Australian School of Copywriting

From: Bernadette Schwerdt
The Copywriting Coach

Knowing your target market is the key to writing copy that cuts through the clutter. This means you have to do some homework to find out how your target market think, speak and behave.

 Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say your product is hair removal and you know your target market is women aged 20-30.

Here’s what copy would sound like if you hadn’t done your homework and didn’t understand your target market:

“Excess hair can be embarrassing and painful to remove. Hirsute International specialises in hair removal. Our service is painless, fast and cost effective. See us here at Hirsute International for all your hair removal needs.”

Honestly, who is going to take notice of that? So, how do you ’step into your customer’s shoes’ and write specifically for them?

1. Think of someone you know who’s 20-30 years old. It could be your sister, your daughter, your niece, your boss or your girlfriend – it doesn’t matter so long as you can see their face in your mind’s eye. (And if you’re able to picture a really hairy lady, that’s even better.)

2. Then, imagine having a conversation with that young woman. You have to think, “How does a 20-year old girl speak?” Like an actor, you need to ‘channel’ that ‘voice’ – and have an imaginary conversation with them about your product.

Something like this:

“Hair removal sucks. Let’s not kid ourselves – it hurts and it has to be done every 3 months or else it grows back, even hairier! Fun? Not. But what if I was to promise you – in fact, guarantee – that it:

1) Won’t hurt and…

 2) You’ll never have to do it again -

Would that be pretty cool?

And to back it up, if it does hurt or it grows back, we’ll refund your money and throw in a free massage. What have you got to lose? Give us a go. How could you say no?”

You see how natural that is? So much more effective than the ‘corporate speak’ in the first version.

In my next email, I’ll show you how and why people prefer to read short, simple words and why long, complicated words just turn people off.

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