Laser Targeted Copywriting

I recently wrote a case study about a powerchair manufacture, Dragonmobility,  for one of my clients. But this isn’t any ordinary company.

During my telephone interview with the Managing Director, Dan Everad, I was completely enthralled by his story. Most of us go through school and possibly university and then opt for whichever career we like the look of at the time. But for Dan, his vocation chose him. His daughter was diagnosed with an incurable neuro-muscular disorder at the age of 17 months. Dan was determined to give her the life of high mobility she deserved so she could play, develop and blossom into an independent young woman. So he invented the first commercially available elevating powerchair.

By using his chair young mothers can play on the floor with their children one minute and then elevate themselves to eye level to hold a conversation with friends the next.

To Dan, every customer is unique and as such every powerchair that is produced is tailored to their needs. He is currently developing one for a disabled and blind client that uses sonar technology to navigate a room (as a bat would).

You may be wondering what all this has to do with copywriting – well, quite a lot.

As a freelance copywriter I work with numerous clients covering a broad range of industries. If I adopted the same approach for every project I worked on I would soon be out of business.

The 2 most important questions I need to ask myself are:

What does my client want to achieve?

Who is my audience and why do they need this product?

OK, technically speaking that’s 3 questions (and, yes, before you bombard me with emails, there are many other questions I would also need to ask), but they are vital to understand how I should tailor my writing.

In the same way as Dan looks at each customer individually to ensure his product does what they need, I have to look at my target audience to asses how best to put my clients’ message across.

A copywirter also needs to be a good listener – let your client talk you through a brief, listen to everything they say (and what they don’t say). Ask questions – the more information you can get the better. Fully armed you can then write laser guided copy that will penetrate your readers’ defences.