30 Dec How To Hit Home With Audience-Driven Copywriting
The renowned marketer, Gary Halbert, used to ask his seminar students the following: “If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side to help you win?”
The answers to this question varied among his students – from the advantage of superior meat, the best location, or lowest prices. Mr Halbert said they could get every single advantage, he would only need one advantage to beat them all. To get the “starving crowd”.
Although this insight can be applied to so many facets of business and marketing, it’s also very applicable to successful copywriting. As a copywriter, it is important to communicate with your “starving crowd” no matter what you are selling or who you are writing for.
Analyse and understand
In order to hit a target, you have to be aware of what the target is in the first place. The same applies to marketing and copywriting. If we are unaware of who we are targeting, there is no way that we can be sure that our message will reach the right audience. An important thing to remember, as Seth Godin put it, is that everyone is not your customer.
Many marketers make the mistake to say that they can target anyone and everyone because their product is universal. This is a big mistake.
Although there are multiple audiences that could buy your product, there are still drastic differences in how you will communicate to the various segments.
Here are the three main tips to accurately target your audience through copywriting:
Learn the lingo
You won’t use language fit for a doctorate in chemical engineering when addressing high school students, nor use “hip slang” when targeting a customer for a retirement home. Always be aware of your audience and what type of language they use. The worst thing your copywriting can do is to send your reader scurrying to find a dictionary (if they even go this far; most people will just lose interest).
If your writing can feel personal and as if it was written by your target audience, it will add a sense of understanding and sincerity to the communication.
What you want vs what they need
As a copywriter, it’s important not to get too caught up in what you want to achieve with your copy and lose the insight that you have into your target market. Always try to focus on what your target market needs, and indirectly, that will help you to achieve the goals that you set for your copywriting.
An important point to keep in mind is that although you know what your target audience is looking for, remember that no one in life has a singular focus. Large target groups can be broken down into smaller segments in order to make your copy really hit home. Your copywriting is a lot more likely to be successful if it is based on your audience’s specific needs, not what you think the broad segment wants.
State the obvious benefit
Once you are confident that you know what your market needs, what they’re looking for in the products and services they buy, then it is quite easy to figure out what benefits they are looking for – saving money, saving time, staying safe, improving their lives, etc. But it only resonates with them if you talk about it in a way that entices your audience and motivates them to act.
The business’s product or service might have universal appeal, but your copywriting won’t unless you know how to talk to your target audience. Make sure your messages sound like something they might say if they were in your shoes. Although it may be easier said than done, you have to start somewhere in order to gain insight into the consumer and to begin targeting them effectively.