Your Biggest Marketing Mistake
When we think of mistakes in advertising, we often think about gaffes like the Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner that launched earlier this year. Heralded by The New York Times as “a disaster on nearly every level” (read A Pepsi Commercial’s Lesson for Advertising here to learn more), theirs was hardly the first mistake in advertising and it’s unlikely to be the last.
However, less interesting but far more common are the everyday marketing failures of businesses of every size. Sure, they may not make the evening news, but if they’re hurting your business they should still be on your mind.
“Ha!” You may be thinking “I haven’t invested in advertisements so I’m fine!”
If you’re thinking this, then let me be the first to inform you that oh no, friend. No, you are not fine.
If you have a business, you probably have at least one of the following: A Facebook page, a website, a Twitter page, a Pinterest page, a Linkedin page (personal or business), an Instagram account, or a blog. Or something else--I digress.
If you have none of these things, you’re making a far bigger marketing mistake by underutilizing your resources and not marketing yourself at all, but that’s a topic for another time.
Every time you create a page for your business online, you are creating a space in which you can tell your customer exactly who you are and how you can help them. This, my friends, is power.
You can put on a show--spend thousands of dollars on a website, a logo, branding, and more, but if the copy on your page sounds like the guy at the party that just won’t shut up, you have a problem. Worse, you are making a huge marketing mistake by not using the space that you created for yourself.
So how do you know if the copy on your website is good? I always start by asking myself three important questions when evaluating website copy:
First, who is the customer? Is the customer going to respond to this copy? For example, a window design company whose clientele includes warehouses, storage facilities, and other large structures isn’t going to describe themselves as, “Creating hand-crafted, delicate window frames to inspire your next adventure.” They’d probably say something more like, “Handcrafted windows created with high quality materials to withstand the worst weather for 30+ years.” Different audiences require different approaches.
Second, what does this company do? This one may seem obvious, but a lot of business owners forget this step because their product seems obvious to them. If the company is called “Dream Windows” you think they’d make windows, right? True, but unless you tell your audience exactly who you are and what you do, they’re not likely to understand you enough to hire you. For example, if the services page of a company website says, “We help you finish your home with a beautiful view of the outside world,” you’re likely to wonder:
How are they finishing my home? Are they interior designers? Are they repainting it? What do they mean by a view of the outside world? Are they painters? Etc.
A better description of services would be, “We create hand-crafted window frames to finish your home and inspire your day” because you know exactly what they do (create window frames) and why they do it (finish your home/inspire your day).
Third, what is the purpose of the copy? Is the copy trying to sell? Is it trying to inform? Is it trying to evoke emotion? It’s a waste of space to put copy on a website just because you need it. Instead, take the time to write copy that will actually inspire your audience to do/feel/understand something related to your business. Your web presence is one of the few chances you have to speak uninterrupted to your consumer--you better have something good to say.
I’m not going to lie, evaluating, writing, and understanding good copy is an art form. These three questions are just the beginning of a string of queries you should be asking yourself every time you update a social media page. What you say matters, so it's better to say a few good things than a lot of nothing at all.