How to make your copy RELEVANT to the 7 kinds of incoming prospects

04 Apr How to make your copy RELEVANT to the 7 kinds of incoming prospects

You’re a business owner. Or, you’re a marketing manager. Or, you’re a web developer. Whoever you are, you need the copywriting in your marketing campaigns to work. You need it to connect with the target. You need the readers to accept it. Really, you need the reader to find it RELEVANT.

Achieving this isn’t easy … if you don’t have a methodology.

A blank piece of paper is a nightmare … if you don’t have a way “in”. 

Outlining a method and a way – that’s what this blog post is about. And the method is called CANEDIT.

Key points:

• Relevance is the most important part of marketing messages
• There are 7 main types of relevance messaging
• Relevance is all about the audience, and never about you

A bitter pill to swallow

We’d better get it out of the way first up: no matter the topic, most of what you – the insider – think is crucial information towards “understanding” the topic is not important just yet. Why? Because “understanding” itself is not what you want right now. You can’t get understanding until you have engagement. And engagement, well, that can only come after interest. And interest, well, that can only come after relevance. Things must happen in the right order.

What this means is that when you’re writing for new prospects, you must give them information that’s relevant to people who have never heard of your business, product or solution before. (How you approach customers who are already aware of you is different). Prospects who are unaware of you have one overriding and subconscious filter as they search. This is the thing your writing must get right before all others. It must answer: “To me, how is this relevant!”

Now, it’s time to talk about CANEDIT.

Introducing NEDICTA … sorry, I mean CANEDIT

CANEDIT categorises the 7 major types of incoming shoppers:

1. Comparison
2. Advisory
3. Newcomer
4. Emergency
5. Dissatisfied
6. Infrequent
7. Transient.

I used to call it NEDICTA. It was derived from the fairly well known NEDICT model, which was taught to me by Angel Malloch. Later, I found I needed to explain how hobbyists/geeks shop – they who obsess and then buy as an expression of their knowledge. They didn’t fit into NEDICT, so I added A for Advisory.

I did a few presentations to business groups on NEDICTA and invited people to suggest new acronyms now that we had the A. A young banker named Luke Hanson came up with CANEDIT. This was both excellent and embarrassing. Excellent because it is just so apt. Embarrassing because I’m an editor and should have thought of it first.

The CANEDIT tool isn’t just for copywriters. It can be used by anyone who’s trying to figure out what new prospects want. It’s simply a way to understand what to write. It is a way to draw an invisible structure on a blank page, rather than just trying to write from a standing start.

Who are you writing for?

CANEDIT works because it’s a quick and incisive formula to address the first lesson in marketing comms: know who you are writing for. This, of course, begs the question: who is this blog for? The answer is front-loaded with all those qualifying statements in the first few lines. If you are still reading, it means you are probably “shopping” for a solution to a writing need. As such, you are not likely to fall under C, T or A. More  likely, you are one of:

• Newcomer – shopping for copywriting support for the first time 
• Emergency – you have a severe deadline to hit
• Dissatisfied – you’ve either found DIY copywriting too hard/time-consuming or you’ve been let down by one of my competitors 
• Infrequent – something has come up that you must write about.

The above will make more sense later.

Now, CANEDIT is not a substitute for full audience profiling, which is an in-depth and research-heavy process. Rather, CANEDIT is a way to give all the details about your service or offering some kind of order, priority and structure. To use CANEDIT, you still need to know how your offering functions in regards to who your prospects are and the problems they have.

Not a Swiss Army knife

CANEDIT is not perfected – nothing is. Further, it is a single-purpose tool: to snare the attention of new prospects by being relevant to the problem that triggered them to begin shopping. It is a tactic, not a strategy. It doesn’t work for repeat customers. It cannot frame the offering of “everything shops” (such as Elders). It is not for telling brand stories. It is not for look-and-feel.

It is specifically designed to stop prospects from turning away from your collateral upon their first encounter with it. In the attention economy, this is something they’re otherwise virtually guaranteed to do. And which prospects are we trying to stop in their tracks? The smallest and most tightly focused group that will get you to the next stage in your business strategy.

After all, your business does not and cannot serve everyone. No business model equally serves all seven types in the CANEDIT model. If you think you have more than two equally important types of prospect, you’re either vastly diversified, or you don’t really have a “business model” (you just do/sell whatever comes along) or you don’t know your market.

Prospect problems – front and centre

To really “be relevant” you must zero-in on your target audience and establish an identity they’ll remember as a way of solving their problem. (Brand and reputation are functionally the same. A logo is not a brand. Your brand is what people say about your business behind its back. Heck, you don’t even own your brand; your shoppers do. You just have the commercialisation rights to their opinions.)

