2 Ways to Really Connect With Your Customer in Your Copywriting

Free Article Home l Submit Article l Contact Us

2 Ways to Really Connect With Your Customer in Your Copywriting

Copyright © 2005 by Bruce Carlson

One of the least talked-about areas in copywriting education is
voice. This is probably because it’s tough to set general rules
for something that’s so personal to each of us. After all, the
same things go into building your copywriting voice that go into
making you who you are!

Personality, upbringing, environment, education, audience,
purpose…all these and more go into forming your voice, no matter
what kind of writing you’re doing.

In this article, I’d like to try to tackle the subject of voice
in copywriting. I’ve identified a couple of areas that I believe
are the most important when it comes to making your voice more
credible when writing copy -- style and tone. By improving these two
areas, you'll connect with your customer in a much more genuine way.

****************

In my conversations with successful copywriters and marketers,
I find that practically every one of them has an uncanny ability
to communicate on a gut level with their customer or prospect.
And that is one of the main keys to their success.

How do they do this?

By removing internal editors, and writing as if they were
speaking to a friend.

When you sit down to write, you need to make a psychological
leap and forget everything you ever learned about writing in
school.

Yes, I know that you’ve got those “ghosts of English teachers
past” sitting on your shoulder and whispering in your ear about
how you should write. But those internal editors need to be
tossed out.

Instead, you need to write like you talk. This is much easier
said than done, and requires some practice and work. If you have
a hard time doing this, one possibility is to record yourself
speaking your sales message first, and then to transcribe it
afterwards. That way you’ll get the spoken spirit of the
language.

You’ll still need to edit it though, to get rid of “hesitation
markers” like ummmm, uhhhhh, etc. You don’t want those sounds in
your copy…

But more than anything, writing like you talk means being
informal. One thing I see with novice copywriters is that, even
though they might start to get the idea of writing like they
talk, they’ll still “speak” formally, as if they were giving a
(dull) public speech.

It’s true that ad copy from 50 years ago, especially direct mail
sales letters, may have been a bit stiff and formal. And there
may still be times when a certain level of formality is needed,
depending upon your target market. But with Web sales copy,
and especially with email copy, informal is the right way to go.

Informal style means breaking a ton of grammar rules. Which is
what you do when you talk, anyway, at least in conversational
speech. Use contractions (like can’t and won’t and I’ll…). And
fragment sentences. And you can start sentences with “and”. Or
with “or”.

And you can tail off sentences with ellipsis markers (those
three dots)… Which is also a good way to show hesitation when
writing, by the way, since you can’t use the hesitation sounds
you normally use in speech.

And you can have sentences that have only one or two words. Like
this!

And you can use really short paragraphs to express a quick thought.
Or a bit longer paragraphs to express a longer thought.

There are also things you can do with language. Like using special
terms or jargon used exclusively within a specific marketing niche.
Customers know immediately if you're "one of them." Jargon and
specialized knowledge help give them the clue for that.

There’s an awful lot you can do. And you’re really only limited
by that internal editor/critic. So the sooner you throw that
critic out the door, the better.

Also, when writing like you talk, you need to be able to keep a
warm tone. One way it’s put by sales professionals is to imagine
that you’re making “a referral to a friend” rather than making
“a sales pitch to a customer.” The examples you’ll usually hear
copywriting educators use for this are the kitchen table
conversation or the barstool conversation.

The best way to develop this warm tone is through identification.

Getting to really know your target market (or “tarket”, as
Lorrie Morgen-Ferrero calls it) allows you to identify
first-hand with their hopes, dreams, wants, and needs. This
comes from study and research, although a certain amount of
intuition comes in handy too.

You really do need to be able to put yourself into your
customer’s shoes in order to be a good salesperson, whether in
print or face-to-face. As the old saying goes, “Become your
customer.” They need to become real in your mind -- as real as
that person sitting across the kitchen table.

There are plenty of ways to identify with your customer or
prospect. Reading the trade journals or magazines they read is a
good place to start.

But what this skill really amounts to is empathy. Identification
and empathy are two peas in the pod.

In business, you develop empathy simply by putting your customer
first. By actually caring about your customer and making it your
avowed goal to help them. By going the extra mile to find out
what it is that keeps them awake at night. By becoming obsessed
(in a good way) with bringing them a product that will solve a
problem and make their life easier.

And by listening.

How do you listen to your customer when they're not there? The same
way you would if they were there. By asking a question. And then
listening for the answer. From inside you.

Whenever you write sales copy, you need to continually ask "So
what?" after every single sentence you write. The person sitting
across the kitchen table or next to you at the bar is a skeptic.
Which is normal and healthy!

