Problems: The 4Ps of Brand Messaging
As a business owner, you’re constantly working on the what stuff.
What to say to sell your latest and greatest thing, what to say to share your free resource, and what to use to communicate value to your people (you know, the kind of value that makes them click, connect, and care about whatever it is you’re talking about).
Whether you know it or not, you’re always focused on messaging – because messaging is the go-to plan behind that what stuff.
A messaging guide helps you put all your compelling points into one place for consistency and ease.
That way, if you want to talk about an offer, you open that guide and know what to say to get your people to care, connect with, and cash in on the thing you’re sharing.
Easy, right? Well, here’s the plot twist: messaging gets overwhelming.
Choosing what goes in our messaging guide – what hits the hardest with our people – is tricky. Sometimes, as the creator or business owner, we’re way too close to our offer or service – the stuff we think people are going to care about is really just a reflection of what we *think they are about*.
And that doesn’t necessarily click with them.
To shake up how we think about messaging and stop our own brand messaging freeze, we can do a whole host of little mental gymnastic exercises to get a hot jolt of inspo for what to say.
One of those go-to exercises? The 4Ps of messaging.
Lil Key Takeaways: This Blog at a Glance
Understanding problems is a must for messaging: not to be a drag, but to show them we get them. It’s biological – we want to solve our problems.
Get real with your people’s problems: Don't just skim the surface – dig deep into what’s really bugging them.
Speak their language: Understand the root cause, not just the symptoms, and you'll be miles ahead.
Empathy > Exploitation: Don't hit 'em with their struggles. Recognize it, show you get it, and guide them to a solution.
Make pain points a bridge, not a hammer: Turn problems into connection points by offering the light at the end of the tunnel.
Mini Messaging Marker – a 12-min training that walks you through the 4Ps (problems included!) and gives you a hot jolt of inspo on what to say to sell or share your latest & greatest thing.
The Ins & Outs of the 4Ps of Messaging: Problems
The 4Ps 101: What You Need to Know
Before we dive into the problem stuff, know that I’ve got a full blog all about the 4Ps of messaging that gives you an overview of this tried and true practice for shaking up brand messaging funks.
(Feel free to take a peek at it, then come back here for a specific lesson all about one of the 4Ps – problems).
The very basic 101 version is essentially this: The 4Ps of messaging is a quick fix to shake up the way your brain thinks about building a messaging guide when you’re stuck on what to say.
It covers four main messaging points that you need to understand who you’re talking to and what’s the most important stuff to say.
People: Who’s this offer for?
Problems: What’s keeping your people up at night?
Promises: What’s the payoff of this offer?
POVs: What makes your thing actually different?
For the best results, I’d recommend working through each point in order (they all lend themselves to the next step).
(Psssst. I have a quick, 12-minute training on the 4Ps of messaging called Mini Messaging Marker. It walks you through this process with real-life examples. By the end of it, you can map out key messaging points to sell and share your stuff better.
Problems, Problems, Problems: Getting to the Root of Theirs
Issues. Pain Points. Dilemmas.
No matter what we call them, every person has problems – including your dream people.
Understanding our people’s problems is a key part of messaging.
Not necessarily because we want to rub it in their face that they’ve got an issue, but to make a connection with them, show them that we get where they’re coming from, and present them with an empathic solution.
Why Do Marketers Care So Much About Pain Points
Humans are sometimes motivated by discomfort – it’s a survival thing. When something is bugging us, we want it to stop bugging us. If something hurts, we want to fix it – when something feels off, we want to resolve it.
Understanding pain points helps us tap into our people’s primal wiring – not to manipulate our people, but to understand and guide them in the right direction.
When we put a sales psych spin on this, we realize that pain points (or problems) activate what’s called a problem-aware state in the brain. When we tap into that, we see that people are way more likely to take action when:
They realize something isn’t working
They can clearly name what that something is
They feel seen and understood by someone who *gets it*
Pain points trigger emotions and thoughts. They act sort of like magnets – drawing attention, sparking resonance, and creating urgency.
Why You Should Add Problems & Pain Points to Your Messaging Guides
To be blunt? For a lot of reasons.
First, like I said a second ago, it shows them that you get them. Understanding our peoples’ problems and pain points is about so much more than just throwing it back in their faces. When we know the problems, we know how to better connect with our people; then we can show them we hear them, we see them, and we get them.
