Today Bethany is joining us on the blog! Bethany is our Community Creator and is the hands and vision behind our Instagram and blog. She intuitively understands words and communicating. Today she is sharing some simple but profound tips on connecting with our target audience with words.

Bethany will take it from here….

Writing matters. We know this, right? But when it comes to business and embarking on the journey of telling our brand story, do we remember how important it really is? Words are a powerful tool for drawing closer to your target audience, (your tribe), for building trust and for expressing who you are in a way that causes you to stand out from others. The way that we choose to communicate with our audience will be really significant in determining what kind of response we get from them. You see, our audience will experience our brand through their senses – what they can touch, taste, see, hear and smell. When we buy products, we buy it because it is appealing to one or more of our senses. So we want the words and messaging that we use for our brand to reach out to the hearts of our tribe, strike something within them and urge them to want to be a part of our story.

Words have so much power and influence in your business so today we will look at a few ways that you can use your words to help tell your brand story and connect with your clients on an emotional, real level.

BE INVITING
It is SO important to make sure that the words you are writing are written as an invitation to your target audience, making it clear that you want them to be a part of your brand. They need to know that you WANT their input, their support and their partnership. Not in a salesy way, but in a way that is kindred, a way that welcomes them in with authenticity.

STEP INTO THEIR SHOES
Let yourself take the mindset of the client while you write. If you were reading those words, what would you want to hear? What specific words and phrases would cause you to feel something and be moved? Allow yourself to BE your target audience. What would be of interest to them? It is so important to create content that is curated specifically for those people that you really want to reach. If it is not relevant to them, how will they connect with it and stay with you for the long haul?

CHOOSE WISELY
The words you choose to write will be so influential so you obviously want to make sure you choose the right ones. A great tool to use to help you search for new words with the same or similar meaning is thesaurus.com. Remember to speak with clarity and simplicity though; you do not want to provide content that is confusing and complex to understand. You want to speak the language of your audience and you should use words that state your point clearly in a way that they will not only understand, but that they will connect and relate with.

BE REAL
People want to get a taste of who you are when you are writing them. Remember not to be closed off, but open up and let them see your personality. A connection will be formed when your client feels there is something or someone to connect TO. Be honest and sincere about your journey as a business. Talk about your successes AND your shortcomings. Explain what you learned along the way, especially when things got tough or took a direction you weren’t expecting. Trust will build as you let your audience get to know who you are.

PLAN AHEAD
When planning a blog post or writing copy for your website, don’t just do it last minute. Experiment with different ideas and words, make sure you leave time to edit your writing until you feel the messaging is really good and aligns with your brand. If you are struggling with the right words to say and are feeling a creative block, sometimes it is good to just come back the next day with a fresh perspective and clear mind. Planning ahead will allow you to have the extra day or two that you need to pull all the details together.

The message you send out about your brand will not only help to define who you are in the eyes of the watching world, but will also urge them to make a choice to either turn away in disinterest, subconsciously realizing that there is no connection or to jump on board and fall in love with who you are and what you do. The latter is clearly what we desire! So choose to reach out to your target audience with authenticity, intentionality and EXCELLENT words.

In the words of  Elise & Scott Grice, the founders and vision behind Hey, Sweet Pea :: “Your words hold irresistible power. We’d even dare to say: The way you write for and about your brand is the single most important part of creating a business that captivates and converts the dreamiest of dream clients. Because the words you write, the stories you share, and the messages you send all have one insanely important purpose: To draw your people closer still.”