Welcome to Episode 42 of Write with Influence.
Today’s copywriting tip for you is called “The Workaround.”
Just because you solve a problem for your audience, that doesn’t mean that your customer is waiting for you to show up and fix it. In fact, if people know that they have a problem and it is a big enough problem to warrant their attention, they are probably already trying to do something to solve it.
People use workaround solutions for many different reasons so acknowledging and tackling your customer’s quick fixes is definitely something you need to do when coming up with copy ideas.
So today I am going to be discussing the four components that you need to think about:
- What are they doing?
- Why does that make sense to them?
- Why is it a bad idea?
- Why is your solution better for them?
Using examples from my own buying experiences, I am going to show you how to get customers to ditch their workaround for your solution.
I have also thrown in a couple of sketches to make you chuckle – prepare to be dazzled by my Elvis Presley impersonation and be sure to contact me if you can think of any potential candidates for my Moderation Masterclass for overachieving w******!
Keep working on your persuasive skills guys, because when you publish content that gets the attention of the right people and persuades them to listen to you, good things can happen.
Links:
The Write With Influence Course
EPISODE 42
KILL THE WORKAROUND – SHOW CUSTOMERS THAT NOT USING YOU IS A BAD IDEA
AMY HARRISON
Amy Harrison:
Hello and welcome to Write with Influence. It’s a glorious day weather-wise here in sunny England and so like the ginger vampire that I am, the Factor 30 is on and the parasol is up and I’m enjoying the sun by being well and truly kept in the shade. I hope that wherever you are in the world you are comfortable, well rested and having a wonderful day.
Today’s copywriting tip for you is called “The Workaround.” Now, you solve a problem for your audience, but that doesn’t mean that your customer is just waiting for you to show up and fix it. In fact, if people know that they have a problem and they feel it’s a big enough problem to warrant their attention, they are probably trying to do something to solve it, but they may not be using you to solve it, and that’s sad. Now, as a species, we’re pretty resilient and we’re able to adapt to different conditions. In fact, I bet there’ve been times where you haven’t had the right tool for the job, but you’ve probably been able to improvise something to get the same results. For example, I was renting an apartment in New York for a break away with some friends and we realized that there was no corkscrew for the wine. Not a problem – we found knives, a wooden spoon, and we took chopsticks to the cork, and then we gave up and just knocked on the neighbor’s door and borrowed a corkscrew. Okay, not a great example of improvising! Well, I’m sure you’ve used sticky tape or string to keep something in place until you can find the proper adhesive. I mean, look at MacGyver, what he could do with chewing gum, a wrapper and a hair clip! Now, this is all good fun when you need a quick fix, but it’s not great if your customers are using a workaround that they think is as good as your product. For example, DIY haircuts. Unless you are shaving your head, this is usually not a good idea compared to going to the salon. And for some of my clients, they’re battling this problem a lot, especially in the software space – customers