By Karon Thackston © 2010, All Rights Reserved
While watching a TV show the other day, one scene in particular caught my attention. In this police drama, the detectives were trying to figure out where their suspect would have gone after escaping custody. “If we’re going to catch this guy, we’ve got to know who we’re dealing with. Has anybody built a profile yet?”
The same applies to writing copy. In order to persuade your site visitors into taking the action you want them to take, you have to know who you’re communicating with. Simply putting fingers to keyboard and writing what you want them to read doesn’t work nine times out of 10. Yet, surprisingly, most people never fully discover who their target audience consists of making it all the more difficult to speak to them in their language.
Don’t Write ABOUT You. Write TO Your Site Visitors.
The biggest mistake most people make when writing copy is to “we” all over themselves. “We” do this and “our” products do that. “We” offer those and it’s all about “us.” I will never understand why site owners ignore their visitors that way. Would you do that if a prospective customer walked into your office and stood in front of you? Certainly not!
Your site visitors have all the money so you should cater your site to them. A website, after all, is not an ego-fest. It is a platform for engaging and persuading your customers and showing them how you’re capable of solving their problems.
Making the Target Audience Discovery
What steps do you take to unlock the mysteries of your target customers and what they want you to do for them? Here are three easy ideas for finding out more about the people you’re communicating with through your website.
1. Ask
Yes, it’s really that simple. Using Survey Monkey or one of the many other free online survey tools, create a short questionnaire. Do you remember all those questions that have kept you up at night? Now’s the time to get some answers. When you create your survey, use multiple choice questions so visitors can complete the task quickly, but always leave a field for them to type in their own answers or comments as well.
2. Lurk
Visit forums where your customers might hang out. You don’t necessarily have to join; just lurk. You’ll be amazed at the load of marketing intelligence you can discover simply by visiting the same sights your prospects do.
3. Read
Association magazines. Industry newspapers. Your competitors’ websites. All these are excellent outlets for gathering information about your target audience. In particular, letters to the Editor, complaints and testimonials are chock full of tidbits that give you insight into who your customers are and what they really want.
Never assume you understand your target audience. That’s taking a huge risk. Make the time to do the research and be certain you comprehend their wants and needs as well as what type of copy they respond best to. When you do, you’ll find it easier to write copy that converts better than you ever thought possible.
Karon Thackston is author of the Step-by-Step Copywriting Course, (5th edition). When you’re ready to write professional-quality copy that speaks to your target customers while also boosting your search rankings, click over to http://www.CopywritingCourse.com . Also subscribe to Karon’s copywriting blog at http://www.MarketingWords.com/blog.
Lately I am getting the question “Angela, What do you do?” on a fairly regular basis. So, I thought I should write a post on it.
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