Where Businesses Miss the Mark on Copywriting

By Emin Kara | July 13, 2023

One of the biggest problems I see with most businesses is their messaging and copywriting falls short. No truly, there are very few businesses that actually get this correct! It’s a silent business killer that’s hiding in plain sight. Here’s the gut-punch truth: most businesses are swanning around in the dark, clueless about the goldmine they’re standing on if they just got their messaging right!

So first of all, what is copywriting? Copywriting is believable message that persuades people to take action. It’s a simple formula that you’re probably getting wrong. “But Emin, I already do this. I promise people benefits to what I’m offering”. That’s where the misconception lies! Stay with me here. 

Let’s get brutally honest. Most businesses would rather stick to their comfort zones of tired messages and industry jargon than roll up their sleeves and dig into the nitty-gritty of what makes their customers tick. It’s a tragedy moving in slow motion. Nobody cares. Do you know why? Because they’ve heard the same message over and over and over again! On average we see 6000 marketing messages per day! Doesn’t feel like it, right? That’s because we’ve built a defense mechanism to drown them out and retain our attention!

Mastering your messaging isn’t about slick slogans or using technobabble to try to sound clever. It’s about peeling back the layers and understanding them on a human level. I’m doing it right now! The way I write should almost make you feel like you’re having a conversation with me. 

Here’s the secret sauce. The bitter truth is negativity catches more attention than eyeballs. You need to learn to set people’s chairs on FIRE! For legal reasons, I’m not stating you should literally set someone’s chair on fire. 

Imagine someone is sitting on a chair and you want them to move to the other chair. The chances of them moving are very slim. You can tell them how great the other chair is, promise, promise, promise but it won’t mean they’ll move. HOWEVER…If you set their current chair on fire, they’ve got no choice but to move. 

Here’s an example…

Marketer Alan Rosenspan reports that in one study, people who were interested in saving home energy costs were asked one of two questions: 

1. “Did you know you can save an extra 75 cents a day by implementing our recommendations? (PROMISE, PROMISE, PROMISE)
2. “Did you know it costs you an extra 75 cents a day if you don’t implement these recommendations?” (PROBLEM, PROBLEM, PROBLEM)

Question #2 WON by a wide margin because it more directly tapped into our universal fear of loss. 

This isn’t just exclusive to writing a caption or an email, I use this when writing scripts or ideas for videos too! To illustrate, capture people’s attention by explaining or demonstrating a frustration for your customers, then position yourself as the solution. 

And don’t be afraid to be bold with it too! Again, relating back to what I mentioned earlier, everyone hears the same corporate speak all the time. People just want to be talked to like humans, you need to meet them on their level. Manscaped, Lotus Cars, and RyanAir are all great examples of this. 

This is a very in-depth conversation that you may need a little more guidance on, so use your resources. I’ll be over in the Hotel Interactive threads ready to answer any questions you may have and to offer guidance in your efforts to utilize social media! So, get curious, get to work and get winning!