COPYWRITING FOR THE *RIGHT* AUDIENCE
When to use a customer persona and when to dig deeper.
I have a gripe with customer personas and I know I’m not alone.
Creating a fictional character to represent my ideal client always felt a little arbitrary and pointless to me.
Maybe it’s because my own interests are so varied. And despite my demographics remaining fairly static, the kind of brands I’m attracted to range from sweary, no-nonsense, monochrome-branded boxing gyms to gentle, supportive, neutral-toned online stores selling artisanal incense and other products.
And yes, these brands do an excellent job of communicating how they fulfil a need or solve a problem. But they aren’t so focused on who I am that they’ve lost all sense of their own voice and personality.
In fact, they show up so entirely and unapologetically as themselves it’s magnetic.
That doesn’t mean I think you should forget about who your customer is completely.
I reckon a WAY better approach to understanding your audience (and connecting this to what you do) is by collecting actual data about them, analysing that data and using what you discover to inform your decisions. Because real-life data is always going to be more robust than assumptions.
So, in this blog, we’ll look at where and how to collect audience data. Then, we’ll explore how to use that data to make sure our copywriting works to connect with our audience.
Part 1: How to collect customer data
In the copywriting business, we call this Voice of Customer or VOC.
a) Look for VOC data you already have
The easiest way to start collecting customer data is to look at where you're already engaging with them and leverage those interactions.
I get A LOT of juicy information about what my customers find appealing about me and my brand, and what parts of my marketing I should continue to invest in, by simply asking "why do you want to work with me?"
Pay attention to:
· The questions leads ask you, or the challenges they talk about when they email you, have a discovery call or complete an intake form (start writing these down in a central location)
· Customer feedback, reviews and testimonials (if you're not actively asking for these here's your kick-in-the-butt to start!)
· The conversations you're having in the comment sections of your social media posts, in response to your emails or in DMs with people in your community (note down what resonates and what they mention)
· Your website and social media analytics
b) ‘Spy’ (ethically) on what potential customers think, like, ask about or find challenging even if they aren't communicating it directly to you by...
· Hanging out (and paying bloody attention) in online business groups
· Checking out the reviews and testimonials of others in your industry to see what their customers focus on or find particularly valuable
· Trawling sites like Amazon or Etsy for reviews on similar products
c) Go all out with formal VOC data gathering, including…
· Surveying customers as a standard part of your offboarding process
· Surveying or conducting verbal interviews with customers as a one-off project
· Surveying leads who didn't turn into customers as a standard part of your launches
If all of that sounds overwhelming, I hear you. But I also know how effective and useful this data can be.
Running a formal customer survey and interview project helped me make the call to shelve an offering I was planning to create because it wasn't a good match for what my audience wanted and needed.
I invested time and energy upfront, but avoided an even bigger investment (and potential loss and frustration) later on down the track.
Part 2: You have the customer data. Now how do you adapt your copywriting to suit?
Instead of focusing on demographics, educational background, what our customer does for a job and if they have any hobbies, we use the data to ask ourselves better questions, like…
a) What do they think or feel about the problem you solve or desire you fulfil?
If their desire feels like an indulgence or guilty pleasure you could include an element of permission-giving, self-worthiness or exclusivity in your branding and copy.
Or if they think their problem is something they shouldn’t struggle with you could focus on normalising the issue and include social proof that shows them they’re not alone.
b) What do they believe about the services or products you sell or the industry you work in?
For example, if they believe the life coaching industry is full of questionable woo-woo merchants and scam artists then you might need to work on credibility and legitimacy-boosting content.
Or if they believe incense is that cheap stuff teenagers use to mask the smell of the other stuff they’re smoking then your branding and content will need to work hard to elevate it to a luxury item.
c) What do they already know about what you offer when they land on your content?
Eugene Schwartz's levels of awareness can help here. In my experience, most audiences include a mix of awareness levels, so a mix of approaches and strategies will make sense.
· Brand aware— they know you, your brand and what you have to offer. For these people your content can be more direct, it should be super clear what your offer is and how they can buy.
· Product/service-aware— they know about the product/service you're offering but don't know if you're the right provider right for them. Your content for these people should focus on differentiating you, letting your values and personality shine and building credibility and likability.
· Solution aware— they know how they're going to solve their problems or fulfil their desires but they don't know if your products/services are a good fit. Content here should focus on answering questions, dealing with objections and offering real value to build knowledge and trust.
· Problem/desire aware— they know they have a problem or desire but they're not sure how to fix or fulfil it. People at this stage need education, how-tos, roadmaps and anything that’s going to show them how you’ll help them get from A to B.
· Unaware— they don't yet know they have a problem to solve or a desire to fulfil. Attention-grabbing content, word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals, and regularly appearing where they show up (social media, business networking groups, podcasts) are good strategies to get you on the radar with these folks.
Hopefully, it’s now clear that there’s a better approach to understanding your audience than by creating a fictional character to represent your ideal client.
And that is by collecting actual data about them and then analysing that data and using the themes to inform what you do.
I’ve seen repeatedly what this type of work can do for small businesses. Here's a message I received from a previous client after running a VOC project with me...
"I LOVE LOVE LOVE the VOC research! It's SUPER interesting and wow, just so eye opening and affirming, and like the spine I can build my content and biz strategy around! Thank you thank you!!"
If you’re convinced this is the way to go but you’re overwhelmed at the thought of doing it, I can help. It’s one of my favourite parts of the job. So…
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