Experts spend a lot of time trying to prove they're good.

Understandably.

We display credentials.

Years of experience.

Certifications.

Testimonials.

Client logos.

Awards.

Methodologies.

Books.

Podcasts.

Speaking engagements.

Case studies.

Maybe a photograph of ourselves standing confidently in front of a suspiciously large bookshelf.

All designed to answer an important question:

Can this person actually help me?

But there’s another question buyers are asking that may matter even more.

Can this person help someone like me?

Those are not the same question.

A prospect can believe you're extremely competent and still decide you're not the right choice.

Not because they doubt your expertise.

Because they don't clearly see themselves in it.

That's a relevance problem.

And experts accidentally create it all the time.

Expertise in the Abstract Isn't Enough

Imagine you're considering hiring a consultant.

You visit their website.

They have twenty years of experience.

Impressive clients.

Excellent testimonials.

A sophisticated methodology.

A polished website.

Everything suggests:

This person knows what they're doing.

Good.

But you're still wondering:

Do they understand my kind of business?

Have they seen my version of this problem?

Does their approach make sense at my size?

Will this work if I don't have a large team?

Are they solving the problem I actually have?

Do they understand why the things I've already tried haven't worked?

Notice what happened.

Competence has been established.

The decision still isn't made.

Because credibility answers:

Are you good?

Relevance answers:

Are you good for me?

Buyers Are Constantly Looking for Themselves

When prospects encounter your marketing, they're doing something you may not notice.

They're searching for clues.

A consultant reads your article and thinks:

Does this sound like the clients I deal with?

A coach watches your webinar and wonders:

Is this designed for someone at my stage?

A solopreneur visits your sales page and asks:

Will this still work if I'm doing nearly everything myself?

A service provider reads your case study and thinks:

That company had fifteen employees. I have one. Does this apply to me?

The buyer is trying to place themselves inside your explanation.

That's why specific content can be so powerful.

It gives people something recognizable.

Not simply:

“Businesses struggle with inconsistent sales.”

But:

“You have people reading your content, opening your emails, even telling you they like what you do—but very few are moving into serious conversations.”

A particular buyer reads that and thinks:

That's me.

That moment matters.

Recognition Often Comes Before Persuasion

Marketing tends to focus heavily on persuasion.

How do we convince people?

How do we overcome objections?

How do we explain the value?

How do we improve conversion?

All useful questions.

But persuasion gets much easier after recognition.

Before I can decide your answer is valuable, I need to believe you're answering my question.

Before I care about your solution, I need to recognize my problem.

Before I believe your process fits, I need to see evidence that you understand my situation.

If that connection never happens, your marketing may sound excellent while remaining strangely distant.

The buyer admires it.

They just don't enter it.

Generic Messaging Forces the Buyer to Do the Work

Consider this message:

We help entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses through proven strategies designed to create clarity, confidence, and growth.

Nothing is obviously wrong with it.

It may even be accurate.

But the prospect has quite a bit of interpretation left to do.

What kind of entrepreneur?

What kind of growth?

What problem?

What stage?

What isn't working now?

What makes this different?

Why would I need it?

The business has left the buyer with homework:

Figure out whether this applies to you.

Some buyers will.

Many will not.

Now consider:

You're visible. You're publishing. People seem interested. But too few of those people are turning into qualified sales conversations.

That's narrower.

It excludes some people.

Good.

For the person experiencing exactly that situation, it creates recognition.

They don't have to translate your expertise into their world.

You've already entered theirs.

Specificity Doesn't Make Your Market Smaller in the Way You Think

This is where experts sometimes get nervous.

If I get too specific, won't I exclude people?

Yes.

That's partly the point.

Clear positioning should help some people recognize that they are not the right fit.

Otherwise the messaging isn't doing much positioning.

But specificity can also make your relevance feel larger to the right person.

Compare:

“I help businesses improve marketing.”

with:

“I help independent experts who are getting attention but not enough qualified conversations figure out where buyers are losing the thread.”

The second statement applies to fewer people.

But to the right person, it applies much more strongly.

That trade-off makes some business owners uncomfortable.

They want everyone to feel welcome.

So they broaden the message.

Then everyone can technically qualify.

Unfortunately, nobody feels particularly recognized.

Your Best Buyers May Describe the Problem Differently Than You Do

There’s another complication.

Experts tend to describe problems using expert language.

Buyers often don't.

You might think the problem is:

Positioning misalignment.

The buyer says:

“People seem interested, but they don't buy.”

You call it:

Insufficient differentiation.

They say:

“Everybody in my industry sounds the same.”

You see:

A conversion-stage messaging problem.

They say:

“I get inquiries, but they go nowhere.”

You diagnose:

Weak buyer urgency.

They say:

“People tell me they want this and then disappear.”

Your terminology may be more precise.

But if the buyer doesn't recognize the language, precision can actually reduce relevance.

You can introduce the expert explanation later.

First, help them recognize the situation.

Listen for the Sentence Before the Diagnosis

One of the most useful things you can collect from customers and prospects is not simply their opinion.

