Copywriting tip for the day. Are you really, honestly using the exact same language your prospect uses?



The results from this online quiz Pop vs Soda really made me think about copywriting. If I were a copywriter creating an ad for a carbonated beverage, I'd probably use the word "soda" without thinking twice about it. However, turns out that more than 50% of Americans and Canadians habitually use the word "Pop" instead. Luckily the differences are regional so you can actually create two different ads and have your media buyer split the buy to make the campaign more effective.



Of all copywriters out there, the worst at thinking about the way prospects use words are technology marketers. Either they'll use made-up terms they invented to describe their stuff so they can safely say they are #1 in their category, or they use highly technical terms the techies assured the copywriter the marketplace uses (never listen to techies' wording suggestions), or they use broad terms such as "CRM solution" because the marketer isn't actually quite sure what the tech specifically does, or they use big words that seemed to impress the VCs when they got that last round of funding. OK enough. Tech copywriting is such an easy target that it's almost not fair to rag on about it.



Here's a challenge, email me samples of tech marketing copywriting where the marketer used words that prospects actually do use to describe their need or product. I'd be delighted to give kudos. AHolland@MarketingSherpa.com



P.S. Thanks to Janet Roberts for the Pop versus Soda link.