You Understand Your Business Really Well. So Why Don’t Your Customers?
Time and time again, as a professional copywriter, I have businesses contact me saying their core message is not being understood. They ask me why? The problem is often due to several reasons:
- Businesses are not professional copywriters
- They’re falling between two stools – pleasing Google and humans and not pleasing either
Businesses are not professional copywriters
The first point should be self-explanatory. If you’re running a coaching business, head an engineering firm, or have set up in self-employment as a plumber, for example, you know how to coach, the intricacies of your engineering field and how to fit a new bathroom suite.
But, communicating this in emails, on social media, on your website is a completely different ball game. It’s a bit like public speaking? That act is supposed to terrify people more than anything else and we’d imagine writing for a very public (and sometimes critical) audience online can be similarly daunting.
You’ve got to granulate what you do and explain this to readers, ergo customers, so they understand how you can solve their problems.
A good place to start is with a look at your online presence – your Facebook page, your Twitter bio, your LinkedIn profile – do they communicate what you do and how you do it?
Look too at your website, assuming you have one? Does the Home page make it abundantly clear what products and services you offer? Is it “chunked”, are your propositions clear and compelling?
Next, consider your About page. Why? It’s the second most visited page of any website after the Home one. People are innately curious. People buy from people. Is your About page engaging and interesting? Or is it pretty nondescript?
They’re falling between two stools – pleasing Google and humans and not pleasing either
SEO copywriting and professional copywriting are two distinct fields. SEO copywriting is where your write to get a fist bump or high five from Google or Bing. Your content makes a mark on search engines in terms of satisfying what browsers are looking for and your indexing is improved. People go on Google to find answers to questions they’re asking and if your copy provides the best answers in the clearest and most detailed ways, you’ll get leads and sales.
Years ago, web design companies and copywriters favoured an almost robotic approach to content. They stuffed blog posts with keywords and hashtags, internal and external links and saw significant hits from organic search.
But.
Google quickly altered its guarded search algorithms and keyword stuffing, once a winner, was penalised.
They want, as humans do, far more engaging and nuanced content than repeating “professional copywriter” 25 times per paragraph!
To make your customers understand your business, I’d argue you need some objectivity
You need to take a step back and ask a “critical friend” or a “mentor” for an objective look at what you offer and whether that is clear with you website, social media posts and bios.
Then, and only then, armed with advice, should you create a plan to communicate this better to search engines and your customers.
You may decide to invest in a copywriter, a digital marketeer or a web designer to improve sales.
You may well understand your business (and inside out) and with expert support, your customers will too.
