"A good message will always find a messenger." Amelia Barr
“Susan,” the email read, “would you get in touch with this company? I don’t know them. They just reached out to me.”
It was one of my colleagues in the financial consulting sector. And I had to admit, I was curious. Why would he want me to reach out to them?
It became all too clear when he said this:
“I am in this industry and perform at a high level and I could not understand exactly what they do.”
Wow. That was saying something. My colleague, ever so humble, is a top performer in the financial world. He knows his stuff and then some.
So, when he says he can’t understand what a company in the financial field does, I had to check out the website.
Woof!
I saw exactly what he meant. Here’s the text that was in the header:
NAME OF COMPANY is a behavioral-focused investment management firm that searches for and exploits behavioral biases in public markets.
Huh?
This website flat out just stole from the company. It was visually appealing but the substance—the message—had been buried under mountains of jargon/tech speak.
I understand what the company tried to do. They wanted to make sure their audience knew that they were knowledgeable. My guess is, they are. The trouble is nobody understands the message. Not even a seasoned professional.
My colleague was so turned off, he never bothered to respond to the email.
The company didn’t just lose a prospect. They lost a solid opportunity to connect with a top performer.
I wonder how much that cost them?
How Did This Website Marketing Message Go So Wrong?
The biggest problem here is—and I’ll bet you any amount of money on this—someone in the financial world wrote the copy.
How do I know that? It's full of jargon and industry speak. Nobody in the real world talks like that!
But that's what they know. So that's what they wrote. That may work for fiction writers, but it's a sales killer in small business marketing.
These guys were just too close to the work to write what connects with their audience.
And connection is the name of the game.
The Hard and Fast Rule of Connecting with Your Audience
If you really want to connect and sell to your audience with website marketing, you must use words your audience uses. Period. End of story.
Plain talk beats jargon every time. Why? Because it's relatable. The reader doesn't have to work to understand what's being said.
When that happens, sales increase and customers stick around. It's really as simple as that.
What's not so simple is creating that message. That's why it's always best to hire a marketing writer to help you cut the brush on the forest path that leads to better clients.
You need someone who can take a step back and find what's really important to your audience. Then paint the town with those words so that people know you get them...and respond.
Bottom line. It's not about trying to look smart. Instead, turn your website into a powerful ally, a connector, and a money maker, not a thief.
Otherwise, you'll end up like the financial guy. All he's got is a "pocket full of mumbles." (Apologies to Paul Simon)
Want a 5-minute website video review? Just email me and I’ll be glad to review your message and website layout for you!
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