CopyDiva

Although you may be under the impression that marketing’s job is to promote the company/product/service, I am here to tell you that, in fact, that’s not it. Marketing’s job is to be the audience advocate, to focus on the needs, wants, desires of customers and prospects, to get that essential information they’re looking for into their heads so they can perhaps make a decision to take the next step. In today’s world, people are just too darn cynical to ever be convinced by fluff language, product glamour shots or any of the staid tools used to convince business folks to consider your product or service.

Ok, so how can you be an audience advocate? Well, one of the ways I do this when I am formulating my writing is by resisting the constraints of formats, grammar, punctuation — the rules of writing. Instead, I stay right brain and save the left brain stuff for later. Truly the way to get the best ideas out is to let them flow unconstrained, without
judgement.

If you’ve ever been in a brainstorming meeting choked by nay-sayers, you understand what I mean. You know, those people who shut down tossed out ideas because they don’t quite seem to fit. I say, leave all the ideas up on the white board. Sure, they may go away later, but that one seemingly random thought could spur genius ideas from others in the room. If you cast it aside, you’re sure to shut down possible ideas or key points people have. Plus, it makes everyone else afraid to contribute ideas.

In the work I do, I spend a lot of time in conversation with product managers and marketing managers who sometimes get a bit hung up on HOW to say what they want to say. When this happens, its my job to be the audience advocate and assure them that, yes, I can figure out the wordsmithing part. What I need from them is their ideas, not their wordsmithing.

So remember to be the audience advovate. When it comes to creating sales support, marketing and especially web content, it’s so important to focus on what the customer wants to hear, not what you want to tell them. That’s your job as the advocate.