Branding & Marketing Your Core Service - Seattle Digital Freelancers
Meeting Notes from

Branding & Marketing Your Core Service

Today we had some great new members attend and we talked about:

  1. How to frame your service as a solution to a DIRE problem.
  2. How to develop that into YOUR brand message

Are you presenting your core service as a remarkable solution?

Because nobody cares about what you do.

  • They care about the problem you solve.
  • They care about the transformation you provide.
  • They care about the value you offer – that sets you apart – that makes you the best choice for the type of clients you want to work with
  • They care about themselves.

How to frame your service as a solution to a dire problem

There’s what you do, and then there’s the problem you solve. They’re not the same.

For instance, I build websites, but the solutions I provide are: building awareness for your business, showing your value clearly, making a great impression, building trust and authority, a quick and painless process, etc…

Or, my husband builds metal railings, but the solutions he provides are: safety, beauty, durability, maintenance-free, high quality, precise engineering…

What solutions do you provide? Let’s figure that out:

I want you to write down the following:

  1. What is your core service? (me: building out a custom website)
  2. Who do you help? Or, who hires you? (for example: service providers, startups, dentists, brick & mortar stores, life coaches, selling a product, etc.)
  3. What problem do they come to you with? (me: “I need a new website”)
  4. What dire problem(s) do they actually have? (for example: I need more leads, higher paying clients, or a certain type of clients.)
  5. What stands in the way of their solution? (for example: fear, no money, too busy, no idea how to do it)
  6. How are they feeling? (for example: confused, overwhelmed, worried)

Now, let’s turn that into a sentence:

“I build websites for busy home professionals who want to attract higher paying clients but are feeling overwhelmed when it comes to marketing themselves.”

How to develop that into your brand message

  1. Make it clear
  2. Make it yours
  3. Make it about the client

To support this, I read a blurb on clarity from the Building a Story Brand book by Donald Miller:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0718033329/.

I also mentioned the book Badass Your Brand by Pia Silva:

https://www.amazon.com/Badass-Your-Brand-Impatient-Entrepreneurs/dp/0998714305

THIS IS HARD!!

  1. For clarity: Get rid of words, combing them, focus on what’s the most important to them or the biggest headache. Could it be even simpler?
  2. Evoke a feeling that represents and differentiates you. Try the values exercise (below.)
  3. Don’t say “I” or “We”!

Here’s mine for now: “Make an impact online with a website that connects your local business with clients that can’t wait to work with you.”

VALUES EXERCISE

If you don’t know Brenée Brown, please get on the bandwagon. She is amazing.

In order to brand your service you need to tap into your values. This will help you connect with the people you most want to help. This exercise will help you take your values list and come up with two core values for you work with:

https://brenebrown.com/resources/living-into-our-values/

Mine are: “Fun” and “Understanding”

And I must say that today’s meeting was really fun and I really got to understand you all a bit better.

Thank you for attending!

Next Meeting

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March 9th at 9am.

The topic is:  Creating Rules or, as Randy likes to call them “Randy’s Rules” – these are rules you create for yourself so that you can do your best work, which definitely supports our theme for the year: FREEDOM! Do more work, in less time, for more money.

The details will be posted in the Meetup Event within 2 weeks of our next zoom meeting. RSVP on Meetup.

See ya there!

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