Copywriting technique: is it important?
Alice Hollis - More than words?
B2B tech copywriter. Executive ghostwriter. Messaging strategist.
Talking to the MD of a creative agency, we discussed the importance of adapting your language according to the sector. It’s something I’d never really thought about at great length before as it’s something I instinctively do when I’m writing copy.
But what do you think? Is it important?
Is it important how you refer to customers?
They’re your customers, right? If they consume your product/service it stands to reason that you could refer to them as a customer.
Or are they a client? Does it matter?
What about if you’re in retail; would you be a client or a shopper?
When you visit the doctor, are you a shopper or a patient?
When it comes to hospitality, are you a patient or a guest?
The list goes on. The point is, the words all mean the same because you’re always consuming the product or service, but use the wrong incarnation of the word, and it immediately impacts your credibility.
In the past I've worked with a few tech businesses that target the charity sector and wanted to promote themselves using PR. Read the editorial guidance of any publication and it specifically states that you must refer to people as donors or beneficiaries, not customers. It’s because the moment you say customer, it immediately shows that you don’t know the audience, and therefore don’t understand their pain, and why your product/service would be important. In essence, you’re there to sell, not help.
Is it important whether you use UK or US English?
If you’re trying to demonstrate that you know me, and sympathise with my pain and believe you have the perfect product/service to overcome that pain, why would you speak in a language other than my own?
I was born and live in the UK, so I hate seeing the letter ‘z’ in content I read. It immediately jars and makes me stop mid-sentence. Now I’ve lost my train of thought, and you’ve lost my engagement.
In the US, there’s a culture of ‘home grown’; people like to buy from US brands. Similarly, if they’re reading copy about a ‘programme’ or ‘colour’, it’s going to jar.
And that’s before you get to the words or concepts that just don’t translate. In Florida I went to a Starbucks and asked for a white coffee. The barista stared at me with a blank expression and said they didn’t have any coffee made from white beans.
If you’re serious about your business, and serious about engaging your target audience, you have to communicate with them in their language.
Is it important if I talk about features rather than benefits?
Working in the IT sector, one of my pet hates is companies that insist on giving a features pitch about how wonderful their product/service is. My response: so what?
Your storage runs at lightning speed. So what?
Your application seamlessly integrates within the existing infrastructure. So what?
Your SaaS platform has 27 different features. So what?
Why does this matter to the audience?
Features are only interesting when they’re accompanied by a business benefit. Put yourself in your audiences’ shoes.
Is it important?
Yes. Absolutely. Always.
Most people think they can put pen to paper and write. But that doesn’t mean you can write copy. The value of a true copywriter lies in the instinct to automatically adapt the writing style to a particular media, adapt the language to a particular sector, and then make the copy engaging enough to force someone to take action.
Freelance technical writer | knowledge base content | help centre content | user guides. I create self-service content that helps your customers use your products.
3 年Agree - write for your audience, and if that audience is broad, write for the majority. Same with the jarring effect, although from what I have seen, the jarring is much more of an issue with marketing content than general info. Just from my personal experience, it seems non-US English jars with US readers more than vice-versa. I’ve never seen support tickets complaining about the use of US English, but have seen some from US readers pointing out spelling mistakes (which were actually due to content being written by Brits, Aussies or Canadians).
All about Tits & Bits | Communications Expert & Content Strategist/Copywriter: B2B/B2C health/medical & tech/data/cyber | Founder: Female Copywriters' Alliance | Health advocate | Family scrabble champ | "pocket rocket"
3 年It matters a huge amount depending on where your audience is based! If you write UK Eng for a U.S. audience, the content looks like it's full of spelling mistakes and some of the terminology may not work. And vice versa of course! I work with a lot of U.S. clients, so I have to remember to use their words - aka garbage instead of rubbish to make sure it works for them! I don't know if you are hooked on Wordl yet or not, but today's word was in U.S. Eng which threw a lot of the UKers amongst us!
Fantasy Author / Copywriter working with small, medium, and bookish businesses.
3 年Great article. Of my two main clients, I write for a British audience for one and a US/global audience for the other. There are definite differences in approach and grammar gubbings between the two. So yes, it does matter.