If you have two or more clusters of individuals that you need to reach with your writing, it makes sense to produce pieces of copy for ads with different messages and run them in targeted publications. However, if your budget is stretched, or if you’re running an ad in a more general medium, you can produce one ad which addresses your different target audiences.
Mac McIntosh, who is a B2B sales lead expert, recommends that you write ad copy that “states the pain points of each audience: “Sales wants this; IT wants that, and Marketing – a little different altogether. How do you fulfil their expectations? With a single product – the XYZ software app.”
Understanding what your audience needs and expects, and adapting your messages accordingly, greatly enhances your chances of communicating successfully.
So how do you speak to different market segments? Let’s start by asking them.
Gather Data About Your Audiences
If only it was possible to start each copywriting assignment with audience conversations. They’re an untapped resource for creating valuable content. Ask the audience targeted questions about the:
- Company or product/service/offering,
- Industry at large,
- Decision-making habits.
You need to ask anything which will help you understand what they need and how content can connect with them. Information that is gathered should include:
Emotional information
- What is most important to them?
- Why would our product make a difference in their life?
- How do they feel when they have a wonderful experience with our product?
Positioning information
- Why might they consider our competitor?
- What is lacking in our product?
- How does our product differ from that of the competition?
- Why would they refer it to someone else?
Other information
- Check Google Analytics to establish what pages our audience visit
- Ask the sales team for audience insight
Once we understand the positioning of our audience segments, we can decide how to create content that works for their needs and our goals.
This should leave us with several options on how to adapt our writing.