Crafting your customers’ story is one of the, if not the, most important aspects of your entire copy strategy.

This is because when you show your customers that you completely understand their story and their problems, you can position yourself as THE person to help them.

So many businesses, both big and small, do not do this; and they are missing a trick because this aspect is key to creating copy and a brand identity that stands out from the competition!

There are 3 aspects to focus on when crafting your customers’ story, and I’m going to explain them here

The Who

Before you can write your copy, you need to know who you are writing it for. You are not writing it for yourself, for your CEO or your shareholders. You are writing it for your customer. I speak a lot about your ‘ideal customer’ – what I mean by this is the one person that encapsulates the type of people that your business serves. Think about who this person is and go deeper than demographics (e.g. age, gender, location) – who are they?

The What

Desires

I talk a lot about thinking about your customers’ problems, but first I want you to think about your customers’ desires. This is actually where we start to create the ‘problem canyon’ – the problems that stand in the way of your customer achieving their desire. So, think about your customer and identify what it is they want  – what is their end goal? 

Problems

I like to think of your customer standing on a cliff ledge above a big canyon. They can see the thing they desire on the other side. The problem is they have no way of getting across to it. So far, we have identified the customer, we have identified their desire. Now we need to think about their ‘problem canyon’ (I totally made this term up but I kind of LOVE IT).

Think about your customers’ problems. Think about both the external (big, overarching problems) as well as internal (inner frustrations and struggles) problems they are facing. Think about their ‘problem canyon’.

The How

Now that you have your ideal customer + their desires and problems identified, you can begin to think about how your business offering can help them solve their problems and achieve their desires. Then, think about how you can show your customers this – how can you get this message across?

Why is it important to identify both tangible and emotional desires and problems? The tangible and external ones give context to your customers’ story. The emotional and internal ones are what motivate your customers to seek out a solution (and to invest their money in one). 

Think about it: when you have invested your money in a product or service, has it been more motivated by your inner frustration + emotional desires than the bigger external problems that exist? This is a pattern among customers worldwide and so tapping into this by really understanding your customers + their desires and problems (and showing them this) will ensure that your product or service is chosen over your competitors’.