations around throwing out the traditional way of business, scaling in a sustainable way, and becoming the go to expert in your industry. It’s time to build a disruptive business. See you on Tuesdays!
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