Golden rule of copywriting and marketing: Target Market trumps Execution all the time.
No matter how good your campaign or how slick your copy, it’ll probably fall flat if you don’t understand your target market well enough.
That’s because copywriting and marketing is all about THEM. It’s about crafting messages that can resonate with THEM. It’s about stirring up their emotions and leading THEM down the path to the sale.
Therefore, you need to know your target market intimately to craft messages that will appeal most strongly to them.
Great news: I have a guide that can help you immensely in knowing your prospects: The 3 Stages of Consumer Awareness.
If you don’t know this, your copy will be weak and unpurposeful. All fluff and no bite. Like a paper tiger. It probably won’t lead to much conversions to sales, or at all.
But if you know this, it’ll allow you to write a copy that makes your product irresistible. It’ll increase your conversation rate exponentially. Writing a killer copy will be so simple. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Easy-peasy.
Ok, enough talk, let’s get down to it…
Stage 1: The MOST AWARE – The prospect knows of your product, knows what it can do, and knows that he/she wants it.
This is what I call the “low-hanging fruit”, meaning the easiest to sell to. What you need to do is provide them some sort of value, such as free delivery, free gift, early bird price, and you can reel them in quickly and easily.
Not much persuasion needs to be done, as the customer is already aware of what the product can do. All he/she needs is just a gentle shove over the line to make the purchase.
Stage 2: KNOWS OF THE PRODUCT, BUT DOESN’T WANT IT YET – The prospect isn’t completely aware of everything your product can do, isn’t convinced of how well it performs, or hasn’t yet been told how much better it performs compared to other similar products.
Here’s what you need to do in this scenario. Introduce social proof (testimonials, case studies or endorsements) that shows evidence of your product fulfilling a desire, solving a problem and the unique value it offers compared to your competitors’ products.
Stage 3: KNOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT YOUR PRODUCT CAN DO, BUT DOESN’T KNOW OF YOUR PRODUCT – The prospect knows that he/she wants what the product does; but he doesn’t know’ that there is a product, specifically your product, already available out there.
It gets a little tricky here. In this case, you need to first catch their attention by focusing on their existing desires and fears.
E.g. Find out the quick-and-easy way to win friends and influence people… even if you’re an extreme introvert with zero social skills!
Next, prove that your big promise can be fulfilled. One of the best ways to do this is to use a case study or story.
E.g. Just 6 months ago, John was an introvert with no friends in his social circle. Today, cool people are scrambling to invite him to their parties and events.
Finally, link your product benefits to the story.
E.g. John’s secret was that he used this (product), which gave him revelations on how to persuade and influence people easily.
And that’s the 3 stages of consumer awareness you MUST know. (There’s actually a 4th stage, The Completely Unaware Market, but I usually won’t recommend targeting this group since it takes a lot of time, money and effort.)
To maximize your copy’s results, target these 3 stages in chronological order – stage 1 to stage 3.
Always sell to the low-hanging fruit first, get the cashflow up and going, then pump more budget into educating those in stages 2 and 3 about why they need to purchase your product.