The money is in the counter-intuitive
I get paid so much because I sell the contradiction. So well.
I did a consulting call earlier this week that straight up blew my mind.
Not because the client wasn't brilliant. She absolutely is.
This woman gets BILLIONS of views per month with her viral content. That's not a typo. BILLIONS.
And now she wants to teach business owners how to leverage social media to get more customers.
Smart move.
But her positioning? Off.
Even though it seems to make sense. And it’s the one every other marketer would tell her to take.
But it was wrong.
Almost EVERYONE makes this same positioning mistake, too.
Let me break down this finer point of marketing that clients pay me $3,500 an hour to get right.
Because once we nail this, it makes everything else infinitely easier.
The Billion-View Problem
The problem with saying "I get a billion+ views per month" is simple:
There is zero reference point for her core audience.
None.
Business owners who want to use social media to get more customers can't relate to those numbers.
In fact, they're actually REPELLED by them.
Why?
Because they associate "viral content" with dancing teenagers, prank videos, and other nonsense that has nothing to do with getting actual customers.
They hear "billion views" and immediately think: "That's nice, but I'm trying to get manufacturers Osha Certified, not become TikTok famous."
It triggers their BS detector.
So despite her insane credibility, the way she was positioning it was actively working AGAINST her.
The Million-Dollar Reframe
Here's how we repositioned her:
"Hey, when I was getting a billion views per month..." (Establishing the credibility)
"...I noticed a pattern specific to business owners." (Targeting her market)
"I discovered that certain content gets certain VIEWERS – a lot FEWER viewers... but the kind who BUY."
"What I found is that there's specific content that attracts these viewers. It's thousands of viewers that produce MILLIONS of dollars. Not millions of viewers that only produce thousands."
Do you see what happened there?
I didn't diminish her credibility. I reframed it in a reality her audience can understand and actually WANTS.
They don't want a billion views.
They want the right thousand viewers who will actually give them money.
The Psychology Behind This Shift
This repositioning works because it:
Acknowledges her insane expertise (so they know she's qualified)
Shows she understands THEIR world (not just the influencer world)
Aligns with what they actually want (customers, not just views)
Makes the impossible seem possible (thousands of viewers vs. billions)
Focuses on the outcome they care about (revenue, not vanity metrics)
It's the difference between saying "I can teach you to be like me" versus "I can teach you to get what YOU want."
Why Most Marketing Positioning Fails
Most experts position themselves based on what THEY think is impressive.
"I made $10 million!"
"I have 500,000 followers!"
"I've been featured in Forbes!"
But they never stop to ask if their audience actually has a reference to those metrics.
Or worse... if those metrics actually create DISTANCE between them and their prospects.
Sometimes your biggest achievements can be your biggest liability if they make your audience think:
"That seems impossible for someone like me."
The trick is to use your credibility as a bridge, not a barrier.
How to Fix Your Own Positioning
Ask yourself these questions:
What achievement am I most proud of?
Does my target audience actually want that EXACT achievement?
If not, what part of my experience would be most relevant to what THEY want?
How can I reframe my expertise to show I understand THEIR world?
The goal is to translate it into a language and context that makes your audience think:
"This person gets me. And if they can help me get what I specifically want, I'm in."
Your positioning isn't about you.
It's about them.
And their ability to see themselves in the story you're telling.
It’s tricky… and that’s why it pays so well when you get it right.
Jason
P.S. If you're making this positioning mistake right now, don't beat yourself up. I see it with clients who are doing 8-9 figures.
Smart people.
But marketing is psychological warfare, and sometimes the most obvious things are the hardest to see when it's YOUR business.