When faced with a blank computer screen and a looming deadline for new marketing copy, most people get a little uptight. It’s intimidating to capture everything you want a prospect to know and share it in a compelling way. Your product or service is superb, and you have so much to say. How will you do it justice?
Unfortunately, most marketing copy is dreadful.
Here are the most common mistakes.
- We do a brain dump, sharing everything we know.
- We want to demonstrate that we’re experts, so we use impressive words and jargon that shows we’re in the know.
- We cram too many words into the piece because it’s all important.
- We talk about our company, our product, our people… but not about our customers.
If you make even one of those mistakes, odds are your prospects are taking a glance at your first two or three sentences—then moving
on. You haven’t invited them into the conversation. You’re just talking about you.
Remember that you are trying to start a conversation. Who would you rather talk to: someone who walks up to you and asks a question about you, or a person who walks up and starts telling you all about themselves?
So, how do we avoid those mistakes?
Consider How Your Prospects Talk
I can have the best deal in the world, but if I tell you about it in Japanese and you don’t speak Japanese… you can’t possibly want what I am selling.
You need to know your prospect well enough that you know how they talk:
- Are they engineers who use very precise, detailed language and acronyms?
- Are they teachers who speak with affection and pride about their students?
- Are they purchasing agents who need to squeeze every penny from the deal and deliver the highest ROI possible?
Understanding the language your target audience uses and how they’re going to have to sell your offering up and down the food chain will allow you to craft your message in their native tongue.
Your prospects are busy. They won’t take the time to decipher your marketing messages. If they don’t instantly understand your message and see that you’re talking to them, they’ll pass over your messages every time.
(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Funny Nerds)
