Write it and they won’t come (unless you do this)
The highest converting article I ever wrote didn’t follow a formula or include keywords. In fact, it included a lot of f-bombs and my unapologetic truth.
And it was an article I was deathly scared to hit “publish” on.
What happened after I published it? I got two high paying clients, I was asked to share my story on different podcasts, and people were coming out of the internet woodwork wanting to learn about me.
I wrote “WTF Should I Do With My Life…Again” as a cathartic release. I wanted to express everything that I was feeling about the online world, about business in general, and I didn’t want to hold anything back.
What I didn’t realize then was that sharing that kind of truth would resonate because it was exactly what people were craving. People turned around and invested in me because I wrote something that mattered to them (and to me).
“Build it and they will come” isn’t true
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Build it and they will come.” It’s not true. If you build a beautiful website, that’s great. But if your website is really hard to navigate and it isn’t clear, after scrolling, who you are, who you help and what you do people will hop off (fast). The same goes for your copy. If you write something without having a clear message or knowing your intended audience and what they want to hear - your words are going to fall on deaf ears.
Case in point: my first website
I had a lot of things I was trying to say and none of them were getting across. I had an idea of who I was talking to and I certainly created a character for myself, but I wasn’t sharing why I had built PostGradolescence and I definitely wasn’t meeting my audience where they were at.
The reason I started PostGradolescence - ah, I’m now explaining this seven years later - was because I was going through a quarter-life crisis and I felt like there had to be more to my life than what I was doing day in and day out.
I worked at a law firm right after college and thought I wanted to be an attorney. That didn’t work out because it’s not what I wanted for my life. So I did what any 20-something would do. I got certified as a life coach and decided I would start teaching people on the internet about life and eventually quit my day job. I didn’t realize then that that path wasn’t for everyone.
It’s scary and confusing not knowing who you are and what you want to do with your life. And trusting someone else to guide you to where you think you want to be is far from easy. That’s the stuff I needed to be talking about seven years ago. If I had taken a step back, gotten out of character and stopped telling people that they could quit their job, start a business and be happy I might have gotten more paying clients than fans.
Don’t get me wrong, fans are great. Putting PostGradolescence into the world helped me build a tribe, but it didn’t get me clients which is what I really needed.
It’s about being clear, not clever
If you want to grow your business, people need to know how you can help them. And you have to tell them in a very clear way. It’s about meeting them where they are and telling them what they want - not need - to hear.
This is what I got wrong when I first started. I didn’t take the time to truly understand the people I wanted to help. I had a vague idea about who they were and what I could do for them, but it’s about more than that. It’s about meeting people where they are, understanding the problem they’re facing and speaking to that (problem). And then it’s about painting a picture of what their life could be like after working with you or buying your product or service.
My tagline back in the day was, “I help creative millennials live on their own terms while doing work they totally love.” Yeah, not super clear. If I was to give PostGradolescence some sweet words today they might be, “I help people who are navigating a career change get clarity on what their next steps should be.” That’s essentially what I was doing; I just wasn’t telling people that.
It’s why I ended up shifting my entire business model. A little less than two years after launching my business, I decided I needed to get clear on what I could actually help people with. So I decided to help other women entrepreneurs, like me, say what they do online. I knew I could write for others, and it (saying what I do) was something that I could personally speak to and relate to.
When you say what people want to hear, they listen
Behold the first version of Gimme Sweet Words that I started in 2015. As soon as I started speaking to where people were at and I told them what life could be like, they started listening and investing. I not only had the words I was looking for, but I was creating piece of content after piece of content. I wasn’t running out of things to say. When you know who you’re speaking to and what they want to hear, you have content for days and copy that converts.
Fast forward five years and here I am building on that foundation.
PostGradolescence taught me how to grow an audience. And my business pivot a few years later taught me how to get clients. And here we are in 2020, and I’m finally re-launching that business I started all those years ago.
The last few years I was doing content marketing for nonprofits and what I’ve learned is that no matter how big or small your business is, we all need help finding the words to communicate and connect with the people we’re trying to serve. But just like a fancy website won’t do anything if you don’t know what you’re trying to say, sweet words alone won’t cut it unless you have a clear message, you know who you’re talking to and you know how you can help them.
People pay you when they know that you can help them
The right words only move people to take action (ahem, pay you) after they know you, connect with you and understand how you can help them.
If you want to write in a way that people not only come to you but convert to clients, then you need everything it took me years to learn. You need to know:
Why you’re in business - people want a mission statement. They want to know what you stand for. You may be doing what so many others are doing, but only you can deliver it in the way you do. You have something special to offer and if you started this business, I have a hunch you did it for a reason. This is your chance to tell someone your founding story.
Who you help - people want to know that you get them. They’re coming to you because they have a problem they’re dealing with and they know they need someone to help them with it. What they don’t need is you telling them exactly what they need to do right this second and how you’re product or service is going to change their life. They don’t want to be sold to when you first meet them, they want to be talked to. So talk to them.
What you help them with - people need to know what you do. And that what you do is what they’re looking for. Which means everything you say has to be said in a clear way. They want to know what life will be like after working with you or buying your product or service. They don’t want to be told what they need, they want to be shown what they want. What is going to happen for them when their problem goes away? Tell them that.
If you want to write it and have them come, do this:
Know what you stand for and share it.
Know who you’re talking to and meet them where they are right now.
Know how to say what you do in a really clear way.
Got it? Good.
It’s a process, so go easy on yourself. It takes believing in what you do enough to say it out loud. It’s about having empathy and connecting with the people you want to serve in a really heartfelt way. And it’s about letting people know that you know how to help them in a way that they want to hear. That’s how you start to create loads of content that connects with people on a personal level and copy that makes them say, “How are you in my head right now?”
Sweet words come after the message, the strategy and the plan are in place.
My journey has been anything but normal, but that’s the journey of an entrepreneur. You get into business to create something the world has never seen before. Another part of you does it because you’re looking to connect. And then there’s a part of you that does it because it’s what you needed. Every iteration of my business was something that I needed at that moment.
It’s how I really connected with the people I was talking to. I understood where they were because it’s somewhere I had been, and I knew what they wanted to hear because it’s what I wanted to hear. PostGradolescence was created by an angsty 20-something who wanted her work to matter in the world. And the first version of Gimme Sweet Words was written by a woman entrepreneur who wanted her words to connect with people.
I may have taken a break from business the last few years, but I never stopped believing in the written word. The content we put out into the world matters. And the words we choose to write can help lead someone to the work we’re doing. Or not. It’s up to you.
It’s your business. Will you market it right?
Want to get started? Get my free resource “Learn How to Say What You Do (in any situation)” to get you saying the words people want to hear.