Second, it helps you speak like your audience thinks. Understanding what keeps them up at night lets you talk to them in their internal language. That “UGH, I hate this!” voice in their head? You can echo it (gently!) and guide them toward a solution (your offer).
Third, pain points speak to the transformation. Messaging (and marketing in general) is really just great storytelling. A tale of “this is where you are, but this is where you could be.” Pain points help to set the stage and inform the first part of the transformation.
Have you ever seen a weight loss or fitness ad where they have the before and after photos? The after photo would be a lot less powerful if the before photo didn’t exist. Pain points tell your people where they are before the transformation; the promise of your offer tells them where they could be.
Finally, knowing pain points helps you build trust. When you can speak to a real-life struggle and name it better than your people can (or they go, “Hey, wait! That’s exactly what I’m dealing with!), that unlocks both authority and empathy. That power-packed combo softens defenses and makes people more open to your message.
Surface Problems vs. Root Problems: What’s the Difference
When we talk about problems, it’s really easy to sit down and say, “this is the problem my people are facing,” and then sort of bend those answers to what we think they’re facing (instead of what they’re actually dealing with).
The problems you speak to for your people should be their problems.
The things that keep them up at night.
The stuff that echoes on repeat in their head.
Their deepest fears and insecurities.
The stuff that bugs them to no end.
And most of those aren’t necessarily surface-level problems – they’re root problems (what I like to call the real problems).
The issue is that we’re usually way too close to our own stuff to boil down problems to our peoples’ languages. But that’s the most important thing when it comes to problem-based messaging.
In other words, we’re up way up here on the top floor of an issue – our people are on the ground floor with a root problem.
Digging deeper – getting to that root issue – is what uncovers the true emotional driver behind your people’s problems.
Getting to the Root Problem – The Five Whys
You see why it’s important to get to the root problem. But how do you go about that?
The best (and easiest) way to get from that surface problem all the way down to the root problem our people are dealing with is to just ask one question: why.
Then answer it.
Then ask why again. Answer that.
Then ask why again, and answer that. Do it again. And again. Do it five whole times.
I wish I could claim credit for The 5 Whys, but the truth is that one of the smart guys behind Toyota (Sakichi Toyoda) developed The 5 Whys in the 1930s (then used a ton in the 1970s) as a way to get directly to the root of issues.
It’s all about finding the root cause of the problem. The idea? Once you find the root problem, you can create the solution.
Essentially, by the time you get to that fifth why, you’ve taken yourself from this nonsense, surface problem and brought yourself down to the ground level to the root problem.
And that’s the root issue you want to talk about in your messaging.
Turning Pains Points Into Connection Points: Identify, Relate, Connect
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – we never want pain points to be an *in your face* kind of exercise. We’re not here to hit our people on the head with the fact that they’ve got problems (and that we know it).
We identify them by saying, “Hey, I see you. I’ve been there. Let’s get you out of it.”
When we surface a pain point, our goal isn’t to exploit it; it’s to name it in a way that feels like relief to the person reading. Like, “Hey! Finally, someone put words to what I’ve been feeling.”
That moment of recognition? That’s the bridge. That’s where a pain point becomes a proof point or a connection point. We get them, we care, and we could help them walk toward a better way.
Identifying problems shouldn’t be about amplifying pain; it should be about lighting a path with real empathy and solving an issue.
So, how can we turn those acutely identified pain points into connection points?
Identify the surface struggle.
Figure out the root problem.
Connect the dots – where do you empathize?
Mirror back that pain with real, honest-to-God compassion.
Share the light at the end of the tunnel (you’re here now, you could be here).
Position yourself as the partner who gets it (because if you’ve done this right, you actually do).
Understand Your People’s Problems – Mini Messaging Marker
You don’t ever need to guilt-trip your people into working with you – you just need a clear understanding of their root issues, their language, and what they’re dealing with. Once you get their pain points, you can show them solutions.
That’s what great messaging does. It meets your people where they’re at, shows them understanding empathy, and clears the path for where they could be.
Want a lil help shaking up your messaging strategy? Mini Messaging Marker can help. It’s a quick 12-minute messaging training that gives you a hot jolt of inspo on what to say to speak to your people (and sell your stuff).
I’ll walk with you through the 4Ps, share examples as we go, and help you create powerful messaging points to sell or share your offer.
