The most important part of your copy is not your headline, not your offer, and certainly not your benefits. The most important part is your customer.
Sounds obvious, right? But I’ve critiqued some pretty good copy. Very well-written and compelling, too. But if the conversion rate is low (hence, the reason why I was hired to do a critique consultation), it’s because these websites do not target the right audience for the offer, or the copy fails to connect with their readers.
Researching your customer in depth is vital to the success of your copy. It’s not only an important component of targeting and qualifying the best prospect for your offer, but also an effective way to discover new ideas, different angles, captivating storylines, unsought benefits, and appropriate length and language of your copy that will convert more.
The question is, how do you target and connect with your readers?
First off, if your product has never been launched before, hopefully, you have done enough research to know your product is viable. But if you have, then you should have a good idea of who your market for your product is.
Knowing who your market is, and how and where to target them, are two different things. Your goal is to discover the qualities, characteristics, and behavioral patterns of your specific (or greatest) market. Then market to that audience with the right message, and do so more than any other and as often as possible.
Create a buyer persona of your perfect client. Then write your copy as if you’re talking to that one single individual, as if it’s a letter written one-on-one, and they’re the only reader that matters in the world right now.
Here’s how to develop a “buyer persona.”
Typically, there are four main categories.
The highest converting websites and most productive marketing pieces are usually those who have spent a great many hours interviewing clients, spending time learning about them (maybe even to be with them), asking a lot of questions, and spending a lot of time learning about:
- Geographics
- Demographics
- Psychographics
- Technographics
Empathy Starts With Discovery
It was Ken Blanchard, in the One-Minute Sales Manager, who said: “Before I walk a mile in your shoes, I must first take off my own.” Brian Keith Voiles, in an interview I gave him regarding the power of empathy in copy, said it best:
“The first thing I do is try to live a ‘day in the life’ of my prospect. What keeps him up at night? What are his biggest concerns or his biggest joys? What’s the first thing he does in the morning as he wakes up? Does he read the paper? What kind of paper? What sections? Does he hurt? Is he frustrated? About what? In all, I try to put myself in my prospect’s shoes as much as possible and really try to see what he sees, thinks what he thinks, feels what he feels. The more I do, the more empathetic I am in my copy — and the more I sell.”
Demographics are the basic qualities and characteristics of your market. They include age, gender, culture, employment, industry, income level, marital status, and so on. Does your product cater uniquely to women? Is it more appealing to a specific industry? Does your product complement another type of product?
Geographics are the countries, locations, and establishments in which your target market resides or works, or those it frequents or to which it travels. Is your market made up of French Canadians? Are they urbanites or rural folk? Do they commute to work in large, busy offices or are they working from home?
On the other hand, psychographics are made up of the emotional, psychological, and behavioral qualities of your market. They include the emotions, buying patterns, purchase histories, and even thought processes behind people’s decision to buy your product.
What is their religious or political persuasion? What interests and hobbies are they’re engaged in? What previous purchases have they made, and other related products they have consumed?
Finally, there are technographics, which are people’s level of sophistication with technology and their specific use of it. Are they early adopters or laggards? Do they use mobile devices to make purchases or are they primarily desktop users? Are they technically savvy or do they need hand-holding?
Bottom line, who buys from you specifically?
Try to be as specific as possible. Creating a buyer persona may seem like you’re ignoring other markets, and if your market is indeed made up of wildly disparate personas, you might want to create more than one. But for now, focus on who buys from you the most or the most often.
In fact, the more specific your defined audience is, the more focused your targeting will be, the greater the connection with your market will be, and the higher your conversions will be. (Sounds contradictory, but I’ll come back this and explain later.)
Intelligence Gathering
The two most important elements are, of course, demographics and psychographics. You should have a good understanding of who your client is, such as their age, occupation, marital and family status, etc. Hopefully, you also have information about their interests, hobbies, culture, aspirations, etc. If you don’t, then you know what you need to do.
Another way to look at it, demographics show who may need your product, while psychographics reveal who may want your product. These are different! To determine who wants your product is to also understand why they want it. Some of the best market research has to do with how your market interacted with you and why.
Ask your current clients. Call them. Probe further. Many will appreciate that you’re taking an interest in them. Say it’s about gathering feedback in order to improve your level of service, which in reality, it is. For example, here’s a list of questions you should ask:
- Who are you, exactly?
- What’s a day in the life of “you” like?
- What’s your biggest challenge?
- What’s your biggest success story?
- Why did you buy my product?
- Why did you choose me over a competitor?
- Why did you buy at that specific point in time?
- Did you buy right away (on impulse) or take your time?
- If you shopped around, what exactly were you looking for?
- What other products / services / solutions did you consider?
- What do you like the most and the least about my product?
- Would you refer me to others, and if so, why? Why not?
- What specific benefits do you enjoy the most in my product?
- If you considered an alternative before buying, what were their benefits?
- And so on.
These are immensely important questions that can help you, guide you, or even cause you to change your approach altogether.
Don’t discount the power of doing marketing research, especially within your own backyard so to speak. You want to know not only who buys from you but, more important, why they do. In other words, think psychographics and not just demographics.
To illustrate the difference between demographics and psychographics, here’s an example pulled from my own experience as a copywriter in the cosmetic surgery field.
Hair transplant doctors cater mainly to men who have experienced hair loss and are able to afford such an operation — i.e., men and bald men specifically are potential patients because they may need of more hair.
