The first step in writing any good copy is to better understand your client.
Know your audience. That is generally the first rule of all communications. However, how much impact are you actually having? How deep are you delving to really understand, who’s in the shoes?
Standard audience analysis includes criteria such as age, gender, nationality, and cultural heritage. Identifying this basic information will certainly help with shaping your messages.
What is often overlooked, however, is that your client is also your audience. A key audience. Indeed, the first step in writing any good copy is to better understand your client.
You will need to explore their business objectives, of course, but also spend some time getting to know them – who they are and, importantly, what are their passions? What makes them tick? What gets them excited? What really matters to them? Hold an in-person conversation, where possible, and step as far as you can into their shoes. This will enable you to determine how your client would, or should, address their audience.
Once you fully understand your client, you can then change shoes, and put on those of your audience. Investigate the standard criteria, of course, but where you can, delve deep into their passions as well. Converse with a selection of them in person, if possible. Or consider online customer surveys if your audience is large, or extremely broad. But again, try to find out their wants, beliefs and needs by asking the right questions.
Then, translate the responses into a message that is truly purposeful and that clearly resonates with them, and with your client. One way to do this is to match up those areas about which your client and their audience appear to feel most passionate, and there you have your key messages.
In summary, the key take-outs I am offering here are simply:
1. Know your client before you get to know your audience.
2. Delve deep into the client’s shoes to understand not just their objectives, but also their passions.
3. Don’t just focus on standard audience criteria – look more closely at them too, and understand what is really important to them as people.
4. Match the client’s passions with those of the audience to identify your key messages, and how to best present them.
Taking these steps may add a little extra time to your process, but it will also introduce a real human element to your writing, giving it a real purpose. It is how I work at Waterer Communications; placing people at the centre of everything I do.