These 4 Mistakes Are Killing Your Copy
Marketing isn’t easy.
It’s not just asking AI for a social post, there’s a lot more to it.
But just like most things, the best marketing isn’t complicated. It’s simple.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes as a marketer. The problem was, I didn’t even realise they were mistakes at the time. It’s a classic case of you don’t know what you don’t know.
You’re told to expect most of your marketing to fail, but that doesn’t mean you should throw ideas at the wall and hope something sticks.
Over time, I’ve noticed a pattern. There are a few common mistakes that quietly ruin marketing efforts make every day.
Here they are (and how to avoid them):
1. Focusing on yourself
No one cares about you or your business.
Harsh, but true. Even with your favourite brand, you don’t really care about them, you care about what you get from them.
Your audience is always asking “What’s in it for me?”. Our job is to answer that as clearly and concisely as possible.
Many businesses love to talk about themselves because they either:
Don’t want to give away their knowledge for free
Don’t know any better
For example, personal trainers often post videos of themselves in the gym instead of their clients’ results.
The people putting money in your bank account don’t care about what you do, who you are, or what you had for breakfast. They only care about what you can do for them.
Can you describe what you do FOR your clients/customers in simple terms? If yes, you’re onto something.
2. Not understanding your customer
Great. We now understand that we need to prioritise our customers. But who are these people?!
Selling requires precision. The business that sells to everyone ends up selling to no one. Unless you’re Amazon or Apple, you can’t market to the whole world.
Instead, pick your ideal customer/client and shape your product, message, and offer around them.
Not “runners”. Not “drivers”. Not “shoppers”. These groups are all far too broad.
Be a local coffee shop that uses inside jokes only people in that area will get.
Be a marketing agency that only serves fitness coaches, and speak directly to them.
Whatever your business is, you can narrow your audience down to one clear archetype. Once you understand your customer, selling to them becomes much easier.
3. Neglecting research
I made this mistake for years before realising the power of it.
Researching your ideal client/customer, market trends, and your competitors are all essential parts of the marketing process.
If you don’t truly know what motivates your customer, where they spend their time, or what language they use, you’ll never convince them to give you their money.
For example, I once used research to write an email that revived interest in an online course. Without it, the copy would’ve fallen flat (as it did for the 2 years prior).
See the full story here.
The more you know your customer, the easier your job becomes (and more money you make).
4. Using the wrong amount of words
This mistake goes both ways.
Too many words:
No one likes a yapper. Cut the BS from your copy, and watch how it instantly becomes clearer.
Instead of writing too many words for this section, let’s just look at two pieces of copy:
(the better example was directly from lawnlove.com. They know how to write good copy.)
Too few words:
On the flip side, being vague leaves your audience confused about what you actually offer. You need to get your point across as succinctly and as quickly as possible.
Here’s a famous example of Apple’s ad for the iPod:
If they tried to get clever with buzzwords or feature lists, the ad would’ve been forgettable. Instead, it became iconic.
Side note: If you saw this ad for the latest iPhone today, you’d be very disappointed. 1,000 songs is nothing nowadays. I just thought it was interesting to see how fast technology progresses.
My point is: know when to use long copy, and know when to use short copy. Again, it comes back to your research. If you do the research, you’ll know what to do.
To Close
The businesses that win aren’t the loudest or flashiest. They’re the ones who understand their customers best, and then speak to them directly.
When I finally stopped trying to make my marketing look clever and started focusing on what the market actually wants, everything changed. Most businesses never do this. And that’s exactly why most of them fail.
All the best,