Psychographics, on the other hand, go a little further. In this example, they are comprised of men who not only need but also want more hair — since not all of them do. (It’s a matter of priorities, just as the type of clothing one chooses to wear.)
They may seem to need more hair, but they might not want more. So just targeting “bald men” is not enough.
To target your best market as precisely as possible and generate better leads, doctors must take the psychographic element into account, such as their patients’ lifestyle, their interests, the type of industry in which they work (since certain industries are image-related), as well as their previous buying habits (such as men who have already invested in other forms of hair replacement solutions).
The more information the better.
For example, you have a headline that said, “Are you losing your hair?” That appeals to your demographics. People who have hairloss will probably read the ad. After all, they “seem” to need more hair.
The problem is, they may not care about it. But if your headline said, “Suffering from hairloss?” now your ad is targeting someone who not only has hairloss but also cares about it enough to want to do something about it.
Aim For The Bull’s-Eye
Nevertheless, arm yourself with as much of this type of information beforehand and your chances of achieving greater success with your product will be virtually guaranteed. You will know how to craft marketing communications that will appeal as specifically and directly as possible to that market.
Next, knowing this information will also help you target that market. Developing a buyer persona should give you a pretty good indication of where they hang out, where they will see your ad, or where they will learn about your product or service.
The following represents The Audience Targeting Model (a format to follow when targeting an audience, or while engaged in any targeting activity). It’s in the form of three concentric circles — like a bull’s-eye.
Applying the targeting model is simple. Each circle represents a different level in the targeting process — the center being the first, your main priority, and so on. As the marketing adage goes, “fish where the fish swim.” Find places, events, or publications that meet any of the three, from the center out.
The center of the bullseye should be your main aim. These are things, events, or locations that are centered on your buyer persona. The second level consists of places, events, or things that are related to them. The third level, while not related, consists of those that are oriented towards your perfect customer.
Here’s a quick description of each circle:
The Center (Bull’s-Eye), or Audience Centered: It’s what pertains directly to your target market. In other words, it’s anything that meets your buyer persona (and does so immediately and as specifically as possible). Things like demographics, psychographics, and geographics are included, here.
The Second Tier (Middle Layer) or Audience Related: It’s what pertains indirectly to your target market. Stated differently, it’s anything that relates to or logically fits in your buyer’s profile. This includes things such as direct competitors, complementary products, related industries, etc.
The Third Tier (Outside Layer) or Audience Oriented: It’s what does not pertain at all to your target market but somehow matches or is oriented towards any of its areas. Examples are unrelated industries with which your customer is associated, other businesses patronized by your customer, other unrelated products they consume (products that do not complement, replace, or supersede yours, but are consumed by them), common threads among your audience (even if they have nothing to do with your product), etc.
Here’s An Example
Let’s say you’re in the computer sales business. Your perfect customer is a person aged between 20 and 35, earning around $40,000, living in the eastern part of the United States, and working in the high-tech field.
The center or bull’s-eye would include computer-related magazines, shows, websites, tradeshows, email newsletters, forums, social networks (specifically computer-related groups and “cliques” on those social media), etc. Wherever your perfect customer is targeted, based on the qualities and characteristics of your product or customer, should be your first goal. Your main aim. The bull’s-eye.
The second tier are areas that are indirectly related to your buyer persona. Your goal would then be to target places, events, or things that are similar or somehow logically fit into your target market as well — in short, other related publications, businesses, or areas that target your perfect customer, too.
Areas include software magazines, trade publications, technology websites, industry associations, non-competing businesses, etc. An example would be other websites selling computer peripherals or software your client would need or enjoy, such as an accounting software package.
The third and final tier consists of totally unrelated areas your buyer frequents, without having anything to do with your industry. You want to be in front of as many of their eyeballs as possible, even if where you appear has anything to do with your product, industry, or niche.
Let’s say, through some research, you found out that a large percentage of your target market are coffee drinkers. Then areas you would seek are coffee-related sites, specialty coffee magazines, coffee product stores (e.g., coffee maker companies, mugs, espresso machines, etc), restaurants, books on coffee, and so on.
It means that, as long as the audiences of such websites and publications logically fit into your target market somehow, even if, in this case, they have nothing to do with computers at all, then you’ve got it made. In essence, you’re still aiming within your “dart board,” in other words.
Don’t Play Darts in The Dark
The bottom line is, in order to convert at a much higher rate, you need to have the right message in front of the right people as often as possible. You not only need to know who your perfect customer is, but you also need to understand her, connect with her, and empathize with her.
So before targeting your buyer, create a marketing message or campaign that appeals to their persona as specifically as possible. Think of that one person as you create your message. How will they react when they see it? Does it match with what they’re thinking? What will they say?
As Robert Collier said in his book, The Robert Collier Letter Book, you need to continue the conversation already going on in their minds.
When targeting your market, even if you aim for the bullseye but you still land somewhere on the dartboard (like marketing computer stuff to coffee lovers, using the example I used earlier), you’re still hitting your market.
If your message is right but your targeting falls outside of that bullseye’s center, people who fit your buyer persona will know it’s meant for them, and they will be interested in what you say, feel connected with your message, and buy from you — as opposed to generic, bland marketing with which your audience feels no connection, no matter where on the bullseye they fall into.
In short, the less targeted and the more generic your message is, the less connected your copy you will be with your market. You might as well shoot darts in the dark and hope you’re lucky to land on the board. Maybe.
