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Your writing can influence anyone to do anything.
Are you doubtful? Let’s reflect on what’s transpired moments ago.
You saw the title of this article. Perhaps you thought to yourself:
‘There’s no way that’s all it takes.’
Or
‘I’m starting my own business, but I need help reaching my audience.’
Whichever it is, something in the article headline caught your attention and left you wanting to find out more.
That was the purpose of creating my headline, or any headline for that matter. I’ve reeled you in and now I have your attention.
The thing is, I want to keep that attention. And if you’re looking to connect with your own audience, you want to do the same thing.
But it’s not a simple task. You have to juggle many things at once, like:
– Learn to speak your audience’s language.
– Write attractively and compellingly. Your audience can read anything they like. Give them a reason to choose your copy.
– Empathy and sympathy are important. Understand their wants and needs, and incorporate this into your copy in a way that matters.
Read on to find out how.
Tip #1: Don’t scare them off with big, fancy words
I get it.
You’re writing for your business and you want to show your reader that you know what you’re talking about.
So you use big words and fancy jargon to impress them.
But here’s the thing: doing that actually does the opposite. It bores your reader and turns them off. Using such big words and jargon they may not even be familiar with means that the reader has to try harder to understand what you’re telling them.
Once your reader has to try harder, they’re gone.
Why? because they can choose to read whatever they want. They have no obligation to read yours – you need to give them a reason to choose yours.
One of the best ways to do this is to make your copy easy to read.
Write in the same way you would talk to them about it. This often means using simple words and shorter sentences.
This is fine, though. Because it makes your copy easier to read, so the reader will be able to finish it and take it all in easier without having to focus too much.
It doesn’t matter if simplifying your copy makes you seem ‘less intelligent’ about what you’re talking about. Your copy’s aim is to entice, retain and educate the reader – encouraging them to take action in most cases.
Tip #2: Speak the language of your audience
You simply can’t do this if you don’t know your audience. And I mean really know them.
You need to know them inside and out; what drives them to what discourages them.
Only then can you write copy that is relatable to them – that’s exactly what you need to do to speak their language.
One quick and easy way to do this is to learn and use their terminology – the words they tend to use.
You’ll be able to figure this out by reading their reviews for an existing product or service.
Or even hop on Reddit and find a relevant forum where your ideal customer would hang out. See what they’re saying and how they’re saying it.
When it comes to copy, the reader wants to be understood with a solution that can help them, which brings me onto my next tip:
Tip #3: Learn to sympathise with your audience in your copy
Every customer has some sort of inconvenience they could do without. And chances are, you could provide a solution to that problem through your product or services.
However, even if you have a solution to their issue, it doesn’t mean they will jump straight into buying your stuff.
I don’t spend my money on things I don’t trust. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.
And if they’ve never heard of you before, the chances are they don’t trust you yet. But you can change that.
Through knowing your product and audience simultaneously, you need to first identify a struggle that they would be experiencing.
For example: let’s say that you’re writing copy for a new portable phone charger that can charge a phone from 0% – 50% in twenty minutes.
The reason this product exists would be because you’ll have identified an issue: the frustration of our phones dying when we don’t have a charger with us. You need to let the reader know you understand this struggle. You could start with something like:
‘You’re joking. That’s what you said when your phone died at that awkward family gathering.’
Chances are, we’ve all relied on our phones at some point to bail us out of an awkward situation. To play it safe, we’ve relied on a generic situation that could apply to almost anyone – the reader may even tweak it to a different scenario that relates more to them.
The point is, we’ve let the reader know that we understand the inconvenience of a dead phone. Now we need to let them know that we have a solution:
‘That’s why we’ve made a portable phone charger that charges your battery from 0% – 50% in just twenty minutes.’
It’s a simple solution to tell because it’s an easy issue to understand. And it’s all made easier by being able to understand your audience in a way that allows you to sympathise with them effectively.
If you can show this clearly in your copy, you’ll start to build that trust.