Write to the reader - about what the reader knows and understands
2 elements are important when you want to capture the reader and keep their interest.
- You need to write directly to the reader
- Show that you know the reader and the reader's situation
Everyone wants to read about themselves - or something they can relate to. That's why you should write both your sales copy and blog posts from the reader's world and only mention what the reader needs to know.
Writing "you" instead of "I" or "we" will go a long way, whenever possible.
In addition to the psychological aspect of "you" pointing towards the reader, you will also automatically write from the reader's world with the word "you". And the better you know your target audience, the more accurately you can tap into their world, problems and dreams.
Before you start writing, answer these questions:
- When does the reader need your help the most?
- What will be most important for the reader to achieve?
- What is relevant to the reader?
- What is redundant?
- Which of your technical words does the reader understand?
- Should you use humor in your texts or be formal?
One of the well-known myths about good texts is that they should be short. This is not true. A text should always be long enough to convince your reader to do what you want them to do. Possibly to buy or to call you. And you convince the reader by answering the reader's questions - avoiding information that is not relevant to the reader and distracts the reader while reading. Because the more precisely you can target the reader's questions, problems or considerations, the more the reader can feel that you are writing about them.
For example, it often makes a big difference whether your reader is acting on behalf of a company or as a private individual. Partly because it affects the reader's entire customer journey. Partly because businesses and individuals have very different needs and often prefer different ways of working together.
Different needs for beautiful gardens
If you're a landscaper, there's a big difference in whether your customer:
- hires you as a private individual because the customer wants a nice garden and may no longer have the physical ability to maintain it themselves - or because they want to impress with an extravagant garden
- is the chairman of a homeowners' association, cooperative or condominium association, trades for other people's money and primarily wants the neighbors to be happy so the customer doesn't get complaints
- are the operations manager of a municipality and need a fixed contract with multiple gardeners all year round
Not only do the three different customers have very different needs when it comes to the gardening contract itself, but you'll also have a hard time convincing them all that you can advise them all equally well based on their own needs, because they don't need the same thing. And no one is just looking for a gardener.
The pensioner who wants a nice garden might also need a new walkway so he/she can better walk around and enjoy the garden. The chairman of the residents' association may need some easy-to-maintain flower beds, and the municipal operations manager needs a stable and budget-friendly agreement that he/she can defend within the system.
Each of the three different scenarios gives you a very precise starting point for your texts. In addition to making the right target group much more likely to want to do business with you, you also have a big influence on who your customers become when you dare to focus on a specific target group. Finally, you can time your services and forms of collaboration to suit this specific target group.
Hold on even when you don't want to sell
Sometimes a single, specific sentence can make all the difference between your reader finishing your text and buying from you. As long as it accurately shows that you know the reader well enough.
Even if your text is not meant to sell, but to position you as an expert, you also need to retain your reader. Here you need to educate the reader about your specialty or elaborate on some of the details that are not suitable for your sales texts.
You can optimize your text even more with these focus points:
- Avoid sentences that are too long. Break them up with periods rather than using too many commas. This makes it easier for the reader to understand your content
- Write active verbs rather than passive ones. For example, "Write your phone number here. I'll call you" rather than "You will be contacted"
- Avoid "you" because the word "you" obscures who you are writing about. And no reader feels affected by being referred to as "you"
- Beware of filler words such as "so", "really", "well" or "of course". These words often make the text longer without contributing to the content
- Read through your text again. Can anything be left out? Does the reader get answers to all their questions
The good news is that everything I've written doesn't just make your regular texts better. You also get rewarded by Google when your text is an SEO text. Because Google rewards good texts that answer readers' questions.
Listen to "Effective content marketing & 5 tips for writing great content" on Spreaker.
