:: Copywriting and Direct Marketing ::

Do you know what separates the professional writer from the non-professional? Amateurs are more likely to write for the sake of writing. They spend their time creating tons of content (although most is negligible), it doesn’t really do anything to increase business or inspire their audience.

Professional writers focus on one main goal changing their audience. Whether it’s solving a personal problem, or helping them see a change in the world, a great writer actually helps the reader act differently.

Anyone can throw a few words together to make a complete sentence (case in point: most of the blogging world), but if you want to have real power throughout your writing, you must learn to write for impact. It’s the difference between being merely educational and being influential. There are three simple steps to powerful writing: 1) writing for a particular audience, 2) using the right location, and 3) choosing and executing the right type of conversion.

Targeted Audience

If you want to get in touch with your audience, it’s absolutely crucial you understand them. Get out of your own viewpoint, and write from their perspective. One of the first things I do with everything I write is identify my target audience. Consider things like age, gender, location, income level, purchasing habits, hobbies, talents, interests, etc.

Once I know whom I’m talking to, I custom tailor the message to resonate with them exclusively. For example, words such as revolutionary, cutting-edge, fresh, will more likely resonate with an 18-25 age group. The 60+ age group will almost certainly have a negative response to them; they have a preference for things that are proven, safe, and prudent.

Right Location

Right medium means the location of your message. There are many different places you can publish, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. You can use magazines, newspapers, books, journals, even radio and TV. There are also blogs, websites, ezines and other online mediums, as well. Which medium you use is determined largely by your audience.

As an example, if I’m targeting economists and writing an article on economic policy, most online methods would fail, whereas an academic journal would have much credibility. An article of that nature requires huge blocks of detailed text; something most people cannot read on a computer screen.

And I probably won’t have enough space to make my case in a magazines or newspaper. Alternatively, if my content is concise, uncomplicated, and intended for a broader audience, possibly a newspaper article makes sense.

All of us are exposed to writing that we skim or ignore. Yet if that same message is accessible in a venue more pleasing to us, we’re much more likely to spend time reading it. Writing for change requires using the best location for our topic and audience.

Right Conversion

Conversion can come in three main forms: knowing, feeling, and doing. The know form is when your article is looking to inform the reader of something new. It can also be something they already know, but you are casting in a different light. The point is when they finish reading they know something. A feeling piece is just what it says - you’re trying to invoke a feeling or emotional response from the reader. And when you write for doing, you’re trying to get the reader to do something, to take some kind of action.

An amateur, when they realize there are three forms, tries to cover all three in the same article. Big mistake. A pro will concentrate on only one outcome, because he or she knows that it will affect the other two. You should ask: How does the readers life change as a result of reading this article? What do I as the writer want to see happen to them? Do I want them to know, to feel, or to do something? Know that if you pick only one focus, and you write well, the rest will take care of itself.

Maximum impact only occurs when you seek to change your audience in some way. Identify your reader, and then choose the correct medium to reach them. Focus on one conversion style and then write well. If you do that, your reader will change in some way, and I believe change is the only writing worth reading.