It's their description of what happened.

What were they trying to accomplish?

What happened instead?

What did they notice?

What did they try?

What finally made them look for help?

What did they call the problem before they knew what you called it?

That's useful material.

Suppose a buyer says:

“I kept thinking I needed more leads, but every time I got more traffic, nothing really changed.”

There's an article.

Or:

“People would tell me the webinar was great, but almost nobody booked a call afterward.”

There's another.

Or:

“I was posting all the time, but I couldn't tell whether any of it was helping the business.”

Another.

These statements contain context.

They contain behavior.

They contain frustration.

Most importantly, they contain recognition.

The buyer hearing the same experience thinks:

Someone else has been here.

Case Studies Fail When the Buyer Can't Make the Leap

Case studies are supposed to create confidence.

Sometimes they accidentally create distance.

Imagine you're a one-person consulting business and the case study begins:

“When GlobalMegaCorp approached us with its 47-person marketing team…”

Very impressive.

Also possibly irrelevant.

The buyer may conclude:

Of course it worked for them. Look at the resources they have.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't showcase substantial clients.

It means the buyer needs enough context to understand why the evidence applies.

A useful case study helps answer:

What was the situation?

What made the problem recognizable?

What constraints existed?

What had already been tried?

What did you notice that mattered?

What decision changed?

Why is that relevant to someone reading this now?

Without that bridge, proof remains proof of competence.

Not necessarily proof of fit.

Testimonials Need Context Too

The same issue appears with testimonials.

Consider:

“Amazing experience. Highly recommended!”

Nice.

Now:

“I had plenty of people attending my webinars, but almost nobody was moving into sales conversations. The first thing we discovered was that I was teaching the solution before helping people recognize why the problem mattered.”

Much more useful.

Why?

Because the reader can compare the situation with their own.

The testimonial isn't merely praising the provider.

It gives the buyer something to recognize.

That's the real power of specific proof.

You Don't Need to Claim “I Understand You”

There’s a phrase businesses love:

We understand your challenges.

Maybe you do.

But saying it isn't particularly strong evidence.

Show me.

Describe something I thought was unique to my situation.

Name a trade-off I've been struggling with.

Explain why the obvious solution hasn't worked.

Point out the workaround I've gradually accepted as normal.

Ask the question nobody else has asked.

Tell me why my symptoms might be pointing to the wrong diagnosis.

If you can do those things, you don't need to announce:

We understand you.

The buyer will reach that conclusion themselves.

That's much stronger.

Expertise Becomes More Valuable When It Is Applied

Generic expertise says:

Here is what I know.

Relevant expertise says:

Here is what I notice about situations like yours.

That's a significant difference.

You can know everything about marketing and still fail to help a particular business diagnose why prospects aren't moving.

You can know everything about leadership and still miss what is actually happening inside a particular team.

You can know everything about sales and still apply the wrong recommendation because you misunderstood the buying situation.

Knowledge is valuable.

Applied judgment is more valuable.

And relevance is the evidence that your expertise can make that transition.

The Buyer Doesn't Want to Become Your Typical Client

This is another subtle mistake.

Businesses sometimes describe their ideal customer from their own perspective.

“We work with ambitious entrepreneurs.”

“We serve growth-minded leaders.”

“We help visionary founders.”

“We partner with high-performing businesses.”

The labels sound positive.

But buyers don't necessarily walk around describing themselves that way.

Very few people wake up Tuesday morning and announce:

“As a growth-minded visionary, I need assistance.”

They wake up thinking:

“Why did three proposals go nowhere this month?”

Or:

“Why am I working this hard to get clients?”

Or:

“Why are people reading everything and buying nothing?”

Or:

“Why does my business depend on me chasing every opportunity?”

That's where recognition lives.

In the situation.

Not the flattering label.

Relevance Is Often About the Problem, Not the Demographic

There’s a tendency to think relevance means increasingly narrow demographics.

Age.

Gender.

Industry.

Location.

Revenue.

Company size.

Sometimes those matter enormously.

Sometimes they don't.

Two very different businesses can experience the same underlying buying problem.

And two nearly identical businesses can have completely different reasons for struggling.

That's why problem specificity can be more useful than demographic specificity.

Instead of asking only:

Who is my buyer?

ask:

What has to be happening for my expertise to become relevant?

That's a different question.

You might discover that your strongest buyers share a situation rather than an industry.

They've reached a certain trigger event.

They've tried a certain workaround.

They've encountered a particular failure.

They're stuck at a particular decision.

That can give you much richer positioning than another persona description involving coffee preferences and favorite social platforms.

Beware of Persona Theater

Buyer personas can be helpful.

They can also become an elaborate creative-writing exercise.

Let's call our prospect Sarah.

Sarah is 42.

She owns a consulting business.

She drives an SUV.

She enjoys podcasts, yoga, organic coffee, and spending weekends with her family.

Wonderful.

Do we know why Sarah hasn't purchased?

Not yet.

I'd rather know:

What is Sarah trying to accomplish?

What is happening instead?

