Get out of your head if you want copy that connects

As we whizz around in our day to day routines, thinking about our business, our promotions, our launches, our copy or our conversions, things begin to spin. Then they snowball. Our lives sure are important, and most people are constantly trying to figure out how everything in their day is a reflection on themselves.

Photo courtesy of Bizior

• I’ve not received an email back from that person, I wonder what I did…
• So and so just blanked me, was it because she thought I was rude the other day…
• I didn’t get a great response to my last newsletter, my offer must stink
• No-one’s signing up to my newsletter, don’t they know it’s got great content?
• I launched my product and didn’t sell as much as I wanted to, I won’t do that again…

And you know what?

Everyone else is going around thinking the same things.

• The person getting your email could be busy thinking about paying their bills that day
• The person who blanked you might be mentally preparing a shopping list so they don’t keep forgetting to buy toothpaste (Amy – get toothpaste!)
• Your last newsletter might have had a headline that made people think it was just another spam email
• Your customer might assume your newsletters will be frequent and they’re overloaded on information at the moment
• Your customer might not have realised just how much of a difference your product would make in their life

Which means if you want to build a bridge to someone and get their attention, you have to get into their head and see what thoughts are swimming around.

This is especially important when you’re doing any kind of writing or communication to reach your audience, but it’s also important in your day to day life. I’ll admit, if I’ve got a big project on, that consumes my thoughts a lot, and I have to consciously remind myself to forget about it, stop talking about it, and actively ask about other people, and listen.

Because when you get out of your head and focus on other people you learn oh so much more.

• You learn what other people are really thinking about
• You learn what’s really upsetting people
• You learn what’s important to them
• You learn what’s really helpful to them

And can you see how knowing this information makes any kind of communication or message you have for that other person so much more accessible and interesting to them?

So I would say, if you are having difficulty reaching your audience with your communication, either ask them, or ask yourself what could be going on in their worlds.

This is especially important in your web or sales copy. For example, some common questions people will ask when they come to your site include:

• Who is this person / company?
• What do they do?
• Who do they do it for?
• Why would I be interested in them?
• Do they look like I could trust them?
• Does it look like their content is current and up to date?
• Are other people (like me) using them or talking about them?

And if you don’t craft a message around their questions, you’re going to lose their interest and their attention.

So get out of your world today and step into your customer’s.

See things from their side and then write your message.

And if you’d like some further help with this, there’s a free guide that includes more questions your customer is asking when they read your sales page.