Not Speaking to Your Audience

Your website can make or break your business. It’s your storefront, lead generator, brand ambassador, sales assistant and more. Companies invest heavily in their sites. So why do so many still fall short?

Over the 12 years, we’ve been developing and designing sites, we’ve noticed some common mistakes companies are making. One big one? Not speaking to your audience. It’s easy to lose your audience if your content isn’t correctly calibrated. There are two things that can go wrong here:

1. Getting Too Technical:

You live and breathe your business. You know the products and services inside and out and can spout off every important feature. So it can be really easy to slip into the technical talk, perhaps using a term that your audience may not be likely to know, like a bank calling a mortgage a homeowner’s loan or another more obscure term.

If your content and site map is built around more technical terms, you’re missing an opportunity to talk directly to your clients, who are searching with their own terminology. Know their language and use it.

2. Going Company-Centric Versus Customer Centric:

Remember WIIFM (What’s In It For Me)? That phrase is key to any business transaction. You need to make your customers’ needs the focus. Instead of saying, “Our company produces the most reliable widgets” and touting your product’s features, go deeper into product benefits and engage your prospects’ emotions by talking directly to their needs. “With our reliable widget, you can enjoy less maintenance and more peace of mind.” What is in it for THEM?

Want to know the best ways to speak your customers’ language fluently? Talk to them and understand their needs. Ask your customers why they picked you over your competition. And make sure to thank them while you’re at it!

We can help too. As your partner, we’re uniquely positioned to give you that unbiased third person point of view to help you identify terms that may be problematic. When you’re so close to the business, these terms often fade into the background and you don’t even realize that you’re using them.

We’ll help you make your content customer-focused too. Rely on our content experts to create a site that speaks right to your customers.