Who is your business’s Right Person, and what does she want to buy from you?

If you don’t yet have a clear and simple answer to this question — you are far from alone.

Understanding the person who is Most Likely To Buy from your business is one of the most mind-boggling pursuits brand creators get themselves into.

Marketing experts will tell you it’s important to “know your buyer,” “create a portrait of your ideal client,” or “write your website for the person you’d most love to work with in mind.” This advice is surely right-on, and these approaches sound good, don’t they?

The trouble is, these popularly-taught ideal client-describing activities are surface-y and ego-centric at best, downright dangerous to your business at worst.

The truth is, understanding your ideal client — the person Most Likely To Buy from you, because of you who are and how you deliver your product or service — is nothing like a guessing game.

It’s not a creative writing exercise, and it’s not about endless surveying of your blog readership. What good are surveys, really, if you don’t yet have a cohesive readership or any buyers at all? What if you’ve never even released a product yet, or written a sales page?

We believe you and your business are ready for something more relevant and realistic.

I’m Abby Kerr.

Creative Director of The Voice Bureau.

As a brand voice specialist, a digital copywriter, and a three-time CEO of successful, highly customer-centric business brands, I understand how to design a business brand that’s focused on your Right Person and also fulfills your own personal goals as a creative professional and a human being.

I’m Tami Smith.

Searchologist and holistic SEO specialist with over 20 years of business experience.

I understand how to design an integrity-based approach to search, social media, and content strategy to attract and convert your Right Person when he or she is at a buying stage.

When we met, we knew we had to mix-master our expertise in order to serve our clients in a more holistic and sustainable way — for their bottom line, and frankly, their sanity.

Our respective clients had had enough of launching expensive but hollow websites without meaningful content strategies behind them. Our clients were sick of blogging into the ether, hoping that if they wrote it, Somebody (preferably A Paying Client or two) would come.

We knew we could articulate, model, and teach a much better way. A way to focus from the foundations up on your Right People buyers and readers, design a brand and a content strategy that serves them excellently, and get results with your marketing.

And so we responded with Empathy Marketing.

Empathy Marketing is a codified, holistic framework for identifying, connecting with, and converting the Right People Most Likely To Buy from you into clients who are glad and ready to pay for the excellent work you have to offer.

After Empathy Marketing:

→ you’ll think differently about who you’re talking to online

→ you’ll act differently when you’re carrying out your content strategy

→ you’ll get better results with every thoughtful marketing action you follow through on

All this because you have new insight and a clear framework. You know who you and your business are really designed — and meant — to serve, and you won’t waffle on this person being the best-fit client or customer for you.

Empathy Marketing helps you figure out:

• Your Right Person Profile. Also known as your ideal client or your Most Likely To Buy persona.

• The Important Conversation your Right Person wants to have online that you can add value you to — because of your skill sets, your expertise, and your point of view.

• How to position yourself to add value to this conversation and leave your Most Likely To Buy person wanting more.

Empathy Marketing helps you answer the questions:

• What is my business about? (What’s my Brand/Value Proposition?)

• how do I say what I do in one sentence? (Mini Bio time!)

• what should my brand look like? (We call this your Visual Brand Identity or your Visual Vibe)

• what should I blog about? (Because by now, you’ve noticed that blogging about whatever’s on your mind that day isn’t working out so well.)

• what does my Right Person care about? (And do I really need to know what he eats for lunch?)

• where is my Right Person already hanging out online? (Because the advice to “go hang out where your ideal clients are online” is kind of difficult if you, uh, don’t know where they are.)

• who are my competitors and conversational peers? (Even if you don’t think you have competitors, trust us — you do.)

• what does my Right Person want to buy from me? (AKA, what would she only buy from you, because you’re offering it?)

• why would my Right Person buy from me instead of from someone else? (You’re already uniquely suited to serve your Most Likely To Buy person — you just need to make that explicit to her.)

Your Empathy Marketing Strategy includes:

• The Pressing Problem you see in your industry that really riles you up — and your unique Point of View (POV) on it.

• The Important Conversations your Right Person cares about online, and a round-up of the Actual Questions she wants answered about your topic area.

• Your Unique Selling Position (USP) — your differentiator, the thing/idea/approach that sets you apart from your peers and competitors.

