Elevate your business with Jobs-To-Be-Done driven marketing

If you’re struggling to connect with clients, Jobs To Be Done theory can help you frame your marketing so it resonates with what matters

A criminal defense firm was seeing great traffic to their site. Thousands of users came in organically each month. It would have made a lot of firms happy, but there was a big problem: Their conversion rate was nearly nonexistent.

On the surface, their site looked professional and trustworthy, yet they had low engagement and a high bounce rate. When they turned to us for help turning things around, we initially identified a few web design issues that could have been contributing to the low conversion rate, but what we were most drawn to was their website’s messaging.

It was mainly focused on their experience, their results, and their practice areas. In short, it was focused on them. Then we asked them, “when you talk to clients, what’s their biggest concern?” They said that clients are worried about their reputation and employability, but more so about what damage to that means for their family. If they’re charged or sent to jail, they might not be able to provide for their family, and that thought is unbearable to them.

Armed with that knowledge, we updated the copy on their site to focus first on protecting their family safety, then on reputation. Finally, we bolstered those emotional appeals with the firm’s credentials. The results? The site’s conversion rate jumped from barely above 0% to just under 5%.

If there was one thing to explain so many of the problems businesses face with their marketing, it would be this: you’re talking about solutions, but your customers are talking about problems. A strategy for getting your marketing resources back on track is understanding your customers’ Jobs To Be Done.

In this article, we’re going to explore the Jobs To Be Done theory, why it matters for your marketing, and how you can integrate it into your website. Let’s get started by taking a short detour to talk about jobs-to-be-done theory.

Jobs To Be Done-based marketing

Jobs-to-be-done theory essentially says that customers’ problems are ‘jobs.’ Customers and clients then look for something that they can ‘hire’ for their job. Consider something as simple as a garbage bag:

The job to be done: Easily removing the garbage from the can

The product that gets hired: A garbage bag with handles.

It’s pretty simple. If it works, the customer will keep buying the product. But if the handles break or the bags don’t contain odors, the customer might ‘fire’ the bag and look for a new one.

Now consider buying a vehicle. You run into problems right away because the job is… what? To get from point A to point B? Jobs often appear to be relatively simple and logical, but they’re layered with emotions that are anything but simple and logical.

A car also has the job of making you feel safe, or signaling your wealth, or making you think you’ve made an economical purchase. Your customers’ Jobs To Be Done are about more than just the surface-level task, and when your marketing can tap into and resonate with those hidden emotional layers, you’ll see better results.

Examples of jobs to be done by industry

• If you’re an HVAC business, your customers’ main job is probably to heat and cool their property. They also want to be able to trust their service provider, they want to know their home’s air is healthy for their kids, and they want all that without stress.
• If you’re a lawyer, your customers’ main job is to provide representation. It’s also about providing clarity in a situation that appears to be full of ambiguity and risk.
• If you’re an executive recruiter, your customers’ jobs are to fill high-impact roles. It’s also about laying the foundation for long-term success, providing stability in times of change, and giving your clients time back.

Anybody can see the main job. But your ability to understand those deeper needs and secondary jobs is what really resonates with customers and clients and sells them on your business.

How to speak to your customers’ jobs to be done online

When you understand and address your customers’ jobs to be done, your marketing will resonate with them more. Here are some key places to illustrate your knowledge:

1. Speak to customer needs with your service pages, blogs, and CTAs

Your website is one of the first places potential customers and clients will turn to see if

When a customer or client is looking to ‘hire’ someone, they’ll do research. If you’ve positioned yourself well with SEO, your website will show up during that research. If they visit your website, it’s a huge opportunity for you to show them that you understand their problem and that you’re the perfect solution for it.

By tailoring these site features to your customers’ Jobs To Be Done, you can earn more business:

• Calls-to-action and buttons: Your buttons should go beyond ‘contact us.’ While that gives a clear action, it doesn’t give a reason. Put another way, it commands action, but doesn’t inspire it. Instead, try using benefits-based language. So, if you’re an HVAC provider doing indoor air quality assessments, consider writing something like ‘get my air quality under control.’ If you’re an executive recruiter, consider something like ‘find your next leader.’
• Service pages: Your service pages are a huge opportunity to show how you fit your potential customers’ jobs. Think of your website like a toolbox. Should your customers or clients have to guess what’s inside and then have to rummage around to see if you have what they need? No. They want to be able to clearly see if you have the tool for their job. Service pages help you say, ‘yup, we’ve got it right here.’
• Blogs: When it comes to demonstrating that you’re the right fit for a customer or client’s job, blogs act similarly to service pages. Blogs (and other assets like white papers and eBooks) are incredibly valuable for demonstrating that you have a deep understanding of your customers or client’s nuanced problems — and how you help address them.

Remember, your customers are looking to hire someone for their problem. Drop the jargon from your website, give your customers something to identify with, and say hello to results. 

Imagine your website is a toolbox for potential customers and clients. Service pages help them know if you have the tool they need to solve their problems. 

2. Connect and resonate on social media

The current social media landscape is giving businesses more problems than ever before when it comes to connecting with their audience. There’s so much information coming at customers at any given second that many businesses struggle to rise above the noise. Resonating with your customers’ Jobs To Be Done can help you cut through and win their attention. Here’s how:

• Resharing blogs: Blogs live on your website, but they’re best used as the foundation of a broader content strategy. By breaking these resources down into platform-specific pieces of zero-click content, you can share useful insights with a different audience.
• Sharing original and relatable content: Regardless of whether you’re in a B2B or B2C space, you’re always selling to people. By creating relatable social content that’s focused on your customers’ and clients’ problems, you can illustrate that you not only understand them, but can help them overcome their challenges.
• Aggregating non-owned resources: Social media is a great tool for building your brand. While it’s tempting to want all the attention pointing back at you, you’ll cultivate a more loyal audience by focusing on them. Sharing news and other non-owned resources that interests or impacts your audience can earn their trust.

3. Give attention to intangible Jobs To Be Done

When you think about the process a client or customer takes to find your business and connect or make a purchase, there are dozens of Jobs they have that aren’t even related to you, specifically. Here’s how you can address some of them:

• Improving your site’s navigation: When people have a problem, they want solutions, not more problems. If your site is clunky or otherwise hard to navigate, people aren’t going to have the patience to figure out what you do or why they should trust you. They’ll simply leave and go to your competitors. By improving your website’s design, conveying expertise through it, and helping customers and clients understand your offering, you make it easier for them to hire you.
• Respond to reviews: In almost every transaction or business decision, customers and clients want a second opinion. So, they turn to reviews. Imagine what they think when they see that you’ve never responded to reviews — good or bad — compared to a competitor who responds to everyone. Responding to reviews shows that your business cares about providing a great experience, and wants to make things right if they don’t.

Elevate your marketing with the Jobs To Be Done framework

When clients or customers turn to your business, it’s never just for the function of your solution. Each decision is deeply influenced by emotions and deeper concerns. When your marketing assets illustrate your understanding of those unspoken needs, you’ll outperform your competitors.