🪄MP3 Framework: How to market the problem

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Hey Reader,

Last week, my Full Stack Solo co-founder Nick Bennett and I introduced the MP3 Framework as an alternative to rigid content pillars.

Today, we’re diving deep into its first (and most important) element: Market the Problem.

I'm writing a 5-part series on this topic. Here's where we're at:

🪄 The MP3 Framework: Why content pillars are holding you back
🪄 Market the Problem: How to articulate your buyers' problems better than they can themselves
🪄 Market the Process: Turn your experience into valuable insights
🪄 Market the Proof: Prove that transformation is possible
🪄 Building your Content Engine: How Problem, Process, and Proof work together

Problems are the new pillars

When you're stuck in pillar land, whether you realize it or not, you’re playing a mental game of “Does this fit?”

This creates three major problems:

You second-guess every insight: You waste time wondering if they “belong” in your content mix.
You filter out your messy journey: You unintentionally filter out the messy, real experiences that make content resonate.
You miss evolution opportunities: Your expertise grows. Your understanding deepens. But pillars make these natural evolutions feel like failures.

Instead of creating content that serves your audience first, you’re serving your pillars first.

Sure, your content strategy and pillars are meant to evolve. But from my experience and what I've seen, once we set our pillars, we rarely question them.

We trap ourselves in the very boxes meant to keep us connected to our readers.

Marketing the problem flips this completely.

Instead of maintaining categories, you’re solving problems.

Why marketing the problem works

Problems are universal. We all have them. We all want to solve them. And most importantly, we're all willing to pay to make them go away.

Nobody wakes up thinking: "Holy forkballs, I really need to implement a robust content strategy with clearly defined pillars today!"

They're thinking:

"Why isn't anyone engaging with my posts?"
"Why do I keep attracting the wrong clients?"
"Why does my expertise feel scattered everywhere?"
"Why can't I seem to make consistent income?"
"Why do experts keep telling me to do sh*t that doesn't work for me?"

When you market the problem, you're meeting people exactly where they are — in their mess, frustration, and "I'm so done with this" moments.

Here's why this approach is so damn powerful:

1. It's naturally magnetic

When you nail someone's problem, they can't look away. It's like when you're scrolling LinkedIn and suddenly stop because someone's describing exactly what you're going through.

(Rare, I know, but it happens when you filter the nonsense 😅)

That's not coincidence. That's problem articulation at work. And it usually gets comments like this:

2. It makes you easier to trust

When you can describe someone's problem better than they can themselves, they automatically assume you must know how to solve it.

"Holy shit, it's like they're in my head."

That's what happens when someone deeply understands your problem.

It's easier to write content like this when you've experienced the problem yourself. But if you haven't, you can borrow the experiences from clients and peers.

For example, Nick's experienced some (but not all) of the limiting beliefs he listed in this post.

But his clients describe these beliefs to him all the time, so he's borrowing from their experiences to articulate their problems back to them.

3. It makes it easier to run a fluid content strategy

Your understanding of problems should evolve naturally as you deepen your expertise and work with more people.

(If it doesn't, you're not paying attention to signals.)

But pillars anchor your evolution in quicksand. Again, this is often unintentional, but we treat strategy docs like they're written in stone.

They're like the 10 commandments of our content engine, when they should actually be written in dry erase marker.

Take me as an example. Until this year, 7 years into my content marketing journey, I didn't consider content strategy as part of my "pillars."

Even though I do content strategy stuff all the time, I didn't feel like I should or could or would want to talk about it. I'm the "editing" and "writing" person.

And upon reflection, it's because I was stuck in a stupid pillar mindset.

Trust me, it's easier to fall into the pillar hole than you realize.

4. It makes you more believable

When you focus on problems, you can't hide behind jargon or fancy frameworks. You have to get specific about what's actually not working and why.

This forces you to stay connected to real people with real problems — not theoretical ideal clients with theoretical ideal problems.

It's 2025, and AI is here. If real experiences aren't part of your content mix, you're gonna have a way harder time passing the BS test.

Enough said.

But the best part about marketing the problem?

Problems are everywhere.

Your clients are telling you about them every day. Your sales calls are absolutely packed with them. Your LinkedIn feed is full of people describing them. Your DMs probably have a few sitting there right now.