• Your Brand Proposition (or Value Proposition) — who you serve, what you offer, and how your solution is different and valuable.

• Your Right Person Profile — a holistic and highly nuanced narrative about who she is, who she aspires to be, her phase in life and why it matters, her developmental desires, her high sides and low sides, her Voice Values (and why you should care) plus why she’s attracted to you for your Voice Values, and why she’ll be drawn to you and your brand.

• Headshot and Mood Board depicting the visual vibe of your Right Person’s world –both actual and aspirational elements.

• A thoughtfully crafted, totally impactful Short Bio in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Person POV — for use anywhere you’d like, in print or online.

• Your Clear & Empathetic Content Strategy to connect with your Right Person, which includes:

  • a portrait of your Brand Voice in action — know which of your top Voice Values to lead with and which should play counterpoint, on which pages of your site

  • which Core Needs drive your Right Person’s interest in your brand conversation

  • which Deep Metaphor (or two) to engage throughout your brand conversation — with BONUS swipe copy (so you know what these sound like in action)

  • Headlines for your next 7 blog posts — please take these and run!

  • 3 Ready-To-Write Topic Titles for Your 101-Style Article or Video Series – you’ll feel immediately inspired to create your cornerstone content and your subscriber opt-in gift — probably both!

  • Your brand’s Call To Action Style — what words to use and what words not to use — with BONUS swipe copy (so you can put these in place right away on your sales pages and in your emails)

  • Social Media Micro-Strategies to help you make the most of how your Right Person uses Pinterest, InstaGram, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and/or Vine

  • And everybody’s favorite BONUS: a personalized Brand Voice Mood Board depicting the visual vibe of your brand conversation

How much?

Empathy Marketing is $2700 USD*, payable by PayPal.

*Two equal installment payments are available. Please request.

We devote a full week to one client. You may request a week that works best for you from our calendar of availability.

Here’s what you’ll get inside your Empathy Marketing experience:

• a private, self-paced intake session* in our Discovery Portal, where you uncover what you already know about your business goals, your brand objectives, your Right People, and your current content strategy. *Plan for 1-5 hours of time for this intake, depending on how quickly you work. Intake forms are printable so you can complete them by hand at your convenience and type your answers into the Portal later

• a personal Empathy Marketing Strategy Unveiling Session. 60-minutes via screenshare, with Abby and Tami, on a conference line. We’ll tour you through your private Unveiling site, and point out the highlights of our discovery and why they’re essential to your strategy. After our tour, we’ll email you your private Unveiling Site link so you can spend time with and integrate the findings.

• customized insights for you and your brand on your: business goals, brand objectives, solution in the marketplace, USP (Unique Selling Position), Right Person Profile, Brand Proposition, and a BONUS Mood Board depicting the visual vibe of your Right Person’s world

• an MP3 audio recording of our Unveiling Session, so you can listen again and again for even deeper takeaways over time

• follow-up written support with Abby and Tami via email or Google Docs, for clarification of insights revealed in your Strategy. (Two back-and-forth communications.) To be redeemed by client within two weeks following Strategy Unveiling.

Empathy Marketing is the ideal starting point for business owners relaunching an existing brand, or launching a brand new one.

 Here’s what some of our clients had to say about their experience.

→ LAURA CALANDRELLA, LEADERSHIP COACH & SOCIAL IMPACT ACCELERATOR ↓

“I began my work with Abby and Tami on the one-year anniversary of bringing my business online. After a year of crafting and re-crafting offers, working with a steady flow of clients in my target demographic, getting up on stage to deliver what I thought was the most powerful piece of my message, and writing for online journals like Forbes, my business looked pretty successful — from the outside. But I knew that something was off. It was showing up in my bottom line and, even more importantly, the lack of energy, excitement, and momentum I had for the work that I was doing. I needed a major shift to happen. Abby and Tami showed up at the exact right time, for the exact right person (me!), with the exact right offer (Empathy Marketing!). This powerful duo helped me to carefully, methodically unravel all of the learning I had experienced in Year One of business. Working with them brought me clarity and a deep sense of ownership on where my business fit in the marketplace. Stepping into the shoes of my own “right person” has allowed me to position my solutions to meet my clients where they are and truly be of service. The experience of working with them enabled me to unhook myself from branding and marketing strategies that felt inauthentic, and settle comfortably and confidently into building the next phase of my business.”

