So you’ve arrived at your 'who'. Your ideal client profile (ICP).

Now the ‘what’ is your signature POV on your ICP’s problem.

To start to develop this, remember there were three parts of this ICP story.

Problem —> Transformation —> Impact

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If you could articulate their problem or pain, what would that sound like?

Even better, what would their pain look like?

In real life, it probably looks like someone banging their head against the wall.

Or sitting in front of a laptop sweating with frustration.

But how could you visually convey the exact business problem they’re experiencing more specifically?

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Let’s think of some examples:

Problem:

• Your ICP is experiencing a growth plateau and feeling pressure from their investors to hit their targets

Literal visual:

• A graph of a growth curve flattening out over time well under a marked committed target

Visual analogy:

• A lit stick of dynamite running out of fuse
• A large candle almost burnt out of wax

Problem:

• Your ICP is losing market share to a disruptive competitor

Literal visual:

• A time-series bar graph of market share shifting over time, perhaps extrapolated to zero

Visual analogy:

• A toddler stealing an older sibling’s snack
• Side-by-side pictures of a Blockbuster shelf vs. a Netflix queue

Notice how the literal visual (even just described) can bring a problem to life?

And the visual analogy goes even further to ignite emotion?

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Think about it for yourself:

• Your client’s painful problem
• A literal visual
• A visual analogy

This exercise is not intended to fast-forward to dictating your content or messaging strategy (not yet, anyway).

But rather, it’s meant to get you thinking about how you see your client’s problem.

This will then lead naturally to how you start to talk about their problem in an emotionally resonant way.

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💡

-Wes