By putting the needs of your incoming shoppers at the centre of your online marketing, you’re really seeking to hold their attention long enough to tip them further down your sales funnel. Everything is built around this, the most important thing in your business’s marketing: converting new prospects. Paradoxically, this can make your business identity largely unimportant at this crucial first stage – the relevance signalling. Why? Because everything must revolve around your shoppers and they will always care more about their problems than your brand.

To a shopper entering a new market, you are always irrelevant unless proven otherwise. What’s more, you don’t become relevant to a shopper with a problem by announcing your opinion of yourself. So, with that cold, tough bit of humble pie chewed over, let’s actually look at what the seven letters of CANEDIT actually mean: Comparison, Advisory, Newcomer, Dissatisfied, Emergency, Infrequent, Transient.

Comparison shoppers – weighing up their options

The Comparison shopper is so engaged in the purchase process that they seem to almost enjoy shopping around. For either internal reasons (e.g. cautious personality) and/or external (e.g. due diligence rules), they want to optimise price, convenience, quality or all three. They are educated to a degree, their problems are not urgent and they’ll only buy when they can prove to themselves that the purchase makes sense.

Something a Comparison shopper might say: “I’ve got five quotes already. So, what do you offer?”

How do you make your brand relevant to Comparison shoppers?

1. Acknowledge their research/intelligence.
2. Talk features, evidence and experience.
3. Encourage an intriguing (yet unsatisfying) product trial.

Example relevance messaging: “You’ve tested the rest, now test the best – 10% stronger, 20% safer, 30% cheaper.”

Advisory – learning not buying … yet

Ever come across a customer who just kept asking questions.? Who seemed to be more enthusiastic about the product than the salesperson? Who already knew all sorts of trivia about your sector? This is the Advisory shopper. What do they want? To know even more! To them, buying the product or service is incidental to being “around” the product or service. Don’t think they’re all tyre kickers though. These people really do buy stuff – often they buy often! Indeed, being invited to an exclusive “insider program” might thrill them to the core. These are your tragics, your geeks and your hobbyists. They’re called “Advisory” because, by keeping them in the loop with your advice, you can trigger the first in what may well be a string of purchases they’ll be proud to be seen making.

Something an Advisory shopper might say: “What do you think about the new BSR 965-G model announced 20 minutes ago in the CEO’s keynote? Amazing specs, huh?”

How do you make your brand relevant to Advisory shoppers?

1. Geek out with them.
2. Edutainment – fun facts, fantastic figures, tantalising tidbits.
3. Offer an opt-in deal for more in-depth content.

Example relevance messaging: “The awesome has landed. Waterproof. Shockproof. And now bulletproof – up to Rifle Standard TX50! And we’re going to test it at the gun range! Email codeword BULLETPROOF to topsecret@areabusiness.com if you want to come along.”

Newcomer shoppers – a babe in the woods

These people have never shopped in your “aisle” before. They don’t even know where to start, so they’re looking for rules of thumb, reference points and a way to frame up the offerings. Really, they’re looking to get their bearings. And, like most babes in the woods, they are acutely aware they’re in danger – meaning they might do something rash or they’ll proceed carefully looking for someone to trust.

Something a newcomer might say: “Oh blast, my computer just did a thing and now it doesn’t work.”

How do you make your brand relevant to Newcomers?

1. Affirm that their anxieties are valid.
2. Educate them with simple and general rules of thumb.
3. Be trustworthy in word and action.

Example relevant message: “Computer problems are stressful. The best advice is to stop, step back and call on the local guys with an office just down the road.”

Emergency – “I need it NOW!”

Obviously, the emergency shopper wants an expedient solution. Speed and ease of access override everything else. Everything. Even putting your phone number at the bottom of the website page instead of the top will kill the prospect. They know what their problem is. Price doesn’t matter. They’re extremely stressed. Whoever can solve it first and fast will win.

Something an Emergency type might say: “Oh god, the cat just ate rat poison!”

How do you make your brand relevant to Emergency shoppers?

1. Be simple. Be direct.
2. Make your CTA easy and your solution immediate.
3. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Example relevant message: “AREATOWN EMERGENCY VET. Call 555 6789. WE’LL ANSWER IMMEDIATELY 24/7.”

Dissatisfied shoppers – “you’re all crooks!”

The dissatisfied incoming shopper has been burned by a competitor of yours. They’re peeved. They are still in the market, but they are on the defensive and suspicious of your entire sector. Including you. The kind of messaging that will be relevant to their emotional state is something that acknowledges their anger. From there, it will seek to give them something to believe in again. Because really, the dissatisfied shopper wants satisfaction more than anything.

Something a Dissatisfied shopper might say: “Yeah, well, the last guy I tried was a bloody crook!”

How do you make your brand relevant to Dissatisfied shoppers?

1. Agree that they’re right. Acknowledge and validate – even apologise.
2. Testimonials from people they can identify with.
3. Delight them with something sincere.

