Writing for your readers. Not you.

Content Planning.

One of the great things about running the WordPress platform is that you can easily become a content publisher.

Except having a content platform doth not a interesting publisher make.

The challenge in a content-rich world is to stand out from the crowd. No-one really cares, or believes sweeping statements about high-quality you are or how you offer a premium service. The people you are (generally) trying to entice are first-timers and telling them how cool and fab you are wins no prizes.

They’re also not very factual, or objective. Nor does that typically address the pain the client is feeling – in fact most would shy away from a premium (sounds expensive, why?) service. If they have service issues they will revolve around response and fix rates.

How about…

In the last 18 months we have dealt with over 3,000 support ticket with a 99.8% client satisfaction score.

Some of the best copywriting lets the reader come to their own conclusion. We are very proud of the above statement, as we think we fix lots of WordPress problems quickly and to the satisfaction of our clients. The numbers speak for themselves without having to say that. The number also give a scale to the work we do, it’s clear we’re not a two-man band but it’s also clear that we don’t have thousands of clients. For some, we’ll sit in the sweet spot, for others we’ll be too big or too small. They choose.

And think about the pain

Companies, and people, suffering pain in the digital space want it fixing. They care little about subjective measures, they’re looking for an answer to the question “Can you fix my pain” and “Can I work with you”.

The first one requires proof via objective statements. The second is more visceral and revolves around “why you exist”. People buy from people and the character, values and philosophy of the business needs to be front and centre.

Promises and guarantees

Not everyone is going to “get you”, some folks are naturally cautious. Adding a firm promise can do wonders and removes a major hurdle to people buying you.

It doesn’t need to a “money-back” offer, a simple promise that you will do your damnedest to help is often enough.

The next time you’re starting writing the next pearls of marketing wisdom, think about your readers. Or think about just one, whilst you might imagine thinking about a single person won’t help you write mass-marketing copy it’s a step in the right direction just to stop thinking about yourself and your company.

Happy writing.

By Penny Driscoll