If you want to build an audience or a following, you need to be able to spread the right message to the right ears at the right time in the right way. This episode will teach you how you can get your market to message right by building a bridge between the two.

If you do not get it right, your message gets lost and no one sees it. Nobody is there for your content and you end up with no sales. But if you get the market and the message right, there is clarity. Once they have it, your message becomes music to their ears and deals end up getting done.

The 3 principles that you need to know:

1. They need to feel understood. You have walked in their shoes or understand what it’s like.
2. They need to see a path. That you can take them from point A to point B.
3. Transformation drives value. Articulate the transformation that they get.

The Market/Message Bridge

This framework allows you to articulate the value, transformation, messaging, and empathy. It’s about (1) being able to articulate the frustration, (2) giving them hope and (3) speak to their aspirations.

There are 6 levels or hot buttons to this process:

1. Emotion: What are they feeling? Articulate their frustrations, fears, anger, angst, and anxiety at the base level.
2. Existence: It’s their current reality. What is really going on? Appeal to their struggles.
3. Empathy: Understanding them from their position. What did you do when you were in their place?
4. Evidence: They need to see the solution in you. Move them from frustration to hope.
5. Envision: It’s about giving them a foretelling of the future. Say how you figured it out.
6. Evolution: Attach to the desires. What are they feeling now and what new feelings come to light?

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there everybody, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to capture, package and monetize what you know so you can have greater impact, greater income and greater freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this episode, we’re going to talk about how do you match your message to the right market because if we can’t get a market to message match, in a sense, bridge that, we’re not going to get the customers. Alright, so in this session, in this episode, we’re going to walk through all of that.

I got a couple of tools as I always have to help you along. We’re going to talk about what I said, The Market/Message Bridge and you’re going to get the Market Message Bridge Builder. So, if you want that just go to MelAbraham.com/session092 and you will get the chance to download the action guide for you. I want you to have that in front of you. You can do it before, after, during. It’s better if it’s during but I’m cool with it.

And if you’re not at your computer, if you’re not somewhere where you can download it immediately, that’s fine. Just text me: MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces, 38470. I will send you the download link. We will make sure that you have all the tools, all the templates, all the things that I use to create success for myself and my clients, the people that I mentor and my high-level mentoring clients but we want to get it in your hands also because I want to see you blow out this year. I wanted this to be a breakthrough year for you.

So, let’s jump in. Let’s look at this because this idea of market message match, we hear this message to market.

• Maybe, it’s our messaging that’s wrong.
• Maybe, it’s the market that’s wrong.
• Maybe, we’re talking to the wrong people or we’re using the wrong language.

This is a really important thing to get right when you’re trying to set yourself apart, when you’re trying to build that following to build that audience, to build a customer base, a client base to have people that are coming to you because of what you know and because what you know makes a difference.

And so, what I want to talk about is this element. So, how do you build a market to message bridge?

And really, when we think about this, why is this, why is this so important?

And it is important. It’s one of the most important things that you can get to. In fact, this was a discussion that I’ve had repeatedly with my son Jeremy who does a lot of marketing consulting online and we work together a lot on my stuff and other things and it comes down to a lot of times this concept of messaging.

Did I use the right words?
Did I use it in the right way?
Did I use it to the right people?

And if we didn’t, that’s a problem. A lot of people, they realize that we live in a noisy market. Especially, with the internet, especially, with all the stuff that comes into our inbox, in our mailbox, anytime we’re driving, anytime we’re out, we’re getting these constant messages, these constant marketing messages.

How do you stand out?

And I had a friend of mine telling me this one time and I think that it’s really important to understand this is that a lot times in a noisy market, what we choose to do is to scream louder. Screaming louder in a noisy market doesn’t get you seen. What we really need to do is find the right ears and whisper the right words at the right time in the right way. That’s the bridge. You don’t have to scream louder. We simply have to do that.

So, why is it so important?

Because if we don’t get this, your message gets lost.

They don’t even see it. It’s like there’s this fog over them and even though you have a compelling message, you have a compelling result, you can make a difference in their lives, it’s lost on them.

And when it’s lost on them, you end up finding that you have all the stuff out there whether it’s blog posts, whether it’s videos on YouTube, whether it’s your Facebook; whatever it is; your Facebook Lives, whatever it is, no one’s there.

You’re talking to the empty chairs, you’re talking to the empty seats. Actually, no one’s there.

And ultimately, what happens if we don’t get this right, is you make no sales.

