Conrad Winter Copywriter

No one wants to do business with a computer, or have a relationship with a robot. It’s creepy. 

That’s why it’s important to keep your web copy, content, case studies and email communications personal. 

That’s not an easy task as companies become more digital and virtual. Nevertheless, making your writing personal is my number one tip for providing great customer experience (CX) through words. In doing so, you appeal to the emotional side of prospects, and that’s what creates a customer experience that builds strong bonds to your brand. 

Getting personal means thinking of your readers as people.

When writing for the customer’s experience, the most important things to keep in mind are their needs, problems and concerns. Provide a positive experience by being completely focused on their realities. Here are four ways:

• Write for humans, not for robots—No one ever read a post and exclaimed: “I love the SEO of this piece, it’s so good!”
• Rant for a reason. Yes, railing against fuel prices or unfair public policies can be attention-getting. But it’s better to give readers advice or information they can use like I did in this post for Trimble Transportation (formerly TMW Systems) about a recent court ruling affecting California’s motor carriers. 
• Use your superpowers of cleverness for good—i.e. not just to impress me.
• Keep it fresh. Don’t insult your readers by regurgitating old posts or your boilerplate copy.

So what does “getting personal” mean in practical terms?

It means letting your drivers, dispatchers or software developers author blog posts. It means fearlessly telling your founding story of how your company grew from one milkman to a fleet of truck drivers. It means boldly telling about your company’s quirky location—or that you’re a virtual company without a headquarters. 

People make up the heart and soul of your brand and your company. It stands to reason that prospects what to know those people. 

There are real humans behind your business, no matter how virtual you are. Letting people know who you are does lots of good things:

1. Builds trust—I mean, don’t you trust people more than machines? (Remember Hal from 2001 Space Odyssey?)
2. Differentiates you—the product is the way it is because of the people who made it. How they are, their ethics, their passions and all the rest say everything about the product.
3. Compels prospects to treat you humanely—people don’t treat faceless companies the same as humans. Need proof? When’s the last time you thanked Siri or Alexa? 

CX is PX…Personal Experience.

Being personal means being friendly. Professional, yes. But friendly too. It’s possible to be both. How many people do you know who you can count with your life and who are actually nice, too? See? Keeping a conversational tone in your writing accomplishes that. 

Who doesn’t love a conversational CX?

Writing conversationally often involves letting your company’s guard down. That’s what we do when we converse with people we know. We speak easily. That’s what people like. They also like to be charmed and entertained—never simply sold at. So be a good friend and tell your prospects a story about a challenging load you hauled and the details of how you delivered like heavy-haulers, Bennett IG did in this post I wrote for them. In short – indulge your readers. 

People don’t read anymore, but they do experience.

Writing for CX can be hard when everyone on your team is pontificating about the economy of words and how no one reads or has any time anymore. To those who believe this, I have this message: people will read as much as you can write, as long as it’s entertaining or interesting or both. Storytelling is not fluff; It’s the stuff prospects and customers remember the best – because it’s the part they like the most.

Writing readable, enjoyable, useful copy is a big part of providing great CX today. What sort of experience are you providing your customers?

 

Awards shows play a crucial role in inspiring us to open our minds to new possibilities, they fuel the competitive spirit to perform to a higher standard and they teach us how it’s done.

The “textbook” of my first copywriting class was a One Show awards annual—the book that displays all of the winning creative work for the year. For my 20-something self, working an entry-level job in an ad agency, living in a trailer and looking forward to 50-cent tacos at Tortilla Flats, I was sure I couldn’t afford the $65 for the publication. It was an unjustified extravagance, and I really couldn’t understand the expense…until I received the book.

It was beautiful. Hardbound. Two inches thick. It had weight. And inside was a brand new and exciting world to me. The best advertising in the world. Sample ads and billboards, radio and TV scripts—even full campaigns.

The message was clear: this is good work—do this.

Being able to see how successful work is done is invaluable. And it’s a rare opportunity. With gated content and so much niche-work being done (as opposed to mass-market), we just don’t see a lot of the great campaigns and tactics out there. But as marketers’ media mix has become more varied and complex over the years, the educational aspect of awards shows has become more important, maybe even essential.

If you want to, say, see examples of email drip campaigns (and outstanding ones, at that), being able to check out an awards annual beats signing up for mailing lists so you can see how Audi, Crate & Barrel or Starbucks market to prospects.

There are many awards shows out there. They vary from local to international. Some are industry-specific or media-specific. I think the best ones emphasize the work by sharing the work and displaying the work—as opposed to just handing out plaques, posting podium shots and publishing a trophy count at the end of the night.

The One Show, Communication Arts (CA), Clios, Cannes and others do this either by publishing a printed annual, creating an online gallery or doing both. If you want to immerse yourself in the work, these are great options. They all offer great opportunities to see “how it’s done”—although compared to the One Show and CA (both under $100) the $99 per month subscription to view Cannes work can be a bit of a bite. Insider tip: you can check out Clios winners free.

For a more educational experience, you can’t beat the Effies, an award show revered by marketers across industries for its focus on results as well as for its case study format. Viewing the case studies requires membership, but the comprehensive details and insights make them invaluable tools. The Direct Marketers Association DMA International® Echo Awards have an online gallery of winning work that also makes for an exceptional educational resource—but you’ll need a membership to access them.

My area of copywriting specialty is transportation and logistics, and I was delighted recently to discover the Compass Awards (funny story) put on by the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association. The work is all in my niche and all the winning campaigns and content are available to members through TMSA’s resource library. Smart idea.

As someone who’s trying to learn more about this industry, I’ve been eating up the case study format. The Compass Awards were one of the many learning opportunities I discovered while attending TMSA’s annual conference. (Read my takeaways here.)

Even when you don’t win, you can still take something away from award shows.

(Speaking of awards, wondering what I’ve won? Or would you rather see the work?)