If you are a copywriter, you have to be an extrovert. That doesn’t mean to say you have to get off your trolley constantly – well you could, might it play havoc with your writing.
Your gregarious nature means you have to be personable so you can build rapport with your clients.
You also need to be a great listener – that way you’ll understand exactly what they are looking for.
And you have to understand your reader – you have to get to know everything about them.
The first two things are reasonably straight forward to achieve, but the last one is a wee bit tricky. Getting inside your readers’ heads can seem an impossible task. I mean, half the time I don’t even know what’s going on inside my own head!
But taking the time to truly understand their inner most thoughts, you’ll discover what it is that makes them buy. Which, of course, makes your task of selling to them a lot easier.
Pay attention to the little things
Although collectively known as the human race, we are all different. We have our own personalities just as we have our own dress sizes – so the ‘one size fits all’ approach to marketing isn’t going to work.
Treat people as individuals. If you’re sending out a newsletter or sales letter, take a bit of time to work out how to use the mail merge feature and make sure they are all personally addressed. Dear Mr Gerard will go down a lot better than a generic Dear Sir, or God forbid, To whom it may concern.
By using their name it will at least appear as though you know who they are. You’re not treating them as some faceless wallet you are hoping to open.
People are real
I do like to state the obvious.
Market research, data and reports are all well and good, but how well do they represent your market? If you want to know what your customers are thinking, ask them. Either face to face or survey them – offer a free gift to encourage them to take part. Just think how powerful that kind of research is.
No matter who your target audience is, you’re bound to know someone who fits the profile. Whether it’s a friend, family member or neighbour, talk to them, ask their opinion, find out what they are looking for. Then when you sit down to write your copy, you’re writing from their heart.
You have more than one customer
When you’re writing a piece of sales copy (whether you are a copywriter or a business owner), you’ll always be writing for a multiple audience. Each and every person will have a different view on things but don’t let that put you off. Aim your copy at your typical reader – the person who has all the traits of your audience.
If you try and write for everyone, your copy will end up bland, long winded and most probably muddled so don’t even try.
At the end of the day, your reader is the most important person. Forget writing about your company, or if you’re a copywriter, the company paying your invoice. Customers don’t want to read about the company, they want to know how the product will help them; what benefit will it bring to their life?
If you answer that question, your writing will hit the spot – every time.