Example relevant message: “We know our sector has a bad reputation. We agree, something isn’t right. Just 2 percent of practitioners are endorsed by Respectable Charity X. We’re one of them and we work hard to make sure we deserve it.”  

Infrequent shoppers – back in control

A lot of our work involves this type of shopper. This is because many of our clients are in professional services whose own clients are people who have been pushed into the market by external pressures. These events tend to be unpredictable and non-repeating. However it happens, the client is not in control of their destiny and they want that control back. For the Infrequent shopper, the fact that the purchase need has been imposed upon them is more vexing than the purchase need itself. The external event could be good – their child announces their engagement, thus triggering all manner of wedding purchases. The event could be bad – a breakdown, thus triggering a call to a mechanic. In either case, the event is not an emergency, but rather an imposition that must be dealt with. 

Something an Infrequent shopper might say: “Okay, fine then. How do I sort this out?”

How do you make your brand relevant to Infrequent shoppers?

1. Educate them on the issue in an engaging way.
2. Establish your social proof/track record.
3. Zero pressure.

Example relevance message: “Smashed window? It’s an easier fix than it seems. And if you live in Areatown, you’ve already looked through a window we’ve fixed. We can do it for you too.”

Transient shoppers – just passing through

Transient shoppers know what they want and they want it soon. They have zero loyalty. These are commuters who hit up the vending machine while waiting for the night train. They’re drivers who see the fuel gauge below half and, if it’s not out of their way, might fill up at whichever petrol station is next. They are people skimming through social media – with all its paid content – while waiting for their elevator (i.e. these people are “shopping” for boredom relief).   

Something a Transient shopper might say: “Let’s get a burger at the next place that looks good.”

How do you make your brand relevant to Transient shoppers?

1. Big, clear, simple messages.
2. Be conspicuous.
3. Be convenient.

Example relevance messaging: “HOT FOOD. DRIVE THROUGH. NEXT EXIT. Big Bob’s Grill.” 

CANEDIT in the real world

At Search And Site Authoring, most of our clients are knowledge-leader B2B businesses, such as “tech and mech” solutions suppliers and professional services firms. As such, their incoming prospects usually fall under the Infrequent, Newcomer or Dissatisfied types. (I mean, it would be hard to sell accounting services to a Transient shopper. No one says, “Ooh, I’ll just pop in for a cheeky tax return while I’m passing through”.)

And, just because it is the most dramatic, we’re going to use the Emergency shoppers for our longer example. Say you run an emergency vet clinic. Visitors to your website are:

• Not Comparison shoppers – they do not want to see the nitty-gritty of your services and pricing
• Not Advisory shoppers – they are not looking to chat about the latest developments in canine defibrillators
• Not Newcomer shoppers – they will not respond well to a feel-good homepage with an unskippable 45-second welcome video
• Not Dissatisfied shoppers – it’s not as if another emergency vet let their pet die, so they’re bringing the corpse to you to do a better job
• Not Infrequent shoppers – the inconvenience of needing an emergency vet is immaterial
• Not Transient shoppers – they didn’t just happen to have a sick pet needing care as they passed by.

No, the Emergency shopper is frantic. All they want is contact details of any vet who can immediately treat Lulu – their 4-year-old golden retriever who, at 11pm on a Tuesday, when she was taken outside for a pee, slipped her collar, ran into the road and got run over by an SUV.

They do not care what your vet surgery is called.

They do not care about your website’s design.

They do not care about your online booking form.

They do not care about your loyalty program.

They do not care about your email newsletter.

They do not care about you.

All they care about is Lulu getting emergency medical care RIGHT NOW.

So, if your emergency vet website is about you rather than Lulu’s owners, they won’t even notice you.

See, the most relevant thing to visitors of all CANEDIT types is a solution to their problem. Even the advisory shopper, who seems to not have a problem, actually does: boredom.

Often, the identity of the solutions provider is not a controlling factor in establishing relevance. It is a controlling factor in establishing trust, but that is what your About Us page is for. Anyway, what this means is there are many homepages for which logo, branding and business name should take second place to the relevance messaging.

So get writing …. or let us do it

Yes, making your copy relevant is hard. Even for us. Even so, because it is so entwined with marketing strategy, copywriting remains the most crucial aspect of any marketing campaign. And no matter what you are marketing or how you do it, your copy must be relevant to the target audience. Only through relevance can you get their attention and their acceptance. Luckily, there are ways to make this process easier. The CANEDIT method is one of them. We use it. It works. Give it a go!

Or, if you find that it’s taking too much time, effort or headspace, contact SASA. Taking this sort of chore off your hands is what we do. What might take you all day, we can sort out in just a couple of emails. Because, as a business owner, marketing manager or web developer, writing copy is not your core skill. But it is ours.