What Do You Feel?
The Copywriter Column #101
When you sit down to write, one of the most important things you can do is answer these 5 questions:
Who are you writing to?
Where are they (digitally, physically, on the customer journey, etc.)?
Why are you writing to them?
What do you want them to do?
Why should they do it?
I always say if you can’t answer all of those questions, then you should go back to the drawing board.
But there’s a 6th question worth asking…
What do you want them to feel?
Most of us allow ourselves to be driven by our emotions without a second thought. Part of it is due to a lack of self-awareness, part of it is that it’s easier to go with our gut reaction (i.e. feelings).
Our brains will do anything to preserve energy. If you can help your customer’s brain shortcut its decision-making process, why not?
That’s why emotion is so powerful in marketing – no matter the medium. It gets results (sometimes good, sometimes bad).
The problem is a lot of marketing copywriters suck at writing emotionally-charged copy.
Here’s an exercise that’ll help you start putting words to your feelings, which in turn, will help you put words to what you want your readers to feel.
Find a picture, that at first glance, moves you. You don’t have to know why. But you’ll immediately know it resonates with something deep inside of you.
Grab a piece of paper and write down what you feel. Use actual pen and paper. But here’s the catch, don’t write down the literal name of the feeling. Describe the feeling.
Review your reflections. What stands out to you? Why does that particular descriptor resonate with your feelings? Answer the question.
Try performing this writing exercise a few times a week. Over time, you’ll find it gets easier to describe what your target audiences are feeling given their particular circumstances too.
P.S. Like what you read? Please comment and share this post on LinkedIn. It’s an easy way to support my work and goes a long way! You can also repost it on Substack.
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