How to Write an I Help Statement That Attracts Your Dream Clients

If you’ve ever struggled when someone asks what you do, you’re missing one thing: a clear I Help statement. 

I learned this the hard way back when I first started my business. Back then, I was living with my aunt. She knew my entire business. For every win and every late night spent buried in the trenches of client tasks, she was there. 

If anyone knew my business inside and out, it was her… or so I thought. 

One day, we were at a gathering, and she met someone who had a business. She excitedly said, “Oh, Jenna can help you! She does… you know… the Instagram…. Jenna! Tell him what you do!”

This woman LIVED with me! She’d been in my corner this whole time! I found it WILD that she still couldn’t describe what I do. 

And that wasn’t her fault. It was mine.

As business owners, it’s our responsibility to give people – our support system and our audience – the words to describe what we do and how we help. Because if the people cheering you on from the sidelines can’t describe what you do, strangers on Instagram won’t be able to either. 

This is where an I Help statement comes in, and if you don’t have one yet, it’s time to fix that. 

Let’s get to work! 

What is an I Help Statement?

An I Help statement is an easy one-liner that sums up who you help and what result clients will get from working with you.

If you’ve ever come across the term value proposition statement, it’s the same idea – except those usually say “we” instead of “I.”

So essentially, an I Help statement is like the value proposition statement’s cooler, less corporate cousin. And a waaay better way to market yourself as a solopreneur!

Think of it like an elevator pitch that instantly clarifies the work you do in your business.

The importance of an I Help statement goes WAY beyond just giving your aunt the words to describe your business at a party. (Although, putting those words in the mouth of your support system is a huge part of why you need one. After all, you never know where your next client will come from!)

Your I Help statement is a foundational piece of your messaging. 

It’s the line that does all the heavy lifting in your Instagram, on your website, in your email signature – literally ANYWHERE someone needs to know what you do and who you serve at a glance. 

I Help Statement Examples for Coaches and Service Providers

Here are a few examples of what an I Help statement could look like:

• I help service-based business owners get clients from Instagram. (This one’s mine, by the way 👋🏼)
• I help wedding photographers increase their online bookings through stunning, strategic websites.
• I help women in their 40s get to the root of their hormonal symptoms as they navigate perimenopause.
• I help business owners save time by creating bespoke automated systems. 
• I help artists sell more prints by optimizing their Etsy listings. 

Notice a pattern forming? Each example is simple and clear so you can tell EXACTLY who each one is for and what they’ll get. 

Now, let’s talk about how to actually write an I Help statement of your own.

How to Write an I Help Statement for Your Business

To write an I Help statement for your own business, start with the basic formula:

I help [TARGET AUDIENCE] achieve [GOAL/RESULT].

Simply fill in the blanks with your own target audience or ideal client and the specific result they’ll get from working with you. 

If you want to be a little fancier and take it a step further, you can even try the extended version:

I help [TARGET AUDIENCE] achieve [GOAL/RESULT] without [THE THING THEY DON’T WANT TO DO TO GET IT].

This version gives your I Help statement some extra oomph by directly addressing a common objection or pain point that your ideal client faces. It’s a quick way of telling your audience, “Yes, you CAN get the results you’re looking for without having to do the part you’re dreading.”

Now, you’ll notice that both versions start with “I.” (They are I Help statements after all.) 😅

A lot of copywriting formulas will tell you to use you-focused language, but that’s not really the point we’re aiming for here. Your I Help statement isn’t meant to be the most polished, most creative work of writing in all of literature. 

It’s a marketing statement with a specific purpose – just a clear, simple sentence to state the value you offer your clients to quickly get the ball rolling. 

Once you’ve gotten your statement down, you can get creative with it later. But first, just fill in the blanks. 

The Hardest Part of Writing an I Help Statement

At this point, you might be feeling some mental pushback. Because how are you supposed to sum up EVERYTHING you do into such a basic fill-in-the-blank marketing statement???

The formula sounds so simple. But actually filling in those blanks? Wayyyyy harder than it looks. 

Even I struggled to get my I Help statement put together. 

While teaching messaging to my students in my Magic Marketing Machine program, one of them said, “Oh, Jenna, you’re so lucky. You have such a clear I Help statement! So, writing it was so easy for you.”

That’s where she was wrong because I TOILED over my I Help statement. (My coach at the time can 100% attest to just how close I was to pulling my hair out. 😫) 

Sure, “I help service-based business owners get clients from Instagram” sounds simple now, but at the time, all I could think of was how much MORE I do than just that. My clients also get views, followers, more time back in their day, a stronger public image! 

