No matter what marketing piece you have in mind, from a brochure to a website to even a simple press release, there are certain questions that demand answers before we even get started. The most basic, and most important, is about your audience.
About a year ago I met a local web designer and her client at a local Italian restaurant for lunch. The project was a website for a professional advocacy group he had founded, and the two of them were having a hard time nailing down his message. They had sketched out a half dozen different directions the copy could go, none of them satisfying, all of them somehow leaving out an important concern or issue.
Selectivity is 90% of good writing (the rest is knowing how to look things up), and so I saw the problem immediately. It was a common one: they were trying to tell the whole story, in all its shades and nuances, and simply couldn't. There was just too much, and not enough space in the available word count, and every round of discussion brought with it another set of ideas that had to be crammed into the already-overpained copy.
I took a deep breath and asked the client, "Who exactly is your audience here?" Describe the person reading this, I told him. Male or female? Young or old? Educated or not? Do they already know a little about your issue, or nothing at all? Who is this? Businesspeople, housewives, students, executives? Who?
His answer: everybody!
And that was his problem.
The most vital moment in any communication between two people, I explained, is that one sharp second where the potential receiver asks the question, even subconsciously: "Is this communication meant for me?" That tiny event occurs every time someone listens to your words or reads your copy; they ask that question without even realizing it.
If the answer is "no" (or even, "not sure"), your message will get tuned out. It's someone else's problem.
The very first thing any compelling marketing message must do is deliver an emotional identification point, an image that the reader could immediately recognize as relating to them personally. The identification had to be sharp enough to be quick and visceral.
Since he was attempting to address everyone in general, he was addressing no one in particular. That's why their copy was running too long, why it seemed disorganized, and why it didn't make any of its points in a concrete fashion.
Are you making the same mistake?
Who is your audience, exactly?
Are you speaking directly to them, or trying to speak to everyone?
Are you getting through to anyone?
http://www.rswarren.com/blog/article.php?story=20061027003711896
http://www.rswarren.com/blog/article.php?story=20061027003711896