Your offer is going to solve a problem for your target audience. In this step, you’ll identify that problem, much as you would if you were telling a story…

• Your target audience is the hero in your video script
• The hero is facing a challenge or problem. That problem is going to be the bad-guy or antagonist
• Your offer (product or service) will become the tool or weapon your viewers can use to solve their problem. To beat the bad-guy or slay the dragon, as it were

When identifying the problem, keep in mind that customers don’t buy products. They buy transformation. Your product or service helps to transform them from the “before state”—where they have a problem—to the desired “after state”—where their problem has been solved and they’ve reached their ideal.

To help you hone in on the problem and your customers’ before and after state, you need to complete the Before & After Grid. If you have already from another of our trainings, great, you’re one step ahead! If not, fill out the Grid here. Watch this video below to understand how to fill out the Before & After Grid. 

RESOURCE: Before & After Grid worksheet

If you want to dive even deeper into your customer’s before and after state, we recommend you go through our Customer Avatar Playbook to create a Before & After Grid.

Keep in mind, for your VSL to be successful, your viewers must instantly recognize themselves as the hero, and they must have first-hand experience with the problem you identify here for this to resonate with them.