The Situation:

Lourdes [not her real name] is designing a line of high quality, fashion forward toxin-free nail polish to sell at market. She has a 12-year track record in the beauty industry and for the past 5 has been studying organic beauty products and talking with chemists who are committed to researching and making ethically sourced, toxin-free products. She’s beta tested small batches of her products extensively on family, friends, and friends of friends for the past year and has solid testimonials to share.

Lourdes is getting ready to bring her new nail polish line to the web. She wants to make sure that she positions the brand in a way that appeals to her intended Right People buyers: high end, eco-friendly boutiques, as well as consumers who are searching for toxin-free beauty products. She’s a capable writer with lots to say and is willing to blog and participate in social media if she knows there’ll be some yield on her time investment.

Lourdes’ Voice Values are Love, Accuracy, Depth, Enthusiasm, and Clarity.

Lourdes is in Phase 2 of her microbusiness brand development, what we call the Avid Adopter phase. She’s hungry, ambitious, and a bit impatient. But at the same time, she’s not hasty. She’s a Methodical Buyer who approaches decisions carefully.

Pop Quiz Time:

What’s Lourdes’ best next step?

A) Hire a web designer and get this brand built! After all, it’s fun to pin color palettes and that’ll be a nice distraction from the drier work of reading lab reports.

B) Start burning the midnight oil writing site copy for her Right Person buyer, leaning on her hunches and her intuition to guide her, plus the real-life feedback she’s gotten from her nail polish beta testers. What was that her neighbor Martine’s sister Kelly said? Oh, yes, “I liked how the Carousel Coral smelled like cotton candy. Nice touch.” [Note: Lourdes purses her lips and emphatically crosses out Kelly’s observation. Cotton candy???]

C) Hire a college student at $12/hour to research online shopping cart options for her. There’s so much to do still when it comes to “branding,” but the practical stuff can’t get lost in the shuffle.

D) Get clear on the Pressing Problem her business solves so that she can articulate her Brand Proposition clearly and powerfully to her web designer, to her copywriter, and most importantly, to her Right Person buyer.

Spoiler Alert!

Choice ‘D’ is the best use of Lourdes’ energy right now. While it’s true that Lourdes already has a product to sell, she’s not ready to do the deep (and FUN!) work of branding her business unless and until she’s clear on her Brand Proposition.

A Brand Proposition is a clear statement of The Value (what your business offers), The Vibe (the style or manner in which you deliver — AKA your Voice Values), The Who (who you serve), and The View (what makes you different — your individuated point of view on the solution you offer).

But before your (and Lourdes’) Brand Proposition comes shimmering into clarity (or mortared in soundly, if that’s more your vibe), you (and Lourdes) must identify the Pressing Problem your business solves.

Your Pressing Problem is the thing that makes you pound your fist on the table.

It’s the issue in your industry or the challenge you see good people facing that gets you all riled up.

Because life/laundry/dog training/living with an autoimmune disorder/throwing a surprise party for your partner shouldn’t have to be so damn hard.

IMPORTANT: The Pressing Problem doesn’t have to be a life-crushing, I-can’t-get-up-off-the-floor-because-of-this issue for your Right Person.

Nope. Not all businesses solve problems that are dire or drastic or grave in nature.

Your Right Person might experience the Pressing Problem your business solves as a minor ache, an irritating lack, or an annoying itch. The Pressing Problem pokes at her just acutely enough to keep her aware of its presence. (Note: The Pressing Problem pokes acutely at her. You don’t have to poke.)

When your Right Person finds you and your solution, she’ll think, “Hot damn! I’d LOVE to get rid of this problem.”

And YOU want to be someone who creates a solution to that Pressing Problem.

What Happens Next

Well, for Lourdes, it’s time to get clear on what words her Right People might think about when they’re looking for products like hers online.

This can be easier said than done.

What might be obvious to us — “Lourdes, they probably are thinking about — and most likely searching for — non-toxic nail polish” — can feel like a mystery to the brand creator herself.

Lourdes is a very smart person. She’s done her research, she’s deeply invested in the product she’s creating, and she wants nothing less than for her online brand presence to reflect The Value of what she’s got clearly and powerfully.

But when she thinks about what her Right Person buyer might be searching for online that would lead them to her and her brand, she thinks like this:

“Well, women want to feel beautiful. They want to feel alive again, light and free in their own skin. They feel a deep disconnection from the mainstream beauty industry, which says to be young and beautiful at all costs. They buy these over the counter beauty products with no understanding of the chemicals in them. Much less, what those chemicals are doing to their bodies from the insides out. They are all endocrine disruptors. Anyhow, I digress. My Right Person wants to feel beautiful, and sexy, and young. Even well into middle age. That’s important to her. I could see educated, savvy women ages 40-65 really liking my line. Although, my Right Person could probably be a teenager, too. So, maybe my Right Person is actually anywhere from ages 15 — or 13? — through 65. Wait a minute! Maybe I need three different Right Person Profiles. I do, don’t I? Three different Right Person Profiles, one for each color story in the collection. But oh, there’ll be crossover in which colors different women like. Oh my God, this is confusing.”

So again, Lourdes, what’s the Pressing Problem your business solves?

Many of us can relate to Lourdes, including me in one phase of my brand development. It’s a normal transition when you’re moving from passion to clarity — and it can occur even after you’ve launched your website and sold your first product.

Sometimes, we feel the urge to launch already, and at the same time, we still sense we’re not seeing the (very rich and well-groomed) forest for the (very distracting) trees.

If this is you, it’s time to get clear on the Pressing Problem your business solves.

The Voice Bureau’s Beta Empathy Marketing DIY helps you do that and more. From identifying the Pressing Problem to understanding your Right Person reader and buyer to articulating what makes your solution more desirable to your Right Person from a range of available options (including the option to do nothing), then you may want to check it out.

All the DIY details are here and your password for the page is: innerwork

If you’re reading this before June 8th, 2013, there’s still time to enroll for the very first Beta session. We’ve just opened up five more seats and we’d love to have you with us.

And oh, hey, if you happen to know Lourdes, feel free to invite her, too.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

Have you been in a phase of business or brand development where you couldn’t see the forest for the trees? How did you find your way through?