Article Body:
Every copywriter's nightmare. We write beautiful copy for a client, who takes one look and says, "You cannot be serious! this is often too sales-y...or too simple...or too different..."
And I'm reminded of the times , a few years ago, once I volunteered as a Pet Adoption Counselor with the San Francisco SPCA. Looking back, i need to are training for what I do now. I had many enthusiasm. People often teased, “You’re selling cats!” surely , many visitors went up with a crate holding a furry bundle of joy.
Our Volunteer Coordinator kept reminding us, “Don’t judge the visitors. You’re not going home with this person. The adopter who drives you crazy could also be the simplest thing that ever happened to a dog.”
True.
And copy works an equivalent way. We don’t judge our friends the way their dogs and cats do. and that we don’t read our copy like our own customers.
I tell my very own clients, “You might not like this copy. But you’re not the target market, albeit you think that you resemble your clients.”
Here are 3 reasons why.
1. Customers survive a special planet.
If you lollygag around the web , you develop a singular lifestyle. as an example , a number of my best friends are people I’ve never met. We exchange emails and phone involves years. My favorite web designer is an American living in Brazil.
And you hear an equivalent promises over and over. “Bring traffic to your website.” “Attract all the clients you'll handle.”
But if you’re targeting ordinary people (i.e., those that have actually met their best friends in person), many of our ho-hum phrases will seem fresh and exciting.
“Hype-free marketing? i prefer that,” purred an earth-dwelling prospect recently. “That’s an entire new way of watching marketing.”
Your world might not be the web . Maybe you reside fitness, coaching, cooking, or finance. But likelihood is that your familiar phrases will seem fresh and exciting to your target market.
2. Customers want to be sold.
They know you’re not putting up websites and creating brochures so you’ll feel good and collect gold stars for your Permanent Records.
And if they need your service, they’re trying to find reasons to mention “yes.” consider all those Madison Avenue ads with the theme, “You deserve it.” Or, “You’re worthwhile .” They’re giving us permission to spend our money.
As long as you’re tasteful and – paradiddle – meeting their real needs, your customers will actually appreciate learning about what you offer.
Recently i used to be pitching my services to “Frank,” a prospective client who sells fitness services. Hesitantly, I referred him to an internet site I’d written for “Tom” – a financial professional who was terrified we were selling way too hard.
Frank was impressed. “This isn’t the smallest amount bit pushy. It’s so warm and friendly! Tom seems like such a pleasant guy.”
We’re still talking. But when Frank sees his own fitness site, I bet he says, “Um – does one think we’re selling too hard?”
3. Customers don’t want to prevent and think.
Some words and phrases slow us down. for a few good examples, devour your college textbooks and perhaps a few of educational journals. You’ll see words like “moreover,” “counterintuitive,” “although,” and more. (I know. I wrote many.)
How did you read your college textbooks? I bet you read slowly, made marginal notes and persisted tight to your yellow highlighter pen.
Alas, website visitors don’t study our copy an equivalent way. we've to assist them create highlights and move along fast.
Which gets read more:
(a) “Although you'll work very hard, you'll not see results for an extended time.”
Article Body:
Every copywriter's nightmare. We write beautiful copy for a client, who takes one look and says, "You cannot be serious! this is often too sales-y...or too simple...or too different..."
And I'm reminded of the times , a few years ago, once I volunteered as a Pet Adoption Counselor with the San Francisco SPCA. Looking back, i need to are training for what I do now. I had many enthusiasm. People often teased, “You’re selling cats!” surely , many visitors went up with a crate holding a furry bundle of joy.
Our Volunteer Coordinator kept reminding us, “Don’t judge the visitors. You’re not going home with this person. The adopter who drives you crazy could also be the simplest thing that ever happened to a dog.”
True.
And copy works an equivalent way. We don’t judge our friends the way their dogs and cats do. and that we don’t read our copy like our own customers.
I tell my very own clients, “You might not like this copy. But you’re not the target market, albeit you think that you resemble your clients.”
Here are 3 reasons why.
1. Customers survive a special planet.
If you lollygag around the web , you develop a singular lifestyle. as an example , a number of my best friends are people I’ve never met. We exchange emails and phone involves years. My favorite web designer is an American living in Brazil.
And you hear an equivalent promises over and over. “Bring traffic to your website.” “Attract all the clients you'll handle.”
But if you’re targeting ordinary people (i.e., those that have actually met their best friends in person), many of our ho-hum phrases will seem fresh and exciting.
“Hype-free marketing? i prefer that,” purred an earth-dwelling prospect recently. “That’s an entire new way of watching marketing.”
Your world might not be the web . Maybe you reside fitness, coaching, cooking, or finance. But likelihood is that your familiar phrases will seem fresh and exciting to your target market.
2. Customers want to be sold.
They know you’re not putting up websites and creating brochures so you’ll feel good and collect gold stars for your Permanent Records.
And if they need your service, they’re trying to find reasons to mention “yes.” consider all those Madison Avenue ads with the theme, “You deserve it.” Or, “You’re worthwhile .” They’re giving us permission to spend our money.
As long as you’re tasteful and – paradiddle – meeting their real needs, your customers will actually appreciate learning about what you offer.
Recently i used to be pitching my services to “Frank,” a prospective client who sells fitness services. Hesitantly, I referred him to an internet site I’d written for “Tom” – a financial professional who was terrified we were selling way too hard.
Frank was impressed. “This isn’t the smallest amount bit pushy. It’s so warm and friendly! Tom seems like such a pleasant guy.”
We’re still talking. But when Frank sees his own fitness site, I bet he says, “Um – does one think we’re selling too hard?”
3. Customers don’t want to prevent and think.
Some words and phrases slow us down. for a few good examples, devour your college textbooks and perhaps a few of educational journals. You’ll see words like “moreover,” “counterintuitive,” “although,” and more. (I know. I wrote many.)
How did you read your college textbooks? I bet you read slowly, made marginal notes and persisted tight to your yellow highlighter pen.
Alas, website visitors don’t study our copy an equivalent way. we've to assist them create highlights and move along fast.
Which gets read more:
(a) “Although you'll work very hard, you'll not see results for an extended time.”
(b) “But you'll work really hard and wait forever for results.”
Bottom Line: Expect surprises once you unveil your copy to your clients, especially if you’re new marketing yourself and your own products. once I first wrote the title Your 21-Day Extreme Career Makeover, I cringed: Was my site becoming the virtual equivalent of a second hand car lot?
But my target market – professionals and senior executives – started buying. and therefore the rest, as they assert , is history
(b) “But you'll work really hard and wait forever for results.”
Bottom Line: Expect surprises once you unveil your copy to your clients, especially if you’re new marketing yourself and your own products. once I first wrote the title Your 21-Day Extreme Career Makeover, I cringed: Was my site becoming the virtual equivalent of a second hand car lot?
But my target market – professionals and senior executives – started buying. and therefore the rest, as they assert , is history