Viking Saga Part #5: Navigating Through Nasty Weather

Vikings didn’t use maps but they had a ton of different ways of working out which direction they were traveling and how to get to where they were going.

Sure, they might have thought that Polaris (the brightest, giant star in the sky that folks have navigated with for eternity) was just the jewel on the end of the spike that the gods stuck through the universe and around which the sky revolves .. but they managed to find their way around just fine.  

From the positioning of the sun and stars to the colour of the sea and whether there were birds or the familiar “smell” of being near land … they KNEW things that made navigation a hell of a lot easier.

I can only imagine that it was still scary as hell for Vikings to head out to sea and I’m pretty sure they didn’t take their 10-seconds of courage and strike a superhero pose.  But when you have some of the basics down, it makes anything a little less scary.

PART 5:  NAVIGATING DANGEROUS WATERS IN NASTY WEATHER

When you just drop content out on your blog or post randomly to social media or offer a new service/product, much like the Vikings, you’re headed out into uncharted territory.  

You don’t know what you’re walking into and you don’t have a clue how to prepare for the onslaught (or crickets) that is coming your way.

I taught you one way to handle this in our Shield Making Class.  But there’s something you can do long before that even happens.

The Vikings knew the sea intimately.  Consider yourself the Viking and the sea your audience.

If someone asks you who your audience is, the answer shouldn’t be generic enough that most of the world fits in it (like Moms or Entrepreneurs or Business Owners).   

You should be able to tell me something about them.  No .. I mean beyond their age, general location, or income level.  

You should be able to identify their problems beyond generics like “they aren’t making enough sales” or “no one shows up to their website”.  

The seasoned Viking could sail his ship by the sea breeze, the smell in the air, and the taste of the sea bed.  You need to be able to navigate amongst the billions of people on Earth with the same ease.

I’ve taught this many times on my blog and in-person to hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years – you can read those in detail here and here and here.

Here’s the high-level list of things you need to know.  To get the full 411 make sure you read those posts and watch the videos.

1.  You need to know the demographics – the basics like age, gender, income, etc.

2.  But more importantly, you need to know what makes them tick.

3.  Make your life easier by pretending that you’re writing to only ONE person.  (This is one of the reasons why when we create customer avatars, we give them a name!)

4.  Asking them is always going to be your best bet.  

5.  But don’t ask your family and friends.  They want the best for you and want to support you and their answers are usually fibs or far too generic to do anything with.

6.  The true test is whether or not someone opens their wallet.  

SAGA ADVENTURE MISSION: 

Write a letter to your one single customer (avatar) showing an understanding and sympathy for their pain and post it in my Facebook Group.  

I need you to trust me here. When you write a letter like this instead of trying to weave the pain and frustration into copy for your product or service it’s so much easier.  Pinky promise.

Here’s a little example to get your creative juices flowing.  Can you see some of the psychographic details in there?  

Dear Susan,

I wanted to drop a letter in the mail to you to see how you’re doing.  I know that your hubby Frank has been on you about your business not really taking off and I wanted you to know that I’m here for you if you need to bounce ideas around or just vent about what’s happening. 

Don’t let his lack of support get you down.  You have something wonderful to offer the world and you need to get it out.  I know that money has been tight since Frank’s the only one working and the kids being home is taking up a lot of your time, but I really do believe in you! 

In fact, I was thinking that maybe we should schedule in an hour a day when the kids are napping that we can hop on the phone and work together.  We don’t have to talk – we’ll just know that the other person is there if we need them and it’ll help keep our accountability in check to make sure we’re spending at least an hour working on something productive in our businesses. 

And let’s start up that nightly walk we’ve been talking about doing forever.  We could go after dinner and pop the kids in the stroller.  We’ll get some exercise and fresh air and it’ll be the perfect time to vent about stuff or get feedback on what we’ve been doing. 

I picked up one of those Hydra flasks you’ve been going on about too!  I’m using it with the alkaline stick I bought a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks for recommending that to me!!  

Don’t get weighed down by today’s mission.  Find a stock photo to use as a visualization of your customer. Post that and your letter in my Facebook Group. I’ll help you figure out what parts you need to work on to really know your customers intimately.