On many, many occasions we’ve been asked to design a brochure, annual report or website built around words supplied to us. We can come up with the best design in the world, but more often than not, when we’re asked to use a non-professional writer’s words, the outcome is usually not what it could or should be.
While you may know how to “talk” to your target audience, writing is something totally different. Talking requires listening. Writing requires reading, and your audience may not read and receive messages they way you think they will.
We also encounter some who are very close to their material, and objectivity can be lost in varying degrees. The result is often too much copy that is not very compelling, strategic, or it lacks the voice of the brand and holds the voice of the writer instead.
What’s With The Questions?
At LinTaylor Marketing Group, our goal is to create a sound, thorough strategy for a project from the beginning, so whatever it is we’re working on – a logo, brochure or website – is focused from the start. We do this by asking a lot of questions.
What is the single most important thing about your product or service that sets you apart?
If your key selling point is quality, value or service, what do you do that makes the quality or value of your product or the level of your service different from the thousands of other brands out there?
Who is your audience? Do they read a lot, or do you just “think” they will. What is their income? Where do they live? Why are we talking to them at all?
Our writer, Chris Burcaw, has over 25 years of copywriting experience. He looks at everything with a strategic eye before he even begins to warm up to creating concepts or putting sentences together. Chris says, “anyone can write, but writing to a specific audience to motivate them to act is completely different. A clever headline doesn’t make one a writer.”
In Chris’ words, “tell me what you want to say, I’ll tell you how to say it.”
So the next time you are preparing to invest in new marketing materials or a website, consider including a writer in your budget. Your job will be infinitely easier, and your results will be drastically different.
