Copywriting Archives - Page 6 of 6

How to Identify Your Target Audience in 3 Easy Steps (And Save Yourself Thousands of Dollars on Advertising)

May 6, 2016 by Tanya Brody Leave a Comment

Who are you talking to?

I’m completely serious here. Who are you talking to with your marketing? Do you have a target audience or are you just throwing money away trying to hit anyone and everyone you possibly can?

I am astonished by how many small business owners and entrepreneurs create a product or service and just assume that they can sell it to everyone. Whatever it is, you can’t. You’re wasting your advertising budget.

Even major retailers that sell just about everything under the sun have specific target audiences. Target and Walmart go after a totally different economic group than Nordstrom and Macy’s.

Identifying your target market is one of the most important steps in creating your marketing plan. It’s also the first thing you should do. In fact, it’s the first thing every copywriter is taught to do when writing any promotional piece.

Knowing your target audience can make your marketing campaigns less expensive and more effective. Take the time to figure out who you’re talking to. You’ll find it’s a win-win.

Here are 3 easy steps to identify your target market and make your entire marketing plan much easier.

Research Your Target Audience’s Demographics

Even if your product is so cutting edge it “solves problems you never knew you had,” you can figure out the demographics of your target audience.

Back when I was writing websites for lawyers, I would ask them about their target market demographics. A standard answer was “anyone with money and a pulse.” A very broad audience indeed.

But as we continued to talk, I’d wheedle more information out of them. For instance, some of the personal injury lawyers would tell me they didn’t want the “cheap” cases. So they were really looking for clients with injuries serious enough to need a lot of medical treatment.

I’d get some great information when I asked about the education level of their average client. Even an answer like “oh, most of them have graduated from high school and some of them have attended a couple years of college” told me a lot.

You can figure out your target audience’s basic demographics by asking yourself a couple of basic questions.

Who can afford my product?

If you’re selling your product for $19.99, you have a very different target market than if you’re selling it for $97, or even $997. Asking who can afford your product will give you a broad idea of your target audience’s income level. Once you know that, you can narrow down the income level of the customers you’re going after.

Who will find my product useful?

Some companies promote their products to anyone and everyone. I regularly get promotional postcards from the Westonka School District and Foss Swim School telling me about their children’s activities and lessons. I am a single woman living in a 1-bedroom house. I wish they would do their research and save their printing and postage.

A great demographic exercise is to ask yourself “who is this product for?” Take the time to write down your answers. Your answers can be as simple as “for mothers” or as detailed as “for working mothers who have toddlers between 18 months and 3 years.”

You can also include time and place: “For working mothers to give to their toddlers as a snack while they’re in the car or being pushed in a stroller.”

You may even find a whole new sub-set of people who would find your product useful: “For active working mothers who are pushing their toddlers in a jogging stroller while getting their daily exercise.”

The nice thing about this exercise is it helps you decide who you’re talking to and what you’re talking about.

Filling in the Gaps

From here, you can refine your customer demographics with research. You can find lots of information on the Internet about demographic groups, including generational information and basic group traits. Use these as a starting point, then drill down to find the demographics of the people who will be your best potential customers.

If you use Google Analytics, their system keeps track of a lot of demographic information. You can use this to build an audience profile based on the people who have visited your website.

Google Analytics dashboard

I like to develop a full picture of my clients’ customers, including:

Age
Gender
Income
Where they live
The kind of car they drive
Where they hang out on the Internet
Their basic shopping habits
What they do for a living
Marital status
Family

You can make this list as long or as short as you’d like. My list is pretty extensive. I have a degree in creative writing and theater, so I want to get an in-depth picture of my target audience. Download my Customer Persona sheet to get ideas for researching your own target audience.

You can get great target audience information directly from your current customers by asking them to fill out a simple survey. If you’re starting a new company and launching a new product, you can survey your email list of interested customers. There are a lot of free survey tools and sites out there. My favorites are Survey Monkey and Google Forms.

Psychographics and Behaviors

Now that you know your target audience a bit better, you should get a feel for their interests. This includes their political leanings, hobbies and their religion or spiritual beliefs. This will help you deliver your message more effectively.

Why should you delve into this information? Because you’ll have a very different conversation with a 20-something male who is in to juicing and organic farming than you will with a 50-something female who is a devout Evangelical Christian and the head of a women’s knitting and quilting club that makes blankets for needy children.

This information is going to help you shape your message, especially when you have different subsets within your target audience. You should target your marketing for each group to get the best return on investment (ROI).

Again, I tend to get pretty in-depth here. I think about what types of magazines, music and TV shows my target audience would watch. (Most of this is guesswork, but it helps me get a better picture of who I’m writing to.)

You also need to look at their emotions. This includes their hopes and fears, and what they want in the immediate and long-term. Understanding these psychographics will let you push the emotional triggers that are more likely to make your target audience opt-in or buy.

