You need to solve a problem to grow online.
You need to be recognized by the solution you provide when someone thinks about that problem. That’s the best way to quickly grow on the internet. And if somehow you have no idea what solution you provide, you’ll pretty much have a huge problem to deal with.
Well… Guess who has this very problem? 😏
Exactly, me.
I found this out while reading Justin Welsh’s Saturday essay this weekend. He didn’t address it directly, but the following quote made me reflect:
“All I knew at the time was I had a pretty specific audience and that 65% of them opened my emails every week.”
At first sight, you may think, “I don’t see anything related to solving a problem.”
And you’re right. The detail is actually the “specific audience” that he mentioned. In order to create this kind of audience, you need to attract the correct type of people. That’s where the problem/solution issue enters.
We agree that if I were looking for higher conversion, I wouldn’t look for a truck driver.
I’d very likely be looking for a marketing professional or salesperson, because these people hold the solution to the problem I have. And it’s natural for them to attract people seeking the solution they possess.
That’s exactly why solving a problem is so important.
It basically defines your whole identity online, and I currently have neither. But that’s something I can overcome with effort. I just need to find a suitable way to solve a problem inside my expertise area. I already have a clue, by the way. My current BIO on X is:
“Achieving freedom through writing. DR copywriter. Watch me go from $0 to $10k/mo in 21 weeks so I can afford to go to a hot spring in Japan.”
Here, we can extract 3 potential solutions:
- Help writers achieve freedom through writing.
- Help copywriters achieve freedom through copywriting.
- Help writers go from $0 to $10k/mo in a short time span.
The problem is that these potential options are way too broad. They’re not really specific enough to attract a predictable audience, and that’s a huge minus because, to grow online, specificity is imperative.
What, then, am I supposed to do? How can I be specific without losing my identity and the freedom aspect? I can’t forget the “I need to like it” factor as well.
A possible solution for this whole thing is to narrow the lens for my copywriting/writing ability. These skills are highly wanted online and extremely useful in multiple areas of life. I don’t really need to change the subject; what I need to do is add a little tweak that will make it way more specific than it currently is.
That makes me look at my current BIO with other eyes, to be honest.
What if my solution is actually to help writers make money to achieve freedom? Basically a mixture of 2 of the 3 potential solutions I presented before. Number 1 and 3, to be precise. Now, we’re not broad, because we’re targeting writers who want to transform their skill into a business and achieve freedom (whatever their concept of freedom is).
Well, it definitely sounds interesting…
Because now I’m really helping someone. I feel I’m talking to a real person with similar problems to mine. And that reminds me of the fact that, for this specific positioning, I’m literally the representation of my target audience.
I’m a writer trying to create a business so I can travel the world while writing.
That facilitates the scenario even more, because now I understand how my audience thinks and what their problems are. This way, our communication can reach levels of personality that I wouldn’t be able to reach if I wasn’t part of this very audience.
If you’re lost like I was, I think the easiest and possibly the best way to find your solution is by solving a problem you have or had yourself.
You’ll very likely reach people similar to you, and help them solve problems that you yourself had during your journey.
For now, I simply can’t find a better way to do it.
Daniel Costa
