“Always enter the conversation already occurring in the prospect’s mind.”
~ Robert Collier
Marketing Works When You Speak about Things Your Audience Already Wants
One of the most powerful lessons copywriters learn is that your world is not your customer’s world. It’s a lesson that business owners need to learn, too, if they want to empower their marketing and ensure that their marketing delivers the results they would like to see.
One of the challenges of launching a completely new product is the need to educate prospects and introduce the concept you are trying to deliver. However, with thought, you can often short-circuit this process by entering into the fantasies and dreams they already have in their mind. Richard Branson did this brilliantly with his space travel marketing: despite the high price, seats quickly sold out because he tapped into the popular fantasy of space travel.
That is why knowing your audience is of critical importance.
Study Your Audience
The biggest increase in conversions and sales comes when you let this reality seep into every corner of your psyche and flow out in your marketing like Alan did.
One of Alan’s main markets is the construction industry. He’s not selling directly to construction workers, but the people making the decisions about equipment purchases need to keep their users and workers happy.
When Alan figured this out and really got into the head of both the end users and the decision-makers who worked with them he used that understanding in his marketing and almost overnight:
- Conversion rates changed
- Buying cycles shortened by several months
- Prospecting became easier and
- Customers started popping up out of nowhere.
Maybe you don’t sell construction vehicles to corporations, but the principle is the same:
When you get into the head of your client and truly understand how they see the world and what they care about, everything changes.
Discovering What Your Audience Cares About
Here are some questions to ask about the daily routine of both people you are trying to reach and the decision-makers you need to convince (don’t be afraid of using stereotypes because they’ll get you thinking and can provide useful clues to the things you want to know and say):
- What time do they get up?
- What do they have for breakfast?
- What environment are they working in?
- Does their job involve physical exertion?
- What are they interested in and what sort of hobbies do they have?
Back to my previous comment about stereotypes… there are exceptions to every rule, but stereotypes are built from the law of averages. It doesn’t matter what profession you choose, there is a sense in which the stereotypes are highly reflective of the majority of those people, and somewhat true of another portion of them.
When you answer this kind of questions you’ll be a long way closer to “entering into the conversation that is already going on in your prospect’s head”;
… Which takes you a very long way down the path to attracting their attention and gaining their trust and respect (the step before they offer you their money).
Address Your Audience’s Fears and Desires
Strong emotions make powerful hooks.
A highly controversial campaign by a martial arts studio created enormous controversy… And an avalanche of sales by outraged husbands and fathers. The campaign focused on how to protect your family from armed intruders by eliciting the deepest fears of any husband or father. Playing on common fears and desire to protect your family created a powerful image of vulnerability… And an urgent reason to act.
There’s a reason why so many ads focus on fear… Just look at the government’s strategy for persuading people to comply with Covid-19 restrictions and best practices. The risk of dying or killing your loved ones through careless behaviour is much more powerful than any other motivation they could have found and has created almost universal compliance.
Psychologists tell us that people are more likely to run away from pain than they are to chase pleasure. This is the reason why fear, sadness, guilt, anger, hurt, and shame are more likely to provoke an investment of time and money than even love, joy, and friendship.
It may seem obvious when I state it like that, but are you using that obvious fact in your marketing? Most businesses aren’t using it.
The biggest increase in conversions and sales comes when you let this reality seep into every corner of your psyche and flow out in your marketing.
Ready to Learn More
My book Dynamic Direct Response Copywriting provides further insight into how to uncover your prospects desires and thoughts so that you can write powerful advertising copy that irresistibly attracts your ideal prospect and pre-disposes them to work with you.
Purchase your copy today at https://hiltoncopywriting.mykajabi.com/offers/vLy6oYgm