You can figure some of this out by looking at advertisements for products that are similar to yours. Are they targeting the same audience? What are they focusing on? What emotions are they trying to evoke in their ads?

Interview Someone in Your Target Audience

Now that you’ve researched your target audience, find someone who matches that profile and ask them out for coffee. You almost certainly know someone who fits the description you’ve just created. If not, you know someone who knows someone.

Ask this person questions about their life, their concerns and their problems. Ask them what products they use now to deal with these problems:

Are they effective?
Are they happy with these products?
What do they like?
What would they change?

Talk to them about your product and see how they respond. Ask them how it would help in their daily life, how they would use it and how they would benefit. If the person is interested in trying your product, offer them a sample and ask them to give you a testimonial if they like it.

I recommend recording your conversation (with the interviewee’s permission). I always record my interviews because everyone talks faster than I can type and I don’t want to miss something important. Most smart phones have a recording app already installed. If not, there are plenty you can download.

Create Your Customer Persona

Use all of the information you’ve gathered to build a customer persona. This is a full character sketch of your target audience. Again, this can be as long or as short as you’d like. But you should include:

Basic demographics like age, income, profession and gender.
Basic psychographics, especially their motivations, hopes and fears.
The problem they’re facing and the pain points it causes.
How your product can solve that problem and ease those pain points.

When I create customer personas for my clients, I give this person a name and add a picture so I always know who I’m writing to. I feel like having a name and a face helps me to have a better “conversation” with my target audience.

Starting the Conversation

Now that you know who you’re talking to, and what you’re talking about, you’ll have a much easier time promoting your product to the people who will actually buy it.

You can use this information when you’re writing your promotional copy and ads. You can also use it to target your online advertising, such as Facebook and Google Ads. Each of these platforms have systems that let you drill down to show your ads only to your target audience. You can get as specific as the example of the active mother with the toddler I gave above.

Most importantly, you have a much better idea of who you want your customer to be. Now your marketing campaigns will be effective and bring in the people who will spend money and increase your bottom line. Congratulations. Your hard work will save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every year.

Want to get into the demographics of your target audience the same way I do? Click on the button below to Download my Customer Persona sheet.

DOWNLOAD MY CUSTOMER PERSONA SHEET

Do you know your target audience? Tell me about them in the comments section below.

6 in 6 Freelance Copywriter Progress Report – 1 Month

April 13, 2016 by Tanya Brody 2 Comments

One month ago today I started this blog with the goal of making $6,000 net a month in 6 months as a freelance copywriter. So I figured this would be a good time to check in to let you know how I’m doing.

I was laid off on January 20^th. By the beginning of March, I had 2 clients, both of whom came to me through referrals. Yes, I started this blog with 2 clients. That’s part of the reason I decided to write about the journey I’m on. I finally knew where I was going.

Since the beginning of March I have received signed contracts from both clients and each client has paid half of their fee up front, for a total of $5,750. That’s close to what I want to be earning a month net, but definitely not there yet. I’ve got some serious work to do.

I do have a project starting in May, but I haven’t received a deposit on that one yet. I have also been pursuing other potential clients, some of whom have approached me and some of whom I have reached out to. I’ll let you know when those pan out.

I’ve also been networking in every way possible, including offering my services to a non-profit my father is involved in. I’ve reached out to friends and family. I’ve used social media, job boards and various other channels to tell the world I’m a freelance copywriter looking for clients.

Some of those connections have paid off, with various people contacting me, asking if I’m interested in a project. As I write this post, I’m waiting to hear from a friend regarding one of those projects.

I’m not yet prepared to say this freelance copywriter thing is even remotely a success. But it does have the potential to become one. And the Universe, or (insert your choice of deity here), does seem to be steering me in this direction.

Here’s how I know.

As mentioned in an earlier post, people (including those of you reading this post) keep sending me support and potential clients.

I have managed to secure two client contracts, both of which I am enjoying writing.

I’m learning tons. Even if this doesn’t pan out in the end, I can honestly say it was a learning experience.

I attended the Brian Clark/Bryan Harris email list building webinar on Monday and won a free “Get 10,000 Subscribers” course. (If that isn’t the Universe pointing me in the right direction, what is? I have a lot of list-building work to do now. Phew!)

I honestly feel like I’m off to a good start. I’m not where I want to be yet, but hey, I’m logging my 1-month mark. I’m doing pretty well. Stay tuned to see if I keep going up or if I hit a snag somewhere along the line.

So… yeah. After being laid off and not knowing what to do next, I can honestly say that so far, this freelance copywriter thing is a good idea. Not sure if it’s my “forever” career yet (though I want it to be). But it’s so crazy, it just might work.

I’ll report in again in another month.

