Why would you bother hiring an Atlanta copywriter to refresh your small business website? After all, what does that person know about your firm initially? Nothing. Surprisingly, that’s a good thing. Because that’s the exact perspective your website visitors bring with them when they first land on your site.
On the other hand, company employees know a lot. Unfortunately, that’s a problem.
Because they also share among themselves the insider knowledge, assumptions, familiarity and loyalties that are common to full-time staffers. So when they attempt to write their own website content, it’s from an insider’s perspective. That’s natural. Furthermore, those biases are invisible to them, because the co-workers who review and approve their writing have the same insider perspective.
• Since employees are familiar with certain industry terms, they assume their audience is too.
• Since employees care about the history of their own company, they assume their audience does too.
• Since employees know the shortcomings of their competition, they assume their audience does too.
It’s easy to work hard and still miss the boat when you’re writing web content.
You’ll find plenty of Atlanta small business websites that fail to connect with their audience because they’re filled with company-focused content instead of customer-focused content. Of course, our own companies are just about the most important thing in the world to us. But when you’re the buyer, what do you care about first and foremost? Yourself, of course, and solving your own needs.
So true strategic marketing communications require an 180-degree shift in perspective. It’s not about the company, products, and services from our own perspective. It’s about what that potential buyer can gain for themselves, from their point-of-view.
For example, the website copy for a local bed-and-breakfast is “about” the clean rooms and friendly communal breakfasts. But for local residents, it may really be “about” having a unique place for out-of-town relatives to stay (so they don’t feel guilty for not having a guest room).
A good Atlanta copywriter can help you discover missed marketing opportunities.
That’s because they look at things through the buyer’s eyes. And they understand that good persuasive writing appeals to both logic and emotion. Writing website content, as well as emails and landing pages, requires digging deeper. It means understanding the various motivations and perceived needs of web searchers, and it starts there.
Beginning with “what our company believes,” although it may seem intuitive for managers and staffers, is a common way of throwing away the marketing budget. As a website visitor, I didn’t sit down at the computer to search for your company’s beliefs; I’m searching for a specific way to make my life better. Without a professional Atlanta copywriter guiding the content for a small business website, employees are naturally just too close to it to be expected to make that transition.
Employees still have a crucial role to play in the development of a small business website.
As we’ve already noted, the marketing writer knows nothing about your company from the start. So it’s the job of staffers to fill the copywriter with information. Not just about the company, but about the industry, the competitive environment, and most importantly, about the typical customer. Employees on the ‘front lines’–for example, salespeople–will know the most about the mindset and needs of their best clients. That’s all extremely important information that will enable the copywriter to appeal to others with the same mindset and needs.
So hiring a strategically-minded Atlanta copywriter will ensure that your website copy is talking persuasively to potential buyers. Without a fresh set of eyes, too many Atlanta small businesses end up talking only to themselves–and never even realize it.