→ DAVE URSILLO, WRITER & WRITING GROUP LEADER ↓

“Empathy Marketing connected dots that, for me,
a few years into this gig, were certainly there but lacking
the potent connection that I needed to hit a stride
and stop guessing about what I was doing. Not only 
did you help me realize who I was talking to 
in my marketing, but you helped remove the veil that showed me 
that my ideal reader/customer/client is . . . amazing. I LOVE the idea
of what words/phrases to use and which tactics/appeals to avoid. There’s just
not a lot of that out there in the blogosphere. The advice you hear is always
too much one-size-fits-all.”

→ ERICA SWANSON, INTERIOR DESIGNER ↓

“Empathy Marketing exceeded my expectations.
I didn’t expect this to be so in-depth and 
so individually relevant. The level of expertise
you’re providing and how you really dove into MY work
was very impressive. It made the insights you offered
feel very individual and tailored.”

At The Voice Bureau, nearly every client we work with wants to know: which piece should I start with first?

Design, copywriting, or branding? (” . . .and what is ‘branding’ again, anyway?)

Empathy Marketing is the foundation of a clear, thoughtfully composed, meaningful brand that rises above the noise and helps its Right People make the best buying decisions for them at every turn.

Much of the time, clients who come to us for copywriting actually need Empathy Marketing experience first — to get clear on the foundational pieces of doing business so that great copy can support you in your selling process.

If this is what you’ve been looking for — we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions:

+ I’m just bringing a brand new business online. Is Empathy Marketing right for me, or do I need to have some traction first?

Empathy Marketing is designed to help you craft a strong and clear foundation for your brand and your offers — whether you’re just starting out with a fresh new business, or reiterating an existing one.

You don’t need to have sold a product or a service yet in order to be ready for Empathy Marketing.

You do need to have a basic understanding of who you want to serve, what solution you’re offering, and why it’s important to you and valuable for potential buyers. We’ve designed the experience to support you in articulating those elements and making sure they’re meaningful to a buyer — but you need to at least know why you’re going into business in the first place before you work with us.

+ How much of my time will I have to invest?

Expect to invest about 5 hours from start to finish. The Intake Discovery process that kicks off the whole experience takes most clients about 3-4 hours to complete, although some have completed it in only 1 hour. Our Strategy Unveiling Session with you via conference line is 1 hour. Then expect to spend: up to 30 minutes recording your questions for us in an email or a Google Doc to send along for written feedback.

We actually hope you’ll invest even more of your time after receiving the link to your Strategy Unveiling Site — reading through the pages, jotting down brainstorms, exploring your mood board, and staring into the eyes of your Right Person. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

+ How long does the process take, from start to finish?

Typically, from the day you complete your Discovery Intake to the day we meet for your Unveiling Session — two weeks. If we are in an extremely heavy production season, we’ll inform you of that upfront before you book. Our desire is to meet with you to share our findings as quickly as possible following completion of your Discovery Intake.

+ Are the findings you present unique to me? How do you know what my Right Person would want?

The findings we present are based on our proprietary methodology, which incorporates insights from many of the world’s most respected frameworks for understanding personality and human behavior. We overlay this with insights from behavioral types’ preferred behaviors in the context of buying.

So, yes! Your Right Person is a special snowflake — one you are uniquely designed to serve. One who is drawn to you because of who you are in the context of the solution you provide. Like all of us, at some level your Right Person believes no one can really understand what makes her tick. And, like all of us, she’s also a type of buyer who is trackable, predictable, and a lot like other human beings. This is the paradox of being a human being — we’re all completely one of a kind and yet completely alike!

We’ve designed Empathy Marketing to embrace, explore, and articulate these paradoxes in the context of a marketing strategy for your unique solution, to your unique Ideal Client, with your mix-mastered palette of Voice Values.

+ If I change my business, do I have to throw out this whole strategy?

We love sustainable solutions. That said, any solution is only as sustainable as A) the person implementing it, and B) the person receiving it.

If you change your focus in business or change who you’re focusing on, yes — your marketing strategy must realign.

The Empathy Marketing Approach is one person: one offer. That means that each sales offer you design should be optimized to serve one particular Right Person Profile.

