Feb
19
You know everything about your business.
You know what things cost. You know what your profit margins are. You know what you want to achieve.
So that's alright then. As long as you know what's going on, everything is going to be just tickety-boo.
It gets even better when it comes to your marketing:
You know what your logo means; you know what your headlines mean; you know what every paragraph in your website means...
...to you.
And that's when things start to go wrong. Because everybody else isn't you - and we often have no idea what you're talking about.
You know what things cost. You know what your profit margins are. You know what you want to achieve.
So that's alright then. As long as you know what's going on, everything is going to be just tickety-boo.
It gets even better when it comes to your marketing:
You know what your logo means; you know what your headlines mean; you know what every paragraph in your website means...
...to you.
And that's when things start to go wrong. Because everybody else isn't you - and we often have no idea what you're talking about.
Elsewhere in this blog you can read about "the curse of knowledge".
This is a phenomenon most good copywriters will recognise: As soon as you know something about a concept, it becomes very difficult to explain that concept to people who know nothing about it using language that they will understand.
Giving people driving directions is an example. Have you ever heard yourself saying, "turn left before you get to the bridge", without realising that the bridge is a half a mile beyond the junction and completely out of sight for drivers approaching that junction? You know the bridge is there and you can use it as a landmark. But you can't use it to give meaningful directions to a driver who doesn't know where it is.
It's the same for the task of promoting your hotel - online or offline.
You'll have seen adverts containing a headline that goes something like this:
The Blog House Hotel
If that's your hotel at least you know where it is. The rest of us are none the wiser. And because of that, most of us will stop reading your advert and move on to the next one.
Online, all sorts of things happen.
Take "the logo" as an example.
You've just spent a fortune on a new logo. It represents everything you've built into your business. To you, it says things like "quality", "service" or "fabulous".
So you give it prime space on your website - and make it BIG - so that everyone will look at it and immediately know what you mean.
Except that they don't.
You have made an assumption about what your website visitors already know about your business.
Not only are you assuming that they know what you know. You're assuming that they will interpret the pictures, words and headlines the way you interpret them.
But they don't know what you know.
- They don't know how much of your heart and soul you've put into your business.
- They don't know how many hours you work to make all these things happen for them.
- They don't know how much debt you have to service each month.
- They don't know about all the staffing problems you have.
- They don't know about how much your new bathrooms cost.
- They don't know anything about you. Indeed, if they've never been to your town before, they don't know the difference between your hotel and a hole in the ground. Start from there and work up.
- They don't know what it's like to be you.
...and they don't care. Nor do they need to know.
What they do need to know is:
- What you can do for them.
- What it will feel like to be in your hotel.
- Where your hotel is.
- How to make a booking.
- Whether they'll regret staying in your hotel or not.
When you're telling them this, you need to do it quickly and with precision. It is too easy to overcook this dish and spoil it.
Your customers don't know what you know. But they do know what they want to know:
They want to know what they're going to get.
So make sure above all else, that you put your own attitudes to one side and concentrate on the answer to their question,
"what is in it for me?"
This is a phenomenon most good copywriters will recognise: As soon as you know something about a concept, it becomes very difficult to explain that concept to people who know nothing about it using language that they will understand.
Giving people driving directions is an example. Have you ever heard yourself saying, "turn left before you get to the bridge", without realising that the bridge is a half a mile beyond the junction and completely out of sight for drivers approaching that junction? You know the bridge is there and you can use it as a landmark. But you can't use it to give meaningful directions to a driver who doesn't know where it is.
It's the same for the task of promoting your hotel - online or offline.
You'll have seen adverts containing a headline that goes something like this:
The Blog House Hotel
If that's your hotel at least you know where it is. The rest of us are none the wiser. And because of that, most of us will stop reading your advert and move on to the next one.
Online, all sorts of things happen.
Take "the logo" as an example.
You've just spent a fortune on a new logo. It represents everything you've built into your business. To you, it says things like "quality", "service" or "fabulous".
So you give it prime space on your website - and make it BIG - so that everyone will look at it and immediately know what you mean.
Except that they don't.
You have made an assumption about what your website visitors already know about your business.
Not only are you assuming that they know what you know. You're assuming that they will interpret the pictures, words and headlines the way you interpret them.
But they don't know what you know.
- They don't know how much of your heart and soul you've put into your business.
- They don't know how many hours you work to make all these things happen for them.
- They don't know how much debt you have to service each month.
- They don't know about all the staffing problems you have.
- They don't know about how much your new bathrooms cost.
- They don't know anything about you. Indeed, if they've never been to your town before, they don't know the difference between your hotel and a hole in the ground. Start from there and work up.
- They don't know what it's like to be you.
...and they don't care. Nor do they need to know.
What they do need to know is:
- What you can do for them.
- What it will feel like to be in your hotel.
- Where your hotel is.
- How to make a booking.
- Whether they'll regret staying in your hotel or not.
When you're telling them this, you need to do it quickly and with precision. It is too easy to overcook this dish and spoil it.
Your customers don't know what you know. But they do know what they want to know:
They want to know what they're going to get.
So make sure above all else, that you put your own attitudes to one side and concentrate on the answer to their question,
"what is in it for me?"
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