You got no customers. You got no clients. And obviously, no matter how much you want to make an impact, and I want to make a huge impact, I want to be able to serve people at the highest level, no matter how much I want to do that, I still need to make it a commercial success. In other words, I need to make money at it so I can sustain the message and I can sustain the mission and I can sustain the journey.

So, if you have no clients, no customers, you can’t sustain the message so we got to get the message and the market right. We got to find the right ears and the right words to make it happen because when we do, ultimately, there becomes clarity.

Your market is clear that you’re the solution and that’s what we want them to do. That we want them to realize that you’re the source of the solution to the problem that they’ve been frustrated with and challenged with for a long time.

Then once they have that clarity, it becomes music to their ears.

It’s one of those things that you want your customers, your clients to go, “Oh my god, where have you been all my life. I wish I would have known about this decades ago, years ago, days ago, months ago”, whatever it is. You want to be the music to their ears and it will be when you get this piece right.

Then instead of having no clients, the deal gets done.

Okay? The deal gets done. And so, I think that’s really important to understand and that’s why it’s important to get this right. What do you need to know?

So, let’s just look at at least three of the principles I think you need to know to bring this one home and the first is this. Is that they need to feel understood.

Your marketplace needs to know that you understand them, that you’ve walked in their shoes and whether it’s you’ve literally walked in their shoes, in other words been there which is a great place to be or you simply understand what it’s like to walk in their shoes.

The term that a lot of people will use is empathy and in marketing, empathy leadership, that kind of thing but they need to feel understood. If they don’t feel like you understand them, then they’re going to put a wall up. So, the first thing is, are your messages showing them that they feel understood?

The second is that they need to see a path.

In other words, they’re looking at their life through their eyes and they see that they’re at point A. You’re talking about point B. And that’s great in their eyes but if you can’t show them the path, in other words, if they don’t see that you can get them from A to B, then you’re going to lose the messaging. You will lose that and you’re going to lose the dynamic, they’re not going to buy.

So, once they feel understood is they’ve got to see the path from where they are to where they want to be and that you are solution in the middle. Alright, does that make sense? Hopefully that makes sense.

And then, the third principle you need to understand is that the reality is they’re not buying your service, they’re not buying your product; it doesn’t matter what it is you’re selling, what they are looking for is a transformation.

The level of transformation is what drives values. And I can go on a whole another tangent on this because we’ve had a discussion recently about pricing and everything, and pricing cost and quite frankly pricing costs, I think, absolutely do not matter in the marketplace when you get the value part of it right.

In other words, what people do is they buy the value that they perceive so you need to be able to articulate the value, give them the value so they can buy the value. Because here’s how a transaction is done—as long as, as long as what I’ve, I’m the buyer, as long as what I am giving up, the value of what I am giving up whether it’s my money, my time, whatever it is, as long as the value of what I’m giving up is less than the value that I’m getting. In other words, I’m getting back more in return than what I’m giving up, I’ll do the deal all day long.

We, from a marketing standpoint, from an influencer standpoint, from that expertise standpoint, we simply need to make sure that we articulate it in a way that they see that the value they’re giving up is far less, far less than the value they’re receiving. When we do that, the transformation will drive it. That’s what will drive the transaction.

Okay so, hopefully that makes sense to you. Those are the 3 principles to consider in this.

• Remember that they need to feel understood,
• That they need to see a path, a clear path, a path from A to B, a path from frustration to solution, and
• That the level of transformation creates the value and that they’re going to be, there’s going to be a value exchange.

So, get those straight. Now we know why, we know what. How do we get this done?

In order to get this done, I want to actually introduce you to what I call my framework of The Market/Message Bridge. In order to do that, we’re going to go back to the iPad. We’re going to draw this out. We’re going to co-create it together and so, in this process, this market message bridge is to give you a template or a tool that allows you to articulate the value, the transformation and the messaging, the empathy through this process if we hit all six of these hot buttons if you will in the process. So, let’s jump to the iPad and let’s work through The Market/Message Bridge framework.

Alright so, here we are and you will see that there’s six levels on this and we’re going to work on a couple of different levels. I just wat to work on a couple of different levels but what I want you to think about is how you use this in a message because ultimately what we’re going to look at is 3 different levels of things that are going on and the first is this is first I want to be able to articulate the frustration they have.

Once we articulate the frustration, this is going to get them to start to think, “Wait a second, they know me. They understand me. They get me.”

But once we articulate the frustration, what we need to insert, what we need them to feel and these 3 elements are kind of the feelings that I think they go through in this process because I need them to feel hope. So, in the next phase of this, I want to give them hope.