Cutting all of that down to just “get clients” felt like I was selling myself short.

When you have so many skills and your clients benefit in a ton of different ways, your instinct is to try to say it all. But by cramming it all in, you muddy your marketing. You confuse people. Instead of getting them excited about all the things you help with, they leave not even understanding what you do in the first place.

More information ≠ clarity.
Less, more succinct information = clarity.

That means naming the ONE key result (aka the main transformation your clients really want) in your value proposition statement. 

The #1 Mistake Business Owners Make when Writing Their I Help Statement

There’s one mistake that I see pop up over and over again as I help my clients write their I Help statement:

They write it in THEIR language, not the language their clients are using to describe the problem they’re facing. 

Many business owners write their I Help statement (as well as all of their messaging and all of their content) to show off their expertise. They use industry terms and jargon – the kind you’d use when speaking to a colleague, NOT the overwhelmed business owner who’s already struggling to keep it together. 

Your I Help statement isn’t meant for your colleagues or other experts. 

It’s meant for your audience.

And your audience doesn’t think in industry jargon. They think in their own voice, feelings, and frustrations. 

So, if your messaging sounds like it came straight out of a textbook, it’ll cause confusion instead of understanding.

But if your client reads your I Help statement and thinks “how did she know that’s exactly what I’m dealing with?!” you know you nailed it. 🙌🏼

➡️ And if you’re not sure if your messaging (or something else) is holding you back from growing your Instagram, I created a free 15-minute interactive training that will help you zero in on the problem. With just a few questions, this training will pinpoint exactly what’s not working and what you need to fix first. 

Why Clear Messaging in Your I Help Statement Means More Referrals

Your I Help statement exists to clarify your messaging and attract new clients. But it’s also great for helping you get referrals. 

Think about it… a clear I Help statement makes what you do super clear and understandable. 

If you want someone to send you referrals, they need to know exactly who you help and how you help them. That way, they can keep it in mind and know precisely what to say when they send people your way. 

I learned this firsthand years ago working as the social media manager of a major Toronto-wide PR project. The old-school PR pros on that team taught me so much, but the biggest piece of advice that’s stuck with me to this day was this: 

Our job isn’t to change the minds of the people who don’t agree with us. It’s to give the people who DO agree with us the language to know what to say at the dining room table.

Mic drop. 🎤

The ad campaign we were working on wasn’t necessarily going to change anyone’s minds. But changing minds wasn’t the purpose of our marketing. Not when there were people out there who would advocate for us. 

All we had to do was give them talking points and tell them what to say.

The same thing goes for your referral partners and network. If your messaging is clear enough, they’ll be able to spot your ideal client in a crowd and think, “Oh, you should talk to [YOU]! That’s exactly what she does.”

This is basically what my aunt was trying to do for me at that party. The only difference is that you are going to give your people the words they need beforehand.

Think of Your I Help Statement as the North Star of Your Marketing

Once you have your I Help statement locked in, it becomes the North Star that leads the rest of your marketing. Every post, every reel, every story all pointing back to that one clear, key result.

When you use that result to guide the rest of your messaging, your Instagram grows faster. People begin to understand who you are and what’s in it for them and you stop posting at random and start posting with a purposeful content strategy. 

Your I Help statement is your heading. With it guiding your marketing, you start speaking directly to your ideal client, then – BOOM – views, clicks, engagement, and comments start rolling in. 🎰

So, if your mom doesn’t understand your business or you don’t know how to say what you do or what problem you solve, THAT’S all just a messaging problem.

And we can fix that. 

Then, once you nail your I Help statement, you stop blending in. You become an authority in your field and the person people think of first. 

And it all starts with one sentence. 🌟

At the end of the day, your I Help statement is the foundation your marketing strategy gets built upon. 

Everything from your content strategy to your referrals to the way people describe your business around the dinner table all lead back to that one clear marketing statement.  

Ready to put your I Help statement to work?

Now that you have clarity on exactly what you do and how you help your audience, it’s time to spruce up your Instagram bio – aka the first thing people see when they click from your content to your profile!

My 5 Minute Bio mini course walks you through my proven Business Owner’s Bio Formula in just two micro video trainings. With this mini course, you’ll learn exactly what you need to include in your Instagram bio to get people excited to work with you!

After this training, you’ll have a bio you can obsess over all in five minutes or less! 🙌🏼