Last weekend I stopped into the local grocery store to pick up some fresh local strawberries. Sadly, I was too late (pretty sure the season ended) but I got a pineapple instead. That’s a fondue story for another day, but while I was waiting at the cash, I couldn’t help but notice a beautiful, simple poster advertising Jacob’s Lemonade Stand. It was adorable, yet very professionally done.

There was a picture of a glass of lemonade on it and a very nice font giving ordinates to the stand as well as the hours of operation. The part that really made me smile was how in large print it stated the location as “Grampie MacDonald’s House”.

See, I live in a very small village. Being a newcomer, I don’t know Grampie MacDonald, but kid you not, everyone else in the village does. That kid is smart. He knows that while many people might not recognize his name on the poster, printing his grandfather’s name and address would ensure that everyone who knows his family would be stopping by for a glass of lemonade (and perhaps a visit with Grampie MacDonald). He also took into account that walk-in traffic these days is unpredictable – hence the flyers everywhere (I even encountered one at that morning’s visit to the local library).

This young entrepreneur knew his target market (people who live in the village that know his grandfather and may or may not want or need lemonade) and advertised his business accordingly. The Lemonade Stand was set up right across the street from my house (if you know where Grampie MacDonald lives, come pay me a visit sometime) and I couldn’t believe how long the line up of cars was to get lemonade. Good for Jacob – I’m going to keep an eye on him and see if he’s a millionaire by the time he’s 30.

If you’re planning to hire a copywriter or do any of your own writing or marketing for your business in the near future, please do what this young entrepreneur presumably did and study your target market first. One area that seems to trip people up when filling out my copywriting questionnaire is the part about their target market and ideal customer. You see…if I don’t know who your target audience is, I can’t possibly speak to them.

Imagine this for a second. You’re given a widget and told to walk into this room full of people and sell it to as many of those people as you can. The catch is, you have no idea what makes this widget important to the people in that room because you have no idea who is in that room. How effective do you think you’d be at selling those widgets if you had no idea of who you were selling them to or why they even need widgets?

That’s what it’s like to be a copywriter who doesn’t have enough background on a product or its target market.

Now, if you were given that same widget and told who was in the room of people, at least you could walk up to someone, address their pain points and point out why that widget will make their life better.

If you hire someone to write on behalf of your business and the question of who your target market and ideal customer is doesn’t come up…well…you should probably take your copywriting business elsewhere.

Hmmm. Is anyone else thirsty for lemonade? Ah. The power of marketing…

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This morning as I was checking email and sipping coffee, my laptop started telling me to switch to a different power source because of a low battery. That’s normal, except I was plugged into the wall.

I checked the part in the middle of the cord…that pack thing that plugs into that other thing…and it was connected. I wiggled the adapter where it goes into my computer to see if it was loose there. I checked to see if the cord was firmly plugged into the wall and it was.

At this point I started to panic. But I know I have a backup adapter in the house somewhere and I always keep it in the same place. At least I did in our former house. I haven’t used the adapter since our move at the end of May and while I recall putting it in a box upon packing up my old office, I have no recollection of unpacking it.

This is when I started to dismantle the house, searching for that cord. I dug through all my brief cases and laptop bags. I went through every door and cupboard in my office – each nook and cranny. No adapter.

So I call my husband. I ask him if he’s seen it anywhere on his travels and he tells me to slow down for a minute. He asks if I checked some different things (all of which I had) and then he asked me to plug the computer into a different outlet. I rolled my eyes and said that I’d been using that outlet for weeks, but I said I’d humor him and I plugged in to a different outlet.

BEEP. My computer turned on.

I never in a million years would have thought of doing that. If I didn’t talk to my husband, I would have gotten on his computer and searched online for a new adapter because I was in a panic and need my laptop working. The thought that an outlet could just quit working would never cross my mind. I neglected to consider the obvious and go right to the source of power.

I started to wonder how many other situations arise in my life that could be handled better if I took the time to check for the obvious solution.

Is this happening in your business? Do you get lots of traffic to your website but very few leads? If you think that just because you have a beautiful website customers should be impressed enough to line up to work with you, look a little deeper. How’s your website content written? Is it speaking to your target market in a language they understand? Is it compelling enough to sell? Beautiful design is important – extremely important. But what’s even more important is the words you use to sell your visitor once they land on your page.

Do you seem to attract the wrong type of customers? Is your personality constantly clashing with the people you do business with? Do you only get leads who don’t want to pay your rate? Look at your website content. Is it written with your personality infused into it so that you attract people you’d like to do business with?

As a copywriter, it’s obvious to me to check the words you’re using to market your business when times are slack, but it might not be so obvious to someone else.

This morning when I simply plugged my computer into a different outlet, my problem was solved. That’s where the power was.

If you hand your marketing materials over to a professional copywriter, including your website, your thoughts and ideas will be transformed into powerful compelling marketing pieces that will attract your ideal customer and make them want what you’re selling. The words you use to sell your product or service is where the power is in your marketing. Are you plugged in?

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