Defining Your Customers – Fundamentals Of Copywriting Part 2

Foundational copywriting concepts
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SARubin
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Defining Your Customers – Fundamentals Of Copywriting Part 2

Post by SARubin »

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Reading Time: About 4 minutes

Authors note: This post belongs to a multi part series and it holds the most value when the entire series is read in order, starting with part 1 The fundamentals of copywriting - Understanding the product .



Welcome back,

In our last session we talked about understanding your product along with its features and benefits.

But even more important than understanding the product, is knowing your audience. Because how you sell and the words you use in your copy is determined by who you’re selling to.

Simply put… unless you plan on buying 100% of your own product, it’s not about you or your company that makes the sale… it’s all about the customer and why they want to buy.



Understanding your audience Is critically important because each group of people will have different dreams and desires, and different fears, pain points, and cultural language that resonates with them.

For example: Stay at home moms have different priorities than single people with no immediate family. They may both want to buy healthy food, but one is doing it for the whole family’s sake while the other is doing it just for themselves. And you’ll need to use different language to trigger the emotional hot buttons from different groups…

If you’re selling to seasoned business professionals, you’re going to write differently than if you’re selling to first time entrepreneurs…

…If you’re selling to 20 year olds, you’re going to use different words than you would when your selling to 50 or 60 year olds.

These differences will influence the way you write your copy. And that’s why defining your customer is going to be the most important part of the copywriting process.



So let’s get started with defining your ideal customer…



To help make it easier we’re going to create a customer avatar

A customer avatar (or persona) is a character who represents your ideal client or customer.

Whether you’re writing an article, a blog post, or sales copy… Developing an avatar is good practice, because the process of creating your client avatar will help you understand the person youʼre speaking to.

Even if your selling to millions of people, each one is a single person while they’re reading your copy. And an avatar will help you focus on the motivating beliefs, fears, hopes and desires that influence your ideal customers behavior and buying decisions.

Below are some questions from a standard Customer Avatar Worksheet that you can start with. My own personal worksheet goes into a bit more detail, and you’ll probably want to add your own questions to what’s presented here, but for right now here’s a few questions to get you moving forward in the right direction…



Let’s give your client avatar some Basic Traits & Demographics…

One great way to do this is to model it after your best clients. If you don’t have any clients yet, then you can compile an avatar from the types of people who already buy products similar to yours.

Let’s fill in some blanks about our ideal customer, OK…



Who buys your type of product?

Name________________

Age? ________

Male/ Female?_________

Married? _____

Children? ____

Where do they live? _____________________

Education level(high school, college, professional or trade school)? ___________

________________________________________________________________

Current occupation? ______________________

Current Salary? ___________________

Total yearly household income? __________________

Political views? ___________________________________________________

Religion? _______________________________________________________

Interests or Hobbies? ______________________________________________

What websites do they frequently visit? _________________________________

Do they follow the news or current events? If so, where do they get their news?

_______________________________________________________________

Are there any current events happening in the news that could affect the way your products are perceived?

_______________________________________________________________

Social activity? – Twitter? _____ Facebook? _____ LinkedIn? _____ Other? _____


What problem are they facing?

List at least 3 problems your ideal customer wants solved that makes them an
ideal candidate for your product or service.

1. ______________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________

What is the worst thing that could happen if they don’t solve these problems?

________________________________________________________________


What goal do they want to achieve?

List at least 3 goals your ideal customer wants to achieve that makes them an
ideal candidate for your product or service.

1. ______________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________

What is the best thing that will happen once they reach their goal?

________________________________________________________________________



When you fill in the blanks you can see how your ideal client starts to come into focus. It even helps if you can find a photo or picture of what you believe they look like and attach it to your avatar worksheet.

Using this as your baseline makes it easier to write your copy as if you’re talking to just one person (your best customer)

Here’s another questions for you to consider…



What do your customers like about your product?

For example: Someone who buys a hybrid automobile may like the fact that it gets good gas mileage. Or they may like the idea of doing their part to protect the environment.

And a person who buy a Mercedes S-class may like the prestige they feel while driving it. Or they may like the fact that it’s quality built and lasts a long time.

So what do people like about your product or service?



OK, at this point you should be starting to understand how to identify your ideal client and what matters to them. When you do this, it will provide you with a solid foundation for the copy you’re about to write.

So I’m going to wrap this post up here, and let you get started on defining your own customer avatar.



The next time we meet, we’ll take what we gained from the last post understanding your product and what we just touched on here about defining your customer, and we’ll start to tie your product into what your customers are looking for…

This is where the rubber meets the road and we start driving our copy towards our ultimate destination… more conversions.



Until next time,
Here’s to writing more compelling copy… More often.

All the best,
SAR
A good marketer knows how to think like a marketer - A great marketer learns how to think like the customer...
SARubin - Direct Response Copywriter / Conversion Flow Expert
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