I saw an online ad that had the following: “media omniscient” as one of their messages. I’m pretty fluent with English but I had to go look it up. The dictionary gave me two definitions:

• Adjective: having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness or understanding; perceiving all things
• Noun: God

Wow, interesting message. Was this a “tongue in cheek” message or do they really think they know it all over their competition?

If you are writing the copy for an advertisement or any other marketing piece, besides using vocabulary that can be understood easily, there is a formula that you need to follow to get the best results:

• Captivate – get the attention of your Ideal Client
• Connect – appeal to them emotionally by understanding their issues and challenges
• Educate – build trust and credibility
• Motivate – give them a reason to take the next step in the process
• Move – get them to take some action

Writing copy that talks down to your audience may get their attention, but it certainly doesn’t connect with them or give them reason to do business with you. Having to look up a word in a dictionary certainly didn’t give me a warm and welcome impression of the company. I did learn what omniscient is although that’s not what is meant by educating the reader. How do you build trust and credibility when you are saying you know everything?

Writing needs to connect with your target audience. You get their attention if you write about something they care about. Whether it is a brochure, ad copy, blog post, article or whatever you are using to market your company, you need to make sure your writing speaks to them.

Once again I turn to Drew’s Marketing Minute for a great post about developing “personas” when you are writing your marketing materials.

The Marketing Lesson

Determine what really interests your audience and you will connect with your reader.