The great thing about this approach is that the methodology translates to any offer, for any type of business, for any ideal client in any phase of life. You can take the principles you’ve absorbed and the structure you’ve learned through Empathy Marketing and apply them to the next great iteration of your work, or to your very next offer.

+ My business serves a variety of Right People with different demographic and psychographic profiles and different needs. Can Empathy Marketing accommodate this?

In a word, no.

And here’s why: we know you have the capacity to develop solutions, products, and services that would be meaningful for a variety of people. We’re not doubting your ability or your talent at all. In fact, even when you’re trying to create web content for just your Right Person, you will attract the attention of your Almost Right People and your Wrong People. (Important: neither your Almost Right People or your Wrong People are going to be your buyers.)

We serve emotionally mature, high integrity business owners who are serious about serving their Right People who are Most Likely To Buy. Period.

We also know that (A) you don’t have the infrastructure — in time, resources, or energy, and (B) the tools are not in existence at this price point to help you successfully optimize your brand, your website, and your offer for more than one persona type.

If you’re running a brick and mortar store where customers walk in and purchase goods from you in exchange for money — then yes, by all means, you ARE serving multiple persona types. That’s baked into your business model.

But if you’re running a business whose primary marketing channel is the web — you want to give yourself the best chance possible of succeeding. Study after study after user experience test after demographic survey after qualitative marketing focus group report shows that optimizing a brand for ONE Most Likely To Buy persona is the best route.

And it’s the only route we’ll take you on. Period.

Who Our Approach Is Not For:

The Empathy Marketing approach is not right for every business owner. It’s not for people who:

• can’t enjoy the freedom of a few constraints
• want to serve multiple audiences through one brand or one offer
• only want to work in the 1:1 time-for-money model
• are ambivalent about wanting to make a profit or aren’t convinced they want to be a consumer-focused business
• want to market inspiration instead of concrete solutions
• are intent on creating content solely by their own definition of successful instead of making their audience’s needs as important as their own
• are marketing, branding, or business coaching specialists looking to learn a new brand strategy approach

→ PIPER TOTH, ONLINE RETAIL CONSULTANT ↓

“I’ve taken a lot of online courses, but the way you guys presented this was so awesome. The moment you get your special portal link to answer questions, you get to chat with Tami and Abby at the end. They’re right there. You really figured out how to make this user-friendly. When I met my Right Person, I immediately got this sense of who she is and that I could just talk to her. You helped me get to the root of her problems and what she specifically needs help with. That part is always very challenging and other people don’t address that specifically. Business coaches sometimes start to, but it’s not in one place, whereas Empathy Marketing took me through it in one place.Learning about my Right Person changes how I’m going to be talking and the message of my brand. It’s more in line with who I am and where I am in life, too. I’m glad about that. I feel I can more easily talk to this person.”

→ JODI MCMURRAY, LIFE COACH FOR SOCIAL CHANGE AGENTS ↓

“Thank you again for the amazing collaborative experience Empathy Marketing is. It has helped me move leaps and bounds and I am so excited about moving forward. I was once stuck in fear and this process has been freeing. Thank you!! I have reviewed the material several times the past few days and it’s all becoming part of my DNA.”

 

→ Amy Rootvik, Health Coach ↓

“My Empathy Marketing experience saved me thousands of dollars
as I move forward with design and content decisions, knowing how
to most effectively connect with my Right People and avoid costly mistakes.
There’s a good combination of technical and artistic content, and
the bonus mood board adds a layer of delicious visual understanding.
Love it! The value of brand voice in support of effective truth-
telling has never been clearer.”

It’s never too late and never too soon to understand what (and why) your Right People will buy from you.

Are you ready to:

• understand your Most Likely To Buy person like never before,
• clarify your Brand Proposition — get inside how you serve and why, and
• articulate your Unique Selling Position so that your differentiator can lead your brand with clarity,

– all with the support of a brand voice specialist (Abby) and a holistic searchologist (Tami)?

Let’s get you started with Empathy Marketing.

Send us a note today using the form below. We’ll be in touch with you within 2 business days Pacific Standard Time (excluding Saturdays and Sundays) to confirm your interest and make sure this is the right time and the right route for you.