What has she already tried?

What did those attempts cost?

What does she believe is causing the problem?

What evidence might suggest she's wrong?

What happened recently that made the issue more important?

What risk does she see in choosing a solution?

What would make her conclude:

This person understands what I'm dealing with?

That's buyer understanding.

Her coffee order can wait.

Your Content Should Create Moments of Self-Recognition

One of the best tests for authority content is whether the right prospect can find themselves in it.

Not whether the article is educational.

Not whether it has five tips.

Not whether the grammar is perfect.

Not whether the design looks good.

Ask:

Where does the buyer say, “That's exactly what is happening to me”?

That moment may come from an observation.

A question.

An example.

A distinction.

A description of a workaround.

A mistake.

A trade-off.

A trigger event.

A sentence they've said themselves.

That's the moment when content stops being about a topic and starts becoming about the reader.

And once that happens, your expertise becomes relevant.

AI Makes Generic Relevance Easier to Fake

AI adds another wrinkle.

You can ask it:

“Write marketing copy for consultants struggling with lead generation.”

And it will produce something plausible.

Pain points.

Benefits.

Objections.

Maybe even a buyer persona.

Useful starting material.

But plausible is not the same as observed.

If the language isn't grounded in actual conversations, behavior, questions, workarounds, decisions, and customer evidence, you can end up with highly polished assumptions.

That's dangerous because the copy sounds convincing.

To you.

The real buyer may read it and feel nothing.

AI should help you interrogate customer evidence.

Organize interview notes.

Compare sales conversations.

Identify repeated language.

Find patterns in objections.

Challenge your assumptions.

But it shouldn't replace looking at what buyers actually do.

Otherwise you're using technology to become very efficient at imagining the customer.

Don't Ask Buyers to Tell You Your Positioning

There's another extreme.

If we need relevance, why not simply ask customers what the message should be?

Because buyers aren't necessarily positioning strategists.

They can give you evidence.

They can describe experiences.

They can tell you what they did.

They can explain what frustrated them.

They can tell you what they tried.

They can describe why they chose one thing instead of another.

That's tremendously valuable.

Your job is to interpret it.

The buyer provides evidence.

The expert extracts meaning.

That's where your judgment belongs.

The Right Buyer Should Feel a Little Exposed

Not embarrassed.

Not manipulated.

Recognized.

Good positioning can create a moment where the prospect thinks:

How did they know that's what I've been doing?

Maybe your article describes the exact spreadsheet workaround they've been maintaining.

Maybe you explain why the extra content they're creating isn't producing conversations.

Maybe you describe the pattern where prospects enthusiastically agree and then disappear.

Maybe you name the hesitation they've been reluctant to admit.

That feeling of recognition is powerful because it provides evidence.

You aren't merely telling the prospect you're relevant.

You're demonstrating it.

Make It Easier for the Wrong Buyer to Leave

This is the other side of relevance.

Strong positioning shouldn't only attract.

It should also help people self-select out.

You can say:

This probably isn't the first thing I'd fix if you're not getting any attention at all.

Or:

If your primary problem is closing qualified prospects who are already ready to buy, this may not be the issue.

Or:

If you haven't spoken with actual customers yet, I wouldn't build a complicated funnel around assumptions.

These statements narrow the fit.

They can also increase trust.

Because the prospect sees that you aren't trying to make every situation look like a reason to buy your solution.

Sometimes relevance means saying:

This isn't for you yet.

“For Me” Is Part of the Buying Decision

By the time a buyer makes a meaningful purchase, several things may need to feel true.

I recognize the problem.

I believe it matters.

I trust this person.

I understand the approach.

The risk feels reasonable.

And:

I believe this fits my situation.

Miss that last one and the buyer may admire you indefinitely without hiring you.

That's why relevance can't be treated as a few industry names sprinkled onto a sales page.

It has to run through your positioning.

Your examples.

Your questions.

Your content.

Your proof.

Your offers.

Your sales conversations.

The buyer should not have to work very hard to figure out whether you understand their world.

Don't Just Demonstrate Expertise. Demonstrate Fit.

There's nothing wrong with credentials.

Use them.

There's nothing wrong with testimonials.

Show them.

There's nothing wrong with explaining your methodology.

Explain it.

But don't assume those things answer the entire buying question.

The prospect isn't choosing “expertise” as an abstract concept.

They're choosing someone to help with this problem, in this situation, at this moment.

So before your next article, sales page, webinar, or conversation, ask:

Where will the right buyer recognize themselves?

What situation will you describe?

What behavior?

What failed attempt?

What workaround?

What question?

What consequence?

What misunderstanding?

What trigger event?

Give the buyer enough specificity to think:

That's me.

Because once that happens, you don't have to work nearly as hard to tell them you're relevant.

You've already shown them.

So... Does the Right Buyer Recognize Themselves in Your Marketing?

If you're visible, credible, and sharing useful expertise but prospects still aren't clearly seeing why your solution fits their particular situation, the Problem Clarity Check™ can help you identify where that buyer-understanding gap may be happening.