And then, once they have hope, now what I want to do is give them this last piece and this is what we will cause them, this is the tipping point that’s going to cause them to

1. Make the decision
2. Commit to the work that they need to do to get the change or the difference and the solution that they want

And that is Aspiration.

So, if you look at how we do this and we build this out, this is how it’s built out.

• To speak to their frustrations
• To speak to their hopes
• To speak to their aspirations

That’s what’s going to start to drive things.

And at the very base level, what we need to be able to articulate is what I call the Emotions. This is, if you will, this is the current Feelings. What are they feeling?

And I have a great tool in here that gives you a list of, a bunch of different emotions.

• So, it could be aggravation
• It could be frustration
• It could be fear
• It could be anger
• It could be angst
• It could be anxiety

What are they feeling because if you can articulate what they are feeling internally, viscerally, they’re going to start to realize, “Wait a second, they get to know me.”

But what we need to look at is remember, I want to communicate right brain, left brain. In other words, I want to communicate emotionally and logically with them.

And so, the next piece of this is once I articulate the emotions, I want to articulate what I call Existence and it’s their current Reality. What’s really going on?

• You’re struggling with cash flow
• You’re not spending time with your family
• Your spouse is irritated because you’re never home
• Whatever it is; you can’t get clients
• You having problems collecting the funds

Whatever that current reality is from a logical standpoint, we want to appeal to that because now we’re appealing right brain, left brain in this process. That’s the frustration level. If you will, it’s the pain that they’re feeling and now we need to transition them to hope and in that hope piece, this is where we bring in the Empathy because they get hope as soon as they feel that you Understand them. Okay?

And so, this is one of those situations where if you’re talking about the emotional problems that they are facing right now, the frustration, the angst, the anxiety and the fact that they can’t pay their bills and they’re having problems collecting from their customers or they’re having problems getting their content out in the world in a way that sets them apart and that ultimately, this is their reality that you can go to empathy now and say, “You know what? I went through the same thing. I walked that same journey.”

In fact, in my case, I was a single full time dad trying to figure out how to build a business but serve the greatest gift that was given to me that of being a father. To take care of that five and a half, six year old son, to take care of what his needs were while living my dream and creating something that is meaningful and that is impactful.

And so, I struggled through this process and figured out what it takes to really build a business, to position myself as an influencer, as an expert in a space where I was the sought-after market leader and I created and I figured out a system and a process to make that work which leads us to this next piece which is the Evidence which is really about the Solution.

They need to see the solution in you. They need to see the solution in you and they will do that through the story that you’re telling and that process. Now, all of a sudden, you’re moving them from frustration to hope and now we want to electrify them with aspirations. We want them to be energized with the aspiration and that comes from giving them a Foretelling of the future.

So, what I want to do is I want to give them a picture of the future and say, “Listen. So, I figured it out. I figured out what I needed to do to take care of my son and build my business.”

I’ve been able to build multiple 7-figure businesses as a single fulltime dad, released a book, became a #1 Barnes & Noble best-seller and #1 USA TODAY best-seller in that same year because I had systems and processes in place and I was positioned as the expert to be working with as the market leader. I still took 93 days off. So, I’m giving them a visual of what it is to get it right.

So, I want to envision what their future is. What’s that future that they are looking for?

• The thing that is their sought-after solution.
• The thing that they lie awake dreaming about.
• The things that take them away and say, “This is what I want.”

Because then that leads us to this last piece of this model and that’s the Evolution and this is really kind of attaching to the Desires and it’s going back to the emotional side. So, if we started with the feelings at the beginning, the frustrations, the angst, the anxiety, when we get this right and they transition and they get this transformation from us and we talk through this process

What are they feeling now?
What’s the new feelings that come to light because of who they are?

• Because they use the solution that you have
• The transformation that you bring

That’s the key.

So, how this transitions, how this works—this market message bridge is really how you build your messaging. In other words, I want to start where they are with their feelings, their emotions, the challenges that they’re having. Then I want to move from that to their current reality, their existence, the logical side of it.

And then, build from there—the empathy understanding and this is typically through your own expert journey. This is typically through your own expert story. It’s in that context that we see this all come out.

Then we want to give them a vision, an optic if you will. A visual of what their future can be like to draw them forward and do that. And in fact, if you look at many, many commercials and many marketing elements, this is exactly what they do. They’re giving you a visual of what your future could be like while attaching it to your current reality.

