Speak to the pain. Promise the dream. [email 3/4]

Hi Creator,

Six months into business school, life was good.

I had amazing friends.

Tons of opportunities in front of me.

Everything about it felt like the “right path.”

Then spring break came.

I was building Solin with my brother.

Just the two of us, working late, tossing ideas around.

And that’s when COVID hit.

Campus shut down.

Classes went online.

Everything went sideways.

And we just… kept building.

One week turned into two.

Two turned into a month.

And eventually, I realized something: 

I wasn’t going back.

Walking away from a top business school was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made.

All my friends… gone.

All the safety… gone.

But the story I was telling myself about Solin – about what we could build for creators – was stronger than the story business school was telling me.

And that’s the whole point of branding.

Branding is the story your audience tells themselves about your offer.

It’s not colors.

It’s not fonts.

It’s three things:

• Their burning pain

• Their dream outcome

• What they refuse to sacrifice

A creator we work with has an audience of moms who follow her primarily for fat loss.

So which challenge do you think her people are more likely to buy?

6 Week Workout Challenge

or...

30 Day Busy Mom Fat Loss Method

The first is generic.

The second speaks directly to her core audience – busy moms – and promises the outcome they care about most: burning fat.

Same workouts.

Same coaching.

Different story.

In her case, the second name exploded because it solved the pain in the title.

Branding isn’t meant to be cute.

Branding is direction.

Branding is clarity.

Branding is: “This is for me, and I know exactly what I’m getting.”

Here’s your brand filter:

Pain: What hurts your audience?

Dream: What do they want in 6–8 weeks? (longer term goals are great too, but most people need shorter term progress to latch onto)

Non-negotiable: What won’t they give up to get there?

If your challenge name and branding answer those three things, it will fly off the shelves.

Tomorrow we bring it home with the engine that powers everything: content.

Great branding isn’t clever – it’s clarity,
Mathew