Your client’s backstory has 3 parts: the problem, the reason they can’t do it themselves, and what they’ve tried.
Recently I talked with someone who offered a service for preserving and telling stories that come down through the family…stories you might hear at family reunions. A lot of people think it’s important to preserve a family’s legacy of storytelling. She’d interview people and find a way to get them to tell their stories.
The concept was sound. However, what we needed to know was this: Why couldn’t people do it themselves? Why couldn’t they hook up a microphone and just talk?
It’s similar to what happens when you’re on a podcast. The results of being interviewed by a stranger–especially someone who’s a professional interviewer–will be different from the way you introduce yourself. The podcast host will ask different questions. You’ll sound different.
Best of all, it’s one and done! You might keep saying you’ll make a video “someday” and that “someday” never happens. When you’re collecting family history, the person could die or become seriously ill. Then you’d never have that chance.
This business owner had to feature the answer to a big question: Why can’t they do it themselves?
You don’t need to sell your audience on the seriousness of the problem. You need to sell them on the consequences of hiring someone else to solve the problem…even though it might be something you could do yourself. Or you think you could DIY.
A lot of businesses have clients who hire them to do something they are perfectly capable of doing.
Tax preparer clients: “I don’t want to put in the time to learn all the arcane laws and technicalities.”
Financial advisor clients: “I don’t want to dig into the different options for securities and investments.”
Tech support clients: “There are ten pages of text and it will take me hours to read through them. And my screen doesn’t look like the ones in the demo.”
Lawn care clients: “I don’t have the equipment and it’s dangerous to get out there.”
And I am also the answer to this question.
Sure, you could review your own web or opt-in page. When you hire me to do it, you get a second pair of eyes on your copy. You get copywriting knowledge without paying for a full copywriting course (let alone taking the time to learn how to do things you don’t need).
If you’d like an in-depth discussion of your positioning and copywriting strategy, sign up for the Strategic Intensive. You’re probably doing a lot more than you need to do! Click here to learn more and set it up.
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