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Copywriting that speaks to your target audience

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Why business is personal

We’ve all heard the much repeated line from the Godfather films “it’s not personal, it’s just business”. Yet whether you realize it or not, business is personal. If two vendors vie for your business, all things being equal, which one do you choose? More often than not, it’s going to be the one you are most comfortable with. Or, in simpler terms, the one you like better.

Recently, yours truly wrote a press release for a PR Works client, Haley’s Tire & Service Center, with four locations in Maine. The owner, Tim Haley, was diagnosed two years ago with Stage IV colon cancer. After several operations and treatments, he received the go-ahead from doctors to participate in the Pan Mass Challenge, the 192-mile bike ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. Haley raised $25,000!

This year, Tim is cancer-free and participating in the 2011 PMC. In working with Tim on a PR campaign for his four stores, we asked how he felt about using his story to promote his business. He wasn’t sure and asked a legitimate question, “wouldn’t it be exploiting his condition just to benefit his business?”

Not really and it goes back to the original point: people want to like who they do business with. Even more, they want to be inspired. If your business makes contributions to specific charities or you do volunteer work for certain causes and you use that as part of your marketing and PR, it is inspiring. Far from cheapening that effort, it brings attention to the cause, perhaps even making others want to contribute or volunteer.

Most of all, if you’re a small business owner and the face of your company, who you are and what you do in the community does impact your business. People will still make their buying decisions based on what fits their needs. But if there’s a chance for them to do business with somebody they like or admire for their efforts in the community or somebody they really don’t know, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know who will get their business. So why keep who you are and what you do secret?

Tim Haley didn’t’ and thank goodness.

An inspiring story is worth telling and certainly worth hearing. To read Tim’s story, here’s the articlethat appeared in the Portland Press Herald. If you would like to make a  contribution to Tim’s Team Headstrong, go to  www.pmc.org, click on the logo at the top left, and enter Tim’s EGIFT ID TH0130. All major credit cards are accepted.

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Four questions to ask when requesting testimonials

There are a number of reasons why many people put little stock in testimonials. The most obvious is that many testimonials do nothing but shower praise on a product, service or person with very little objectivity. Yet that’s not the real reason people hold their noses when reading some testimonials. It’s empathy-or lack thereof.

When people read testimonials, it’s largely because they visited a website or picked up a brochure for information on a product or service they thought could help them with whatever their problem or situation might be. If the testimonial contains nothing about the “pain” that caused them to seek out the product or service, the reader doesn’t really relate to it and it loses any influence it may have on making them take the next step. In the end, it becomes nothing but an ego stroke for the business owner-and that’s really not the intent of a testimonial.

So, how do you ensure a quality testimonial that creates a connection with the reader while reinforcing a positive image for the company?  What I’ve found to be most helpful in creating effective testimonials is having the testimonial-giver answer four basic questions:

  • What did you hire Company X to do?
  • How did it go?
  • If there was one aspect of your experience with Company X that you would mention in a referral, what would it be?
  • Would you refer Company X?

The responses to these questions typically set the scenario of why you would hire Company X, while pinpointing particular strengths. And even though it goes without saying that somebody providing a testimonial would refer that company, it never hurts to reinforce that in the testimonial.

Of course, there are a number of things a testimonial should contain to enhance its effectiveness and credibility (e.g. real first and last names, names of companies, etc.). But for a testimonial to truly be effective, it must figuratively speak to the reader and solve their pain-pretty much what the copy in all your collaterals should do.

Your skeptics will always doubt the authenticity of a testimonial. Give them an idea that you understand their pains with those testimonials and you’ve got a shot if the messaging in your collateral piece or website does the same thing.