Is Your Messaging Silently Killing Your Growth?
How narrowing your focus and clarifying your messaging can lead to growth
Imagine this scenario: a potential client lands on your website, intrigued by your offering or perhaps referred by someone. They spend a few moments scrolling, trying to decipher exactly what your business does and how it can help them. After 30 seconds of not connecting with anything on your site, they move on. Unfortunately, this scenario is incredibly common, and the culprit is often vague or unclear business messaging.
Clear messaging might seem like common sense, but it’s frequently overlooked by RIAs, particularly as they scale. In fact, unclear positioning and messaging can be a silent killer, quietly costing advisors significant amounts of new assets and clients.
But why exactly does this issue happen, especially in businesses that are otherwise thoughtful and strategic?
Trying to Please Everyone
One of the most common reasons behind vague messaging is the attempt to appeal to everyone. When multiple stakeholders within a company have a say in messaging, each with their own priorities, the resulting language often becomes watered-down and generalized. Instead of appealing to everyone, the messaging resonates with no one.
Remember, if you’re speaking to everyone, you’re effectively speaking to no one.
Fear of Being Too Niche
RIAs, particularly growing ones, often worry that specifying their target market too narrowly will limit their growth. This fear pushes them toward vague messaging, trying to attract a broader audience. Ironically, being too broad dilutes the strength of your message, making it ineffective. Specificity, rather than limiting your potential audience, makes your offering clear and attractive to precisely the clients who need your solution most.
Product Evolution
As firms evolve and their products or services become more complex, there's a strong temptation to showcase every feature and capability simultaneously. The result? Overwhelming prospects with technical jargon or lengthy feature lists that obscure the true value your business provides. Getting into the details of every investment model you can offer is a perfect example. This complexity creates confusion rather than clarity, driving potential clients away, or at a minimum resulting in no action.
The Cost of Unclear Messaging
Unclear messaging has tangible, often severe financial implications. There is a saying that "If you leave it to the prospect to figure out how one company is different or better than the other, you're going to lose." Clients facing uncertainty or confusion will almost always choose clarity—even if your competitor’s offering is inferior in some ways.
How to Fix Your Messaging
Improving your business messaging doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are clear, actionable steps to bring clarity and power back to your positioning:
1. Get Crystal Clear on Who You Serve
Clearly defining your ideal client is foundational. Identify a niche market that you can dominate. Once you’ve established strength in one area, expand thoughtfully. Specificity here is key—don’t fear narrowing your audience. Instead, view it as clarifying exactly who you serve best and build from there.
2. Use Simple, Direct Language
Avoid overly technical language or jargon-heavy sentences. Instead, clearly articulate what your product or service does. A helpful format is: "We help X do Y so they can achieve Z." For instance, "We help executives who are 5 to 7 years from retirement" is far more powerful and specific than "We provide personalized wealth management services."
3. Focus on the Transformation, Not Just Features
Messaging that emphasizes outcomes or results resonates strongly. Rather than highlighting vague benefits like "we offer independent advice," quantify the transformation clearly: "we create peace of mind for you and your family knowing that your investments are well taken care of" This approach makes the value tangible and immediately understandable.
4. Test and Iterate
Your messaging isn’t set in stone. Always be testing your message, even with just 5-10 ideal clients. Pay close attention to their reactions and refine your messaging based on their feedback. A structured framework defining your audience, your category, and your primary use case can provide clarity and consistency as you iterate.
5. Be Ruthlessly Specific
When evaluating your messaging, ask one critical question: "Does this make it easier or harder for our ideal client to understand our value?" Anything vague or overly clever should be replaced by clear, straightforward language. As Donald Miller famously suggests, clarity always wins over cleverness.
Clear Beats Clever Every Time
A simple test: if a potential client can't quickly grasp your value proposition, your messaging needs work. Clear messaging leads directly to higher conversions, more effective sales processes, and stronger client relationships. Remember, your goal isn't just to impress your audience; it's to communicate your value so effectively they immediately understand and engage.
Don’t underestimate the power of clear, focused messaging. It can be the difference between growth and stagnation, between capturing opportunities and leaving money on the table.
So, what about you? Is your current messaging clear and powerful, or could it use sharpening? Drop a comment with your origin story or value statement, and let’s refine it together!