Customer Focused Copywriting

What is it? It isn’t about you.

Your marketing efforts are not about you. Your marketing efforts are about how you can empower, make better, or change the lives of the people that need what you have. It’s about THEM.

That is the simplest and most straightforward way to describe what we mean by customer focused copywriting. Think of it this way: anytime you have an opportunity to speak to your customers – via your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, corporate brochure, white paper, e-book, whatever – you have two choices. You can talk about yourself – “Stafford Security – We are the number one rated home security company in Elkhart, IN” to which I say,  Who cares?

Or, you can talk about your customer and her needs, problems, challenges – “At Bolder Security your safety, the safety of your family, the importance and sanctity of your home and everything that is in it are paramount for you. That’s true for us, too.”

Now I’m starting to care because at the very least Bolder Security is thinking about me and my needs. And they’re not giving me nonsense like “We’re number one” which means nothing to anyone.

Note that one example begins with “we” and the other begins with “you/your.”

Put yourself in your customers shoes. Would you rather spend an evening at a cocktail party with the person who is genuinely interested in you and your life, or the boor who can’t stop talking about himself? Easy choice, no?

A second layer of this has to do with listening to how people talk. Which words do they use, what tone of voice are they using. With the web, we (copywriters and marketers) can now listen in on people in forums, on Twitter on Facebook and a dozen other places

And we can speak the language of the customer. We can gain insight into thoughts and feelings, opinions and fears in ways we never could before.

Beyond this brief example I’ve provided, customer focused language and word choice has big implications for keywords. In search engine optimization efforts that I undertake for clients, I research specific terms that people use (i.e., customer centric) when searching for products and services on the web. Those keywords are gold.