What copywriting clients want: in your clients’ shoes

If you work as a copywriter , and you’re interested in understanding what copywriting clients want, try putting yourself in their shoes. But before you do that, find out what I learned by walking in my clients’ shoes.

What do clients want?

This question is, I dare say, as old as the sale itself.

In other words, to connect with clients and clinch a sale, it’s essential to know and understand?what they want,?what they aspire to, and what they need.

One of the most amusing answers to these questions came from the film “What Women Want” .

In the 2000 comedy, the protagonist, Nick Marshall, after experiencing an accident, suddenly gains the ability to “hear” what women think. That ability helps him understand what they (really, not apparently) want.

However, whereas Marshall, played by Mel Gibson, due to his newly-gained ability, begins to understand what women — the?target audience ?for his agency — want, it’s not necessary to have such skills outside the film set.

To understand clients’ wishes, it’s enough to listen to them.

In today’s post, you’ll discover what clients want. However, I suggest not focusing on all clients, but only on copywriting ones.

In other words, you’ll find out?what I learned from listening to my clients,?what their wishes and preferences were, and?how those lessons can benefit you.

Would you like to know what copywriting clients want?

In that case, keep reading.

What copywriting clients want

For a start, there’s no unique answer to the question of what copywriting clients want, but for what they don’t want.

Copywriting clients don’t want text .

Therefore, they usually don’t insist on a particular word number. More often than not, clients don’t ask for any of the copywriting formulas .

Yet, what copywriters offer (or “sell”) is text.

Persuasive text.

Compelling copy.

Of course, copy consists of a certain number of words, and we craft it by following some of many copywriting formulas.

Still, persuasive copy is just a way to give clients what they (really) want. And what they want are solutions .

?Benefits.

However, what solutions do copywriters provide? What benefits does our work bring to our clients?

To answer these questions, I’ll put as an example some of my clients.

Would you like to know?what my clients wanted?and?how that information may benefit you?

If so, let’s dive into their stories!

Clients want to increase the online VISIBILITY of their products or services

The first group of clients encompasses those clients who, first and foremost, wanted to increase the online visibility of their products or services.

It’s pretty clear why clients want high visibility for their products or services.

The visibility of a product increases the chances of a sale.

In other words, the more people see a product on the Internet and discover its characteristics, the more likely they are to decide to purchase it.

What clients get: optimised content

Clients who want online visibility should get optimised content , be it informative or compelling.

Depending on the content strategy, online content — such as?landing pages ,?ad copy, and?blog posts ?— can be crafted and optimised primarily for search engines.

In addition, it’s possible too to optimise?social media content,?guest posts ,?digital forum posts,?virtual encyclopedia articles,?product descriptions?displayed on marketplaces with internal search engines, etc.

How this information can benefit you

• If you need optimised content for search engines,?it would be best to ask SEO copywriters, SEO content writers, and technical writers with digital marketing skills for help.
• But if you would like to start by learning how to create content that ranks well,?try acquiring basic SEO knowledge. To begin with, find out what SEO copywriting is.

Clients want to improve the way they COMMUNICATE their ideas

The second group of clients encompasses those clients who wanted to:

• Communicate their ideas better;
• Explain the benefits of their products and services more appropriately.

Concerning communication challenges , these can arise for a variety of reasons.

For instance, let’s think of a product developed by a highly skilled UX team. Needless to say, the team would know all the strengths, as well as the flaws of the product, and could easily explain its functioning.

Nevertheless, the problem would arise by putting the team in a position of highlighting the product benefits to an audience that doesn’t know anything about the product and isn’t sure why they should buy it.

What clients get: comprehensive and compelling content

Clients who want to communicate better the benefits their products or services provide should get persuasive content that their target audience can easily understand.

Hence, the content shouldn’t contain (m)any technical terms, nor it should be characterised by a highly specialised vocabulary.

The goal of the content is to highlight the benefits that can persuade potential customers to make a purchase.

How this information can benefit you

• If you need content that your audience can understand without difficulties,?turn to copywriters and content writers who know very well your target audience.
• On the other hand, to learn how to craft straightforward, results-oriented and compelling content,?consider attending one of numerous copywriting courses .

Clients want to DIFFERENTIATE their brands from those of competitors

The third group of clients encompasses those who wanted to differentiate their brands from competing ones.

Speaking of this third group of clients, I should probably mention that they had pretty high competition in their respective markets. For this reason, they needed to emphasise the most important differences between their brands and competing ones.

It’s easy to understand why clients who have high competition want differentiation.

Customers cannot decide between two products or two brands if they don’t see any actual difference between them.

In the absence of other factors, the price would naturally be the only factor influencing the decision-making process .

What clients get: creative content

Clients who want to differentiate their brands from the competition should get creative content , plus storytelling that enhances the brand positioning in the market.

For instance, copywriters may enrich the content by telling?stories about the brand foundation,?success cases,?happy?clients, etc.

How this information can benefit you

• If you need content to help your brand get distinctively positioned in the market, get in touch with copywriters and content writers whose work samples are original and attention-grabbing.
• Or, if you prefer learning how to craft creative content,?the one that leaves a lasting impression, try combining copywriting techniques with creative writing .

What clients want: the solution as the destination, text as the journey

Before I finish this post, allow me to emphasise again that there’s no unique answer to the question of what copywriting clients want.

However, if all the answers had to sum up in one, clients would undoubtedly want solutions.

Speaking of my former clients, the solutions most of them wanted were the following three:

• Higher visibility on search engines;
• Better communication with their target audience;
• Differentiation of their products or services.

In other words, to clinch more sales, my clients wanted to increase the visibility of their products, improve communication with their potential customers, and emphasise the differences between their brands and competing ones.

In short, they needed solutions, whereas getting textual content helped them solve problems.

For this reason, copywriters should stop “selling” text —?persuasive copy —?to their clients and focus on what clients actually want.

The text is just a way to fulfil those wishes and achieve positive results.