Describe What You Do With Clarity & Empathy
When I work with service providers and businesses in general, they tend to struggle with one thing above all else: talking about themselves and their product/service. I’m not immune to this either, it’s almost impossible to see ourselves (and our businesses) how others see us. Your education, experiences, and expertise give you a unique point of view. It’s what allows you to do what you do. But what ends up happening is that what you think is important to include in your messaging/marketing can be very different from what your ideal client/customer wants to know before working with you.
Digging deeper, business owners tend to explain the results, benefits, and outcomes of their product/service. This makes sense because it makes what you do more concrete, especially if you’re a service or knowledge-based business. People need to know what they’re walking away with. That’s how they see themselves in your copy and on your website. We put a lot of emphasis on the measurable results for a reason, it’s a lot easier to demonstrate previous success in these areas. But that’s not where transformation lies for most people
What Emotional Results Does Your Service Provide?
Even if you’re selling a product or something that you may not think lends itself to transformation, there need to be a shift in someone’s thinking before they’re ready to buy or invest with you. In marketing and copywriting, these are called ‘stages of awareness.’ Your copy should meet people where they’re at. This is why using narratives and story is an effective approach, there’s a logical flow and progression that moves people into thinking differently about their situation.
Culturally, we’re trained to devalue emotion and not let it “cloud” our judgment. I was specifically told this in nursing school. As if that was something we could just turn on and off like a faucet. It’s absolutely preposterous to try, and we should be examining how our service/business makes people feel. For one, we all make decisions based on emotions to differing degrees. We all ‘gut check’ certain decisions and it’s a valuable part of the decision-making process. Your copy should reflect where people are at emotionally and what they want to feel in the future. This isn’t manipulative if done with empathy. It’s about validation and affirmation. ‘Here’s where you are. You’re not alone, and it’s not your fault. Let’s get you to where you want to be.’
If you’re unsure of the emotions that are coming up for your audience and clients, the first place to look is your testimonials. People often use emotional adjectives in these and you can begin to see patterns and themes. Are people overwhelmed, confused, or frustrated when they’re coming to you? Are they struggling to see their next steps? How do they feel after? If you don’t have many clients yet, other options are looking at Yelp or Amazon reviews, conducting interviews, checking relevant subreddits, and searching through Quora. This is a part of my own copywriting process because, despite my best efforts, I can’t read minds. When developing copy for a website or campaign, you really need to know what people are asking or feeling about both your product and similar ones. Once you have this information, you can see a narrative begin to take shape.
Using Stories in Your Marketing Copy
Stories require conflict and transformation due to what was learned by succeeding or failing. But before they can create change for themselves, their identity needs to shift first. They have consciously acknowledged that they need support and have the intent to solve it. Have you ever had a friend who asked your advice and then did what they were going to do anyway? People have to be receptive to what you’re saying before they can absorb and take action on it.
Your ongoing content is meant to help them understand what they’re struggling with and figure out the difference between different approaches and formats to make the most educated decision for themselves. This also helps with sales because you’re filtering people and saving your energy/resources by talking to the people that excite you.
You can do this by sharing stories. While case studies/testimonials are the most notable way to include them on your website, they’re not the only way. Your clients’ stories and your own can be what form the backbone of the copy on your website. The goal of your website is to keep people’s attention first and foremost. For people to learn more, they first have to find a reason to keep scrolling.
You’ll use the same language and emotions that you uncovered by looking through your research. The better you describe your ideal client’s current situation, the more they feel affirmed. Feeling seen is a basic need. Narrative-focused copy evokes emotion but from a place of empathy. You then use your web copy to describe how your story informs your process and what results (emotional, identity, or functional) they can expect.
When I craft a story for my clients, I think about the following:
Point A (where they’re at)
The Founder/Owner’s own catalyst point (what defining event caused them to change their trajectory either with the problem they solve or brought them to their industry)
Your Framework/Process (what’s your value proposition, how does the organization challenge the status quo)
Point B (where they want to be)
Once you’ve done that and incorporated it into your copy, there are a lot of other applications. You can make them into social posts, email newsletters (or as a part of your welcome sequence), use them as inspiration for your bio, or as angles for pitches for podcasts and other publicity opportunities. Storytelling has become almost a cliche in marketing and copy, but it’s an approach that I believe works with how our brains already naturally process information. And the stories you share demonstrate how your values and beliefs provide context to your ideal clients.