By keeping your customer's possible objections in mind every
single minute you write, you establish a kind of dialogue. And
that's when your customer will really get pulled into your copy.
That's when they'll say, "Hey, she's talking to me!"

You'll be getting that empathy. And with it will come that warm,
familiar tone.

So practice writing like you talk, keeping in mind that you want
to be informal and familiar. Get to know your customer better so
you can identify better with them and build empathy.

Eventually you'll get "over the hump" and your "right" voice will
start to come naturally.

And that's when you'll start to see a steep rise in your sales
numbers!

Author Info:

Bruce Carlson is a freelance writer and educator living in Finland. Visit his website at www.dynamic-copywriting.com and sign up for his fr.ee newsletter The Dynamic Copywriter!

30 Most Recent Articles :

A Disputed New Business:Virtual Property Exchange

In many ways, the in-game economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to mutual advantage and are mediated in currencies(gold,platinum,credit,etc.). An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online games until his 15-year-old son be[ Read Article]

THE UNITED STATES, A Terrorist Nation

I love the United States of America, but I cannot tolerate the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. No I am not shouting at you, I am simply making a distinction, a difference that thirty-seven states of the union have noticed and moved to rectify. You see, AMERICA isn’t America anymore, nor does it in anyw[ Read Article]

Dollars and Sense

When I speak of the Federal Reserve and the fiat monetary system that controls our lives I feel as though my words are falling on deaf ears. I have the sense that the simplest conversations suggesting that change must be made invoke fear and condemnation from my fellow citizens. When will we tak[ Read Article]

Constitutionality

Is the 16th Amendment constitutional? Of course it is, the Supreme Court has made that as clear as it did the issue of slavery. But let us remember that it took the lives of more than 365,000 brave American men and the destruction of the Republic to wrest the matter from the courts and resolve the[ Read Article]

Five Secrets to Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertising

With so many companies swarming the World Wide Web with their products, how can you and your products and services stand out? Your ready answer would most likely be effective marketing. But how? How can you catch the eye of a surfer skimming carelessly through web pages? How can you keep the at[ Read Article]

How to Sell Bonds

If you want to make good money with banks, or any institution, Government and agency bonds are where it is at. Simply because all Government bonds and agencies are AAA rated, and banks can buy millions of dollars of any bond without incurring any credit risk. All banks own bonds of some sort, a[ Read Article]

Closing in the Car Business

The “P” Word. Closing is all about helping car customers make positive decisions. It is not about pressure or manipulation. Your customers need help overcoming the “P” word. Procrastination! Procrastination is natural when it comes to making a buying decision. Your customer is trying to avoid [ Read Article]

If You Build It They Will Come, or Will They?

All right, so you invested your time and energy to build your organization a great new web site, but you are not getting quite the results you were hoping for. Few customers are visiting or interacting with you and rarely do you get prospects to contact you through the site. So what can you do to [ Read Article]

Confessions of a Yoga Teacher

The following are questions that Yoga teachers still need to answer, despite overwhelming evidence that Yoga is ?the mother of all health maintenance systems.? Mainstream thought is finally catching up, with the progress Yoga is making, but it has taken 5,000 years for us to get this far. Serio[ Read Article]

Vertical Creep in Search Results :: Should Organic Optimizers be Concerned?

I thought for this week I’d give a summary of some of the more interesting Search Engine Strategies sessions which are currently going on in New York City. I was at SES as a speaker last year in New York and I have to say, there is a wealth of information there even if some of it is contradict[ Read Article]

How to build link popularity fast and free

We all knew that back link or link popularity is a big factor to get good position in any search engines. But building link popularity some times really hard if you don't know how to do it. One of the hardest problem for new webmasters is to get back link to their newly stablis[ Read Article]

Does Chiropractic Care Really Make Sense?

The Role of Chiropractic in Treatment Beyond the Resolution of Symptoms Do you have the same nagging injury that never seems to go away? Are you suffering needlessly with pain? Are you fed up with taking painkillers? Do you want to find out what is causing your pain? If your answer is ‘ye[ Read Article]

The Economic Implications of Buying Drugs Online

Although the Internet is fairly new (at least to the mainstream) online shopping has grown by leaps and bounds. Now you can buy almost anything you need, from food to fishing equipment, right through your computer. Of course, this has meant that commerce has been forced to adapt to the changing co[ Read Article]

Manning and Manning-Can Either Brother Win the Big One?