Cheers,

Tanya

Why Creating a Quality Product Matters (And a Sure-Fire Method to Make Your Product Appeal to Your Customers)

April 7, 2016 by Tanya Brody Leave a Comment

Don’t skip steps.

The steps you set up for yourself are very important. Each one is a building block in the process to creating a quality product, whatever your product or service is.

I mention this because I realized this week that I had skipped a very important step in my writing process. I didn’t go through and list out features and benefits for a client’s project I was working on.

Those features and benefits really lay out the foundation of much of my writing, so skipping them was a big mistake. Once I took the time to do this very simple exercise, I was much happier with what I wrote as a first draft for the client in question.

I’ll talk more about this process later in this post.

For now, I want to talk about creating quality products.

Your Product is a Reflection of Your Business

Whether you’re a freelancer or a business owner, your product or service is pretty much your livelihood. If you don’t create a quality product or give excellent service, you’re doomed to fail.

Yes, some folks get away with providing shoddy service or a sub-par product and survive for years. But that’s not a great business model. Don’t be that person.

Instead, make sure you create a process that ensures you provide the best product or service possible, and stick to that process. Don’t cut corners.

Give that extra little bit of effort that will make your customers think, “Hey, I really got my money’s worth here.” Or, “Hey, that person was wonderful to work with. They went the extra mile to make sure I was happy and got what I wanted.”

Why do I say this?

Because I’ve seen what happens when you cut corners, from both sides of the equation.

As a customer, I’ve experienced what happens when I’m not happy with a product or service. I never do business with that company again, and in some cases, I’m unwilling to do business with any companies that seem similar to the one I was burned by.

I also don’t recommend that company to anyone. If my experience is really bad, I’ll tell people about that experience to warn them off from having the same problems. Companies that give bad service or create bad products get bad reputations.

As a freelancer, I’ve seen how upset customers get when they feel I haven’t done right by them, whether it was accidental or just part of the process. It’s not pretty, and it can do a lot of damage to your reputation, and to your business.

Your best advertising is through word of mouth. You need to protect your reputation whenever and wherever possible.

So don’t skip steps. Go through every step in your process. Do it right and do it well. I can’t guarantee that every single customer will be happy with what you’ve done. It is impossible to please absolutely everyone.

But generally speaking, if you follow my advice, you’ll satisfy the majority of your customers.

Those you don’t satisfy, you may not want as customers. That happens.

So long as you have done your best and you do everything you can to rectify the problem, including offering a refund, you can walk away from a bad customer relationship with your head held high. Most people will respect this. Those that don’t, you probably don’t want them as customers either.

Okay, stepping off my soap box now.

Here’s the step I realized I skipped. I went back and ran through this exercise and my writing went much more smoothly.

Features vs. Benefits

Every copywriter knows about the whole “features vs benefits” issue. It’s not enough to just talk about the features of a product. You have to talk about how a customer will benefit from that feature to convince them the product is worth their money and time. Basically, you have to answer the question your customer is asking, “What’s in it for me?”

A feature is something that is true about the product.

A benefit is something the product does to make a customer’s life better, easier or more enjoyable.

To show you how to compare the two, I’m going to use duct tape. It’s easy and everyone knows what it is.

Feature: Duct tape is made of fabric.
Benefit: That makes it more flexible and easier to apply to odd shapes or surfaces.
Feature: Duct tape sticks to pretty much anything.
Benefit: You can use duct tape repair almost everything. (Ironically, according to a report I heard on NPR years ago, the thing duct tape is not so great at: repairing ducts.)

That’s the easy part of the exercise. Here’s the part that is a bit harder, but gives that extra something so I deliver a quality product.

Ask the Question, “So What?”

This is a great exercise and I highly recommend using it in all of your marketing efforts.

What you’re doing here is finding that deeper benefit. The concern or desire that will really strike home with your prospective customer.

Marketing isn’t about selling logic, it’s about selling emotions. So instead of trying to rationalize your product’s benefit, you touch a deeper chord and present your product as the solution.

Again, I’ll use duct tape as my example.

Feature: Duct tape can be used to repair almost anything.

So what?

Benefit: If you have a roll of duct tape on hand, you can make a quick repair to your car and keep driving.

So what?

Deeper Benefit: If your car blows a hose in the middle of nowhere, you can fix the problem with duct tape. Then you can drive yourself to your destination, or to a repair shop, where you are safe and sound.

The emotion I appealed to here is the need to feel safe. I presented duct tape as the solution to the problem.

You can do this exercise with any product or service, and you should. It will make your copywriting better and your offer more appealing.

To learn more about the “So What?” method of finding deeper benefits, download your free guide by clicking the button below.

Download Your Free Copy of the “So What” Method Now!

So, like I said earlier, don’t skip steps.

Make sure you’re giving your customer the best possible product at all times. Everyone will benefit, especially you.

What are the important steps in your process that you never skip? Tell me about them in the comments below.