So, I may turn around and say to someone that, “Are you feeling the struggle?” Whether it’s a pinch from cash flow. Maybe, it’s that you’re trying to get your content out there. You’re trying to become an expert. You’re trying to get known for what you know. You’re trying to build a consulting practice, a speaker, an author, a trainer or coach and you’re struggling. You’re swapping hours for dollars and even then, you’ve got clients that don’t show up.

• They don’t get the work done.
• They don’t’ get the results.
• And then, they cancel on you.
• And they don’t stay with you.

So, now I’ve talked about the emotions and the current reality. And then, I move from there and say, “You know what? That’s what I did. I was a CPA and I was doing a lot of consulting. I was swapping hours for dollars. Yeah maybe, my hourly rate, I was able to push it up from a hundred dollars to a hundred fifty to two hundred dollars and maybe higher. But I was still swapping hours for dollars and I was capped out. I couldn’t do anymore because there was only so many hours in a day and you know what? I was a single full time dad and I was trying to figure out how do I build this in a way that I could leverage it, that I could set myself apart distinctly and be a premium market leader that allows me to do that.

And so, I figured it out. I went through and I reformatted how I did things. I started to have conversations around the value of the transformation not necessarily the transaction of an hour for a dollar and I was getting the results and I had proof, social proof and testimonials that allowed them to show that. And you know what ultimately happened? Is that not only if you went to my hourly rate and tried to figured it out by the hour, my hourly rate was in the thousands at that point.

But what I was doing is I was creating a business based on a transaction of value because of the transformation I was bringing because of the difference I was making because of the results I was getting. And what that did for me is that it allowed me to have more time for myself and allowed me to have more time with my wife. It allowed me to actually write a bestselling book, a #1 bestselling book and get it out, sell 16 thousand copies in a couple of weeks and still take one quarter of the year off to do the things that I loved to do.

And that’s what I want for you. That’s what I want for you. I mean, if you imagine just for a moment, what would it be like that you get a chance to have a big impact to take what you know out in the world, to get results for the people that you want to serve, to see them flourish, to see their life expand, and to have the life that you want.

• To be able to travel when you want
• To do the things that you want with who you want, when you want

What does that feel like?”

Now, if you watched what I just did there, is I actually transitioned through all six stages of the market message bridge and that’s how we build this out. So, here’s the question for you now as we go back into the presentation. You will see this and you can build this out but this is the way I want you to start thinking in the context of your messaging.

• Whether it is in emails
• Whether it is in video
• Whether it is in copy on the website, on the pages

All of that. How do you create this arc, if you will, this bridge to do that?

And I’m going to give you a tool that you download the action guide that’s going to give you a tool that’s going to start to extract some of this information for you. It’s called The Market Message Builder and so, what you need to do is go to MelAbraham.com/session092. Download that action guide.

If you are not at your computer the text me MYLEGACY one-word 38470 and I will send you the download link because this is a matrix that’s going to ask you some specific questions so as you’re developing your content, as you’re developing your messaging, it will extract it and build it in a way that satisfies the framework of The Market/Message Bridge.

So, I hope that this serves you. I hope that this really starts to bring things home for you in a way that you now understand how it is that you can match your message to your marketplace. Remember, it’s about finding the right ear at the right time and whispering the right message in the right way. That will get them to buy.

So, I hope you found this of value to you. If you have not subscribed, here’s what I want you to do. Hit subscribe. Stay with me. We’re going to be doing more of this. What I’m really looking to try to do is I want to give you the tools, the templates, the tactics and the strategies so you can get yourself out of the world, so you can position yourself as a market leader, as the influencer in that market space. And so, make sure you subscribe.

The other thing if you would do me a favor, share this. Let’s get it out there. Do me a favor? Hit share right now. Share it with a friend. Share it with a couple of friends. I would be totally, totally grateful if you did that.

If you have questions, if you have comments and questions or challenges, then just send me a not to AskMelNow.com. Just go to AskMelNow.com, leave me a message. We will make sure that we get your questions answered may be on an upcoming episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. So, hope you found this of value. Make sure you download the action guide. Let me know what’s going on. Let’s keep the conversation going. I love doing this with you guys and seeing the difference that it’s making and the things that you’re doing because the world needs what you’re doing. The world needs the transformation that you’re given, getting out there, the work that we’re doing.

I don’t care whether you’re an entrepreneur or a thoughtpreneur as I call it where you’re selling your thoughts, you acknowledge your wisdom as an entrepreneur, you’re selling products and other services. The bottom line is, our primary focus is to prove the human condition. So, let’s get on with it.

Until we get a chance to see each other again,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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