Most businesses don’t really know how to talk about themselves. They either:
- Word-vomit a bunch of features and industry jargon, hoping customers will connect the dots themselves.
- Sound just like their competitors because they’re afraid to stand out (or worse, they don’t know how).
- Talk about themselves way too much, forgetting that customers don’t care about you—they care about how you solve their problem.
This is why messaging is the foundation of everything: your website, your ads, your emails, your sales conversations, and your overall brand perception.
This is by far one of the most expensive and repetitive missteps I see businesses make.
Get it wrong, and you’ll be burning through marketing dollars with little to show for it.
The Leak: Confusing or Weak Positioning
Sarah is a business coach. She’s been at this for 10+ years, helped hundreds of clients scale, and really knows her stuff.
But her website headline is: Helping businesses grow through strategic insights and expert coaching.
That’s the kind of sentence that sounds like it says something—but doesn’t actually say anything.
I’m wondering: What kind of businesses? What does “strategic insights” really mean? Is this for a scrappy startup or a $10M company? Does she work with solo founders or leadership teams? What’s the transformation once I work with her?
People probably don’t read this and think, Oh, this is for me.
Sarah could be the best coach in the world, but if her messaging is vague, she disappears into the noise.
This is a leaky marketing problem.
The Fix: Clear Messaging
Sarah rewrites her messaging to say:
✅ “I help service-based businesses scale past $1M without working 24/7. My framework has helped 200+ companies streamline operations, simplify their offers, and double their revenue in 12 months.”
Well. Now we’re talking.
This statement does three things:
- Calls out the audience (service-based businesses trying to scale past $1M).
- Makes the outcome clear (scaling without burnout).
- Uses proof (200+ companies, tangible benefits).
Bonus: It tells me how long before I can expect to see results.
If I’m a business owner stuck at $750K, exhausted from working around the clock, and I read this?
Now I’m paying attention.
When your messaging is dialed in, customers instantly know:
- What you do.
- Who it’s for.
- Why it matters to them.
And when that happens? Everything else—ads, emails, social posts—starts working better. You get more qualified leads. You close more deals. You sell more things.
Your marketing pays off.
Takeaway: Don’t Skip the Foundational Work of Messaging
Most businesses think they need more marketing. More ads, more traffic, more content. But if your messaging is off, all you’re doing is pouring water into a leaky bucket.
Instead of dumping more budget into marketing, fix the foundation first:
- Get clear on your ideal customer.
- Communicate the outcome you deliver (in their words, not yours).
- Stand out by being specific—blending in is the fastest way to be ignored.
When you fix the leaks, your marketing dollars go further, have more impact and growth starts to feel much, much easier.
Today’s Step Forward.
Test Your Messaging in 5 Seconds. Pull up your website (or LinkedIn bio, or latest ad) and ask yourself:
- Would my ideal customer instantly know this is for them?
- Is the outcome (read: transformation) I provide crystal clear?
- Am I clear on how they can buy it or am I hiding the “cash register”?
If you hesitate on any of these, it’s time for a messaging tune-up. Because the businesses that win are not always the best ones. They’re just the clearest ones.
Onward and upward.
