Craft a detailed problem statement
As you inhabit the problem space, you stay open-minded and focused on questioning:
What is the problem?
Is that really the problem?
Where is the problem coming from?
Whose problem is it?
If you’re like most others, you’ll start this process with a vague problem statement that you think is specific enough — maybe along the lines of, “Copywriters use too many buzzwords.”
Not bad, but don’t stop there. Keep chipping away until you have 1 or 2 sentences describing a singular problem that’s tied to a specific person (most likely you, at this point). Here’s how that could play out for the above example.
Problem statements for “too many buzzwords in B2B copy”:
Bad: “B2B copy has gotten repetitive and derivative, with little leeway or reward for experimentation and breaking the mold.”
Good: “Increasing competitive pressures and ever-changing search algorithms have led B2B copywriters to focus on increasing their word count instead of making every word count.”
Better: “The focus on quantity over quality in lead-gen B2B copywriting has made it so writers are held to exponentially increasing metrics without a corresponding increase in resources.”
See how each step pushes you to the next via a “why”? That’s the right way to interrogate a problem so you can get closer to a human-centered pain. What does the pain look like? Who else has that pain? What’s their pain stemming from?
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