LISTEN TO WHAT THEY WANT! Know your readers’ wants and needs to write quality content

FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: There’s power in knowing your target market before putting your pen to paper. The more you know who they are, their wants and needs, the more you’ll be able to write content that is EVERGREEN. You have to know your target market in order to construct appealing copies. Keep reading to learn how immersing yourself in your target market’s environment and personally interacting with them can equip you with an edge in writing good and effective copies. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

“The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.” — John Russell The quote above sends a message that we often hear in business and marketing―listen to what your customers need and want What’s so important about it? For your business to succeed, consider the importance of listening to your customers or clients. The same goes for copywriting. In writing content, you need to consider what topics your target readers would be interested in. GET TO KNOW YOUR READERS FIRST BEFORE YOU WRITE A WORD. This is one of the rules pointed out in Joanna Wiebe’s CopyHackers Book 1 titled, “Where Stellar Messages Come From.” Understand what it’s like to be in their shoes. Take note of their wants, needs, and even the problems they want to solve. Knowing all these details will help you create content that would grab your target readers’ attention. Address their wants and needs. Provide a solution to their problems. How can you do this effectively? By asking: “Who are my readers in the first place?” “How do they think and act?” It’s not enough that you have a target group in mind. You also need to consider the constant change in their perspective. A year from now, will your target audience still find your content useful? Will they share it with other people? You’ll never know what’s going to happen! You need to write content that’s universally beneficial and useful to your readers. What are other ways to get to know your target audience? Maximize the use of your email list. Send out surveys through emails to get more information about the content people want to read about.   Go out of your way to talk to people. Don’t settle for focus group discussions (FGDs). Try to go to cafes, restaurants, and the like. Give gift cards or tokens to people you come across in exchange for their time to answer a quick survey or interview! You can even reach out to people online through social networks. Doing so will not only widen your reach, you’ll also get the chance to have real and unbiased conversations with people you interact with.   Talk to people from work or your circle outside of work. If you’re not the type to go out and talk to strangers, try getting feedback from those within your reach that fit the profile! Converse with people at your office, home, or social group to know their preferences when it comes to certain services, products, likes, dislikes, and more. This will also give you a clearer picture of what content people are looking for. Once you have a deeper understanding of who your readers are, also consider how your content will appeal to them. For example, you write a piece about what exercises you can do at your desk while working from home. People who read this thinking it will benefit them are most likely those who are working from home. What about those who work at offices but can also do these exercises? Adjust your writing so that situations that can cater to a wider audience can actually reach that audience. Write about exercises that can be flexibly done both at home and at the office so that more groups are reached and would find your content appealing. More often than not, people read articles out of their own interest. It’s great to have readers that willingly read your material! The advantage this gives you? You can build on those interests! Doing so will have them stay tuned to what you publish and keep them wanting more. Always show how your content is useful and how much this could actually help them find what they’re looking for. For example… SITE: Buzzfeed.com Primary Audience: Women and teens, specifically 18 to 34 year olds. Gist: Buzzfeed provides its viewers with news and entertainment content. The information found on their site mainly revolves around articles on entertainment news, popular videos and photos, fun quizzes, and other information that’s trending. As of June 2020, Buzzfeed ranked 56th in its website category, News and Media. It also ranked 359th globally, with over 200 million unique views per month. How did they do this? Buzzfeed continues to be straightforward when it comes to their content and audience. The site contains fun and interesting content that their target readers are looking for. They know exactly what their target readers are into. It also gives room for people not part of their primary audience the chance to quickly know more about what they provide. Keeping all of these guidelines in mind not only helps in creating better content, it also helps you keep your readers wanting more! You also get the chance to reach more people and expand your audience. Listening to your readers alone can give you a lot of information on their preferences. Why not maximize it? Give this week’s tip a shot on your next copy or content writing task! Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Write with the Pen of the Masters! Writing for a specific group is the key for converting prospects to loyal customers. Learn more about keeping your copies targeted for increasing your brand’s conversion rates on next week’s Write with the Pen of the Masters!