I opened up an email today and woo boy… today’s rant might ruffle some feathers, but it’s gotta be said AND if you make time to read this, it will transform the way you think about your copy and marketing.
#TruthBomb #PerspectiveShift
I know the woman who wrote the email that’s got me on a rant this morning. She’s sweet, skilled and wouldn’t hurt a fly. But reading her copy? She sounded like a narcissist. I’ll explain…
It’s the #1 mistake I see that keeps copy and content from converting…
So many coaches, consultants and spiritual business owners make this mistake without even realizing it! (And they definitely don’t mean to.)
Narcissistic copy happens when your ego and self-view take over your copy, usually without you realizing it… but it’s super clear to your readers or listeners because the vibe is unmissable! 😮
How many “you” (reader) vs “I” (you the writer) are in your copy? How many paragraphs or sentences focus on YOU?
If your copy uses phrasing like: “In this workshop I’ll teach you…” that should be setting off alert bells!
Instead try: “In this workshop you’ll discover…”
Because that should be what you want – it’s not about your ego teaching people something, it’s about you guiding them to discover something, right?
Your readers and ideal clients are not you. Lemme say that again. They are not you!!
They may have things in common with you. But they aren’t you.
This means that just because YOU feel a certain way about something doesn’t mean your ideal clients do. (Let that sink in.)
Stop rejecting ideas or strategies just because it wouldn’t work on you. Stop allowing your own personality, experiences, frustrations, trauma and triggers to control what you’re willing to try or test.
Example: I do not enjoy phone conversations, waiting on hold, or playing phone tag with random people. When I shop for auto-repair I use Yelp and message potential businesses and keep the conversation in text. This works for me.
My husband and I own a mobile diesel repair shop. Guess what our #1 source of new clients is? Picking up the business phone number when they call.
Because yes, they may have the same problem (need vehicle repairs), but they don’t all have the same introverted, neuro-divergent wiring in their brains that I do. 😉
If I insisted we market our diesel repair business based on the way I prefer to buy or how things make me feel… we’d be missing out on SO MANY people who want our help!
This one is dangerous…
I had a client tell me once that they weren’t willing to open up spots on their calendar for conversations with potential clients, because it would make them “look too available.”
I was nearly speechless.
More concerned about maintaining a desired PERCEPTION of yourself than actually being able to help people?
Ouch.
And yet, human. <3
If someone doesn’t have time to talk to me before I make a $10k+ investment… why should I believe they’d have time for me after I pay? Are they really that busy and in-demand? If so, I’ll find someone who’s got the space to be more invested in my success as a client, thank you.
But so many times we allow our own insecurities about how we’ll be “perceived” to stop us from actually growing our businesses and helping more people.
Stop worrying so much about how you’ll be perceived. Show up as your authentic self and let people see you’re excited about connecting with them, and excited about what you can offer them. I promise, it’ll be okay.
You’ve probably been taught to speak to the “pain” your potential clients are feeling.
To talk about what they’ve done wrong, where they’ve failed, how terrible things are… and to push that even farther into what happens next and the extreme worst case scenarios.
If you’re reading this, you probably called B.S. on that approach already.
But those boundary-crossing triggers can sneak into what we write in so many ways.
Stop and ask yourself constantly as you write – how will people feel reading this?
Don’t cross moral or ethical boundaries. The ends do not justify the means in copy, if the “means” mean the end doesn’t get achieved!
And it doesn’t. When people feel bullied into a decision, or make a decision out of fear or pain, they don’t have the confidence to step into implementing the solution you’re offering!
Instead of pushing the pain or blaming your readers for their problems, actively look for the “why” behind the problem or pain. What really caused the situation? We don’t intentionally create problems – if your potential clients knew how to solve the problem, they already would have and they wouldn’t need you.
Praise them for being open to trying something new or different, for being wise enough to seek support, and absolve them of the guilt for the other things they’ve tried that didn’t work, and the choices that got them in the situation they’re in – I promise you, they didn’t create it on purpose.
Those courses they bought and didn’t finish? Don’t shame them. They aren’t lazy. They might need help with prioritizing or focus, or… is it possible they bought the course and their intuition told them it wasn’t actually the right approach or right time for it? Maybe they intuitively knew they needed something different or something else first, but didn’t know what it was. So they waited. And they’re already feeling guilty because they didn’t realize that’s what happened! (You wouldn’t believe how often I see this!)
Yep, they said put a timer on your page and tell people there are only 10 copies left of that digital product we all know is unlimited.
They said you needed to create urgency and scarcity. BS!!
Urgency and scarcity already exist in everything, it’s our job to BE HONEST and reveal it. Not be manipulative and create false versions of it. (I have a whole training on this, DM if you want it and I’ll send it as a gift.)
No matter what you’ve been told, or taught, or trained to do – it’s up to you. Don’t do what feels wrong. If it feels wrong, stop and consider why. Maybe it’s out of your comfort zone, but maybe it is wrong.
It’s dangerous in humans!
And, it doesn’t actually help you build a truly successful business (it’ll crash and burn eventually, after burning far too many people for good karma or peaceful sleep at night).
Get the narcissistic ego out of your copy and marketing, and bring the honesty and soul back in. <3
P.S. If you’re looking for a copywriter who actually GETS all of the above and will never write anything that makes you sound like a narcissist… but can capture your essence, your heart and the passion in why you do what you do, expressing it in a way that connects with your ideal audience and invites them to take the next step with you… let’s connect! 😉