It was just over a year ago, after the Colts lost to the Pats in their post-season contest, that Boomer Esiason said on national television, "I think maybe Peyton (Manning) is this generation's Dan Marino." Esiason went on to state that Manning "is a great football player, but he's not going to get[ Read Article]

Branding, Branding, Branding - MSN fails to keep it Straight

Sometimes you see promotions come along and you wonder: did they just do that? The current MSN promotion called msnsearchandwin is a prime example of this. Not only do they use “black hat” or at least “questionable” tactics on the site, but the messaging is inconsistent. In this article [ Read Article]

The New MSN Search Interface :: A positive change or the antithesis of transformation?

Now, instead of wide blue bars there are sleek silver-grey bars. Also, the top bar where the search box is became narrower. To me this makes the page seem less “closed in” and more visually appealing. I now feel as if I can trust the results more because they have more room. I’ve also noti[ Read Article]

Malta Holidays

With Malta visitor numbers static in recent years and facing new competiton from former Eastern Bloc countries offering cheap holidays, the recent announcement by the Maltese government that negotiations were at an advanced stage with two low cost airlines has[ Read Article]

Drug Rehab Treatment Centers as an Experience, not a Punishment

Choosing a drug rehab treatment center is a decision that calls for both negative and positive emotions. Nobody wants addiction to overtake their life to the point that rehab is the necessary step. However, the decision to go to one is something to look forward to, as it is the decision to rebui[ Read Article]

Some ways to improve your king content

There are thousands of articles, books and forum posts which showed that content is king in search engine optimization (SEO). In this article, you can find some ways that can help you improve this king content for your web site. * Content for people first, not for search engines - Some webmaste[ Read Article]

Aerosmith Just Keeps On Rockin’

For over three decades, Aerosmith have been one of rock's most revered and popular bands, crafting classic songs full of raw guitar runs and intensely energetic vocals. The band first reached fame in the 1970’s with a string of hits including "Dream On," "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way." During t[ Read Article]

Chicago Cubs Pitcher Mark Prior Re-signs

After many trips through the rumor mill, Mark Prior accepted the Chicago Cubs’ offer on January 27 to a one-year, $3.65 million contract. That is $900,000 more than the salary he would have earned under the contract he voided in November. Since Prior's definitive season in 2003 (18-6), he has cooled[ Read Article]

Social Networking - The Next Great Marketing Medium?

There has been a virtual explosion of social networking sites in the past couple of years. Even the big players like Google, Yahoo and MSN are getting into it. With so much interest in how social networks work, one begins to wonder if there is marketing potential within these social network[ Read Article]

How to choose paid directory for web site listing?

How to choose paid directory for web site listing? Search Engines are the major source of traffic for any website. High search engine ranking can boost number of your visitors and in turn leads to increase in sales. The best way to get top search engine placement is to improve link popularity [ Read Article]

Addiction Treatment Centers Using Experiential Therapies

Life is experience. Substance dependence overtakes a person’s ability to make her own decisions to experience life, and life is no longer actively participated in. Therefore, in overcoming addiction, it is vital to learn to re-experience life. This lesson helps a treatment center resident reint[ Read Article]

The DH: Making Life Tough for AL Pitchers

In 1973 Major League Baseball instituted three rules designed to lessen the power of pitchers and create more offense. One theory at work was that the game needed to be energized and that more hitting would create additional runs and excitement. Both the National and American Leagues lowered th[ Read Article]

Vacation on the Beach the Smart Way

Vacation on the Beach the Smart Way Almost everyone agrees; there is no more relaxing way to vacation than to take it to the beach. For the vacationer/traveler who hasn't considered a beach house rental before, they represent an affordable and fun family oriented alternative. There is an intell[ Read Article]

Malta Holidays and Hotels Buzzed by New Jets

The Rising Cost of Prescription Drugs

If you’re like many Americans, the rising cost of prescription drugs may be costing you your health. In particular, seniors living on a fixed income with no insurance are finding it difficult to pay for necessary prescriptions out-of-pocket, and as a result, may be failing to receive the treatment[ Read Article]

Who's Tops in Hockey and Who's Not

The National Hockey League needs to do more to encourage better coverage of the hockey games. With so many other sports realizing national coverage, the NHL is sometimes forgotten. However, this year, there's a race for the Stanley Cup, and only one is set to win it. But which team will that be? [ Read Article]

The Danger Of Rounding Up Your Debts

Rounding up your debts is one of the biggest dangers to your financial position. It's also one of the easiest ways for your debts to get out of control. This way of thinking is best summed up by the following comment; ‘I already owe $27500 so what’s another $500. It takes my debt to a nice round [ Read Article]

World Top Stories :

XML error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line 7