How to put your company name in lights. . .
It’s easy for any business to forget its customers and clients have lives outside work. But your target audiences don’t operate in just two dimensions, so neither must you.
For solid gold copywriting success, you’ll need an all-round, ”3D” picture of what your audiences like reading, watching, and listening. (And that probably includes blockbusters like Avatar!)
Are you ready to meet your public?
Award-winning copywriter Chas Bayfield, the chap behind high-profile campaigns for Tango and Bird’s Eye, has this advice for wannabe writers:
“Go where the people are, eat in McDonald’s, read trashy magazines, sit in Starbucks a lot, watch the world, travel on buses, go by coach, not first class, and just realise that the people you need to talk to live in the real world themselves and not in some little media bubble.”
(From Brilliant Copywriting by R.Horberry.)
Follow Chas’ lead, and remember to:
- Identify how your customers like to communicate (e.g. online? offline?)
- Use language they are comfortable with
- Tailor your copy accordingly
Above all, be interesting!
Sorry to say, but nobody’s waiting for your business to get in touch. People don’t sit around thinking “Please, someone send me another brochure! Or press release! Or sales email!”
Copywriting Top Gun Howard Gossage explains:
“The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”
He’s right, isn’t he? Even if you’re writing for business audiences, your readers are still people. So the more interested you are in their wants and needs, the more interested they’ll be in you. After all, that’s what persuasive copywriting is all about!
Here’s how to do it
- Address your readers directly – put the emphasis on “you”
- Adopt a friendly, approachable tone if possible
- Credit your readers with some intelligence
- Use appropriate topical references/ examples to liven things up
So what have we learned?
Well, if you want your copywriting to break all box office records, you’ve got to think in 3D. Get out in the world, learn about your audiences, and give them something they’d happily pay for.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to catch a movie (all in the name of research, obviously!).
