Your brand.
It’s confusing.
Let me tell you why and how to fix it.
First off, what is a brand?
I believe a brand is a business’s personality.
Sure, it’s color, fonts, style, voice, and all that.
But it’s also the emotion you feel when you interact with that business personality.
It’s the energy.
It’s the subtle undertones.
It’s the nuances.
It’s that “I can tell they put their heart into this” feeling.
Let’s pretend it’s pre-covid for a second.
Scratch that, let’s pretend it’s not too far in the future and everything is opening up safely. #optimistic
Your friend invites you to a party.
“Wow, a party, I haven’t been to a party in forever.”
You say yes even though you don’t know anybody.
You get to the party and immediately start meeting people.
You’re shaking hands and trying to remember names.
To be honest, you’re not really digging the people there.
Stale.
But you’re having fun.
Then, Willie walks up to you.
He’s wearing a deep purple shirt with a dark red heart on it, dark black jeans, and a pair of old converse.
He’s tall.
He’s confident, but kind.
He’s funny, but sincere.
He’s masculine, but also feminine.
He gets you.
You guys hit it off.
You can be yourself around him.
You skip the surface level shit.
Y’all are going back and forth, laughing and telling stories.
Then the party ends.
It’s time to go.
You guys hug and exchange numbers.
You’ll see Willie again soon.
You just met my brand avatar.
Let me explain.
Cole Schafer is one of my favorite writers/copywriters.
I got this idea from him.
Your brand is a conversation between two people.
Most people (even the biggest brands) treat it like corporate bullshit.
Writing in the third person as if that will make them seem more legitimate.
People want humanness.
— Enter Cole —
Here are a few questions you can ask yourselves to create your fictional brand character:
- What clothes would your brand wear?
- What things would he or she talk about at dinner?
- Would he or she cuss?
- Would he or she be funny? Or would he or she be serious?
- What would he or she look like? Dress like?
- What music would he or she listen to?
- What books would he or she read?
- How would he or she talk to his or her friends?
- If your brand was a famous person, who would it be?
When you get a chance, take a moment and describe who your brand is, write a short description about him or her on a piece of paper.
Let’s shoot for 5-6 sentences a piece, please. Pick out the elements that feel most like your brand. Then, give the fictional individual a name and put together a bio. Read this bio every time you write a piece of copy and upon completing the copy, ask yourself: does this sound like our brand?
This one trick will help your brand write more like a human and will immediately allow you to connect with your customers on a much deeper and more personal level.
Now, do the same thing for your customer…
It’s no longer enough to say: our customer is… women between the ages of 25 – 40. That’s not a target market.
I’ve dated women 24, 26 and 30 and they’re absolutely nothing alike. One to two years in age difference can drastically change people’s maturity level, values, interests and desires.
When we are defining a target market we need to just think of one person and describe her or him thoroughly. We can use the same process and ask the same questions as the ones in the previous section to define who he or she is.
Again, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to create your customer:
- Is your customer a he or she?
- What does he or she wear?
- What things does he or she talk about at dinner?
- Does he or she cus? Does he or she not cus?
- Is he or she funny? Or is he or she serious?
- What does he or she look like? Dress like?
- What music does he or she listen to?
- What books does he or she read?
- How would he or she talk to his or her friends?
- What are his or her fears?
- Why would he or she buy your product?
- What problem is your product solving for him or her?
Once we’ve created our brand profile and our customer profile, writing copy becomes easier. It simply becomes a conversation between two people. That’s it.
The questions now become…
- Does what we have written sound like something our brand would write?
- Does what we have written sound like something our customer would read?
If we can give a firm, honest “Hell Yes!” then we have nailed our brand voice.
— Enter Miles —
Thanks Cole..
I HIGHLY recommend his copywriting guide, which you can purchase here.
His writing is addicting, so be careful 😉
Stay tuned. I’ll be recording myself walking through this process during an upcoming TTT.
Much love,
Miles