You just need to learn to spot them, articulate them clearly, and connect them to your solution.

The best way to do that is to ask yourself a set of questions before you write your content.

We're approaching the tactical part of the newsletter. Weeee.

The problem behind the problem

People complain all the time about not having enough content ideas.

But it's really not that hard when you've armed with the right questions to ask yourself.

Basic stuff like:

What keeps your ideal clients up at night?
What problems do they think they have vs. what’s the real root cause?
What “accepted wisdom” in your industry is actually hurting people?
What invisible struggles are your buyers facing that they haven’t named yet?
What patterns of failure do you see repeatedly in your industry?

But here's the key part: You must go layers deeper than your first answer.

This is called finding the problem behind the problem.

Rob Lennon and I actually included this exercise as part of the custom analysis you get in our Launch Content Playbook. Rob's AI analyzes your offer and helps you go 5 layers deeper into the Big Problem, the we create a custom launch content blueprint for you based on the answers. (It's very cool, but I digress.)

The reason why the problem behind the problem matters is because, when asked, people tend to describe symptoms of their problem rather than root causes.

If you really want to get the "holy shit, I never thought of it that way" responses, you need to dig deeper than symptoms.

Here's how this plays out:

Surface Problem:
Business pros can't find solid, practical advice on growth and innovation that goes deeper than trendy catchphrases.

5 Whys:

Why can't business pros find solid, practical advice on growth and innovation?

→ Most business content is shallow and theoretical, not based on real-world experience.

Why is most business content shallow and theoretical?

→ Many so-called experts haven't actually tested their ideas in real business situations.

Why haven't many experts tested their ideas in real business situations?

→ There's a tendency to push 'best practices' and success stories instead of embracing experiments and learning from mistakes.

Why is there a tendency to push 'best practices' instead of embracing experiments?

→ Many businesses and professionals worry about failing and how it might hurt their reputation or profits.

Why do businesses and professionals worry so much about failing?

→ They don't have a good way to turn failures into valuable lessons and insights that drive growth and innovation.

Root Problem:
Business pros need access to a community and resources that welcome experimentation, value learning from mistakes, and offer practical, data-driven insights for ongoing growth and innovation.

GREAT. Now, how do we turn those root insights into problem content?

Turning insights into problem content

There are endless ways to market the problem, just like there are endless ways to string a narrative together.

For simplicity's sake, here are my favorite 7 prompts.

1. Name silent struggles out loud

These are the thoughts your buyers have but rarely say out loud. The 2am worries. The fears they’re embarrassed to admit.

Carrying on from the example in the 5 why's exercise above, we could focus on the unspoken fear of experimentation — that internal voice saying "What if my failures become public? What if I look stupid?"

This approach would validate the inner dialogue many business pros have when faced with innovation challenges. Their desire to appear competent tends to silently override their desire to truly innovate.

They might not even know that. Just like I didn't even know I was shying away from talking about content strategy because of pillars.

Naming silent struggles is huge because it gives people a safe space to have big aha lightbulb holy shit wtf moments. And once you see it, you can't unsee it...(which means change is soon to follow).

2. Challenge accepted wisdom

These are industry assumptions that might actually be hurting people. Point out where conventional advice fails.

Here we'd question the "best practices" mindset itself. Why do we treat other people's success stories as blueprints?

This narrative would explore how our obsession with proven paths actually stifles real innovation. The conventional wisdom of "follow what works" might be the very thing preventing growth.

Brendan Hufford comes top of mind when I think of this. He's out there all day every day making you rethink your marketing playbooks because it could lead to "checkbox marketing" (a phrase he repeats over and over).

Also, I couldn't agree more with his take here:

It's fiery and I live for it because we're all better and more innovative when we challenge accepted wisdom.

3. Point out hidden costs

Show the real price of staying stuck. Not just the obvious costs but the downstream effects people haven’t considered.

Here, we could explore the cascading effects of avoiding experimentation. Beyond just missed opportunities, there's the painful, unseen costs of declining creativity, diminishing competitive advantage, and the gradual loss of problem-solving muscles. We'd show how playing it safe actually makes them less secure over time.

I'm seeing a lot of people do this in regards to AI written content in 2025.

A la: AI is fantastic, but if you over-rely on it, your creativity will atrophy.

That's a scary notion. One I've personally tested and agree is a true unintended outcome.

What are the hidden costs your clients face? Powerful question with powerful answers.

4. Identify false solutions

Name what they’ve already tried and explain why those attempts failed. Show what’s missing from common approaches.

Here we'd examine why collecting case studies and following "innovation frameworks" often fails. The narrative would focus on how these solutions address symptoms (lack of ideas) rather than root causes (fear of meaningful experimentation). This shows why typical approaches fall short.

What are your clients doing that they think is helping them but is really more like a bandaid so they don't have to look at the blood?

Call those out.

5. Blatantly articulate root causes

Go beyond surface symptoms to reveal underlying patterns. Connect seemingly unrelated problems.

This approach would connect the dots between seemingly separate problems — why content feels shallow, why innovation feels risky, why best practices fail. The narrative would reveal how these all stem from the same root: no systematic way to learn from experimentation.

I'm working with a client in the retail space right now, and omg is there a massive disconnect between what corporate thinks the problems with disengaged stores are and what the actual problems are. My client sees it plain as day because she's been on both sides.

What have you seen from being on both sides? What do you get that certain clients just don't (yet)?

6. Frame future implications

Show where the current path leads. Help people see the growing costs of inaction.

We'd paint the widening gap between those who can turn experiments into insights and those who can't. This narrative shows how the ability to learn from experimentation will become increasingly crucial for business survival.

Again, AI is a hot topic for future implications so it's top of mind.

On one side we've got the: "Is AI going to take your job? No, but...you'll probabaly fall behind if you don't use it."

And on another, we've got the: "AI is the worst thing to ever happen to our environment and the human race as we know it. Are we all insane?!"

Those two personas have very different values and audiences.

What are your values? What does your audience value? What are your perspectives? Frame them up.

7. Create permission

Give people space to admit struggles. Normalize common challenges. Remove shame from difficulties.

This narrative would normalize the messiness of real innovation. Instead of shaming people for following best practices, we'd acknowledge why it feels safer and create space for a new perspective. You're giving them permission to make experimentation feel accessible rather than scary.

Nick and I do this on our Full Stack Solo landing page.

First, we name the problems (your expertise is your biggest asset and your biggest roadblock).

Then, we imply feeling these problems is normal (the hardest part isn't your capability).

Then, we give you permission to channel your expertise towards a specific offer, rather than simply choosing "one thing to focus on", which feels hard, and sad, and scary, and wrong.

Here’s my framework for creating problem-first content:

Let's pull this all together:

Choose one problem element to focus on. Don’t try to tackle everything at once. Pick one angle and do it justice.
Pick a specific example. The more specific you get, the more it resonates. Generic problems get generic engagement.
Express empathy. Make them feel seen and heard before you try to help. Phrases like, "I get it" and "It's not your fault" go a long way.
Validate the problem with experiences and data. Show you understand through examples, patterns, data, and experiences.
Show you understand deeper implications. Go beyond surface level. Connect dots others miss.
End with hope. Show or imply there is a better way. Help them come to the conclusion they do not need to stay stuck.

Let me know how it goes!

Cheers,

Erica

PS. Already have an offer? Want to see how I help clients nail their problem marketing so you can sell more of that offer, or product, or course? That’s exactly what we work on in Content Sparring 🥊.

OR, if you don't have an offer and still want the above, we made Full Stack Solo for you.

Because problem content means very little if you don't have a solution for said problems...

Reply here, and let's chat.

PPS. This is part 2 of my 5-part MP3 Framework series that I'm developing with Nick Bennett. Next week, we’ll dive into “Market the Process,” and I'll show you how to turn your experience into valuable insights your audience can actually use.

Here's what's coming next:

🪄 The MP3 Framework: Why content pillars are holding you back
🪄 Market the Problem: How to articulate your buyers' problems better than they can themselves
🪄 Market the Process: Turn your experience into valuable insights
🪄 Market the Proof: Prove that transformation is possible
🪄 Building your Content Engine: How Problem, Process, and Proof work together

PPS. Nick and I are putting together a massive database of problem, process, and proof content. We're talking LinkedIn posts, emails, landing pages. So, stay tuned for that...