2 Ways to Really Connect With Your Customer in Your Copywrit

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Thursday, 4 December 2008

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By:Bruce Carlson

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!
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!

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