Using Effective Writing to Market Your Products and Services
One of the easiest things to overlook when you start thinking about how to grow your business is writing.
Sure, you need to have the kind of products and services that prospective customers are after, be it a hosting plan with all the bells and whistles, or fully-featured, high-speed Internet access. But beyond your product or service, you need to make sure that you are effectively conveying that information to each prospective customer.
Who are you selling to?
To do a good job writing for your customers, you first need to know who they are. For example, if you are primarily targeting fairly tech-savvy users with a hosting plan, it might be acceptable to use terms like terabytes, or Linux, or MySQL. But if you are selling services to people who aren’t plugged in when it comes to hosting, then you’ll need to adapt your writing to ensure that you aren’t baffling them with words that sound like a foreign language to them. You may instead choose to use words like plenty of storage, secure web servers and blog-ready databases.
Similarly, you should make sure that you don’t make any assumptions about the level of knowledge of your users. And that goes both ways. Don’t assume that your customers are fully versed in the terminology and technology of the Internet. But at the same time, make sure you don’t treat them as idiots either.
Think of the geek and your grandmother
You might want to serve up multiple versions of the same information with a link from the version for “normal people” to a version for “geeks”. It can be as easy as putting a simple subheading with something like, “I’m up to speed on this stuff, give me the techie version” that links to a specs page.
For example, OpenDNS, a provider of third-party DNS service, caters to both groups on their page. Those with a solid knowledge of DNS and routers are after one thing – the IP addresses to plug in to their router. OpenDNS understands their audience and on the “Getting Started” page, they simple provide what they call “The Straight Dope” – the two IP addresses of their DNS servers.
But for those who need some hand holding (in other words, the average person), OpenDNS takes the time to explain their service and how to configure it in plain English. They provide pictures of the routers they have instructions for, and screenshots that help users configure things to use the OpenDNS service.
The golden opportunity
There’s a real opportunity for both hosting companies, and also for ISPs, to grab market share by being friendly and approachable in a way that really stands out from the crowd. As more and more people start looking to simply establish a presence online, it becomes even more important to tailor your service offerings and marketing to increasingly less technologically-inclined customers.
Take a look at your website and marketing materials from the perspective of the non-tech. Better yet, have someone who doesn’t understand the business read through your website and provide feedback. Is what you are selling clear? Does it make sense to the average user as well as the Internet expert? Is you pricing clear and understandable? Do you clearly explain why you are a better choice than the competition?
Your website is probably the single most important marketing tool you have. Make sure that the writing is effective and clear and that it serves the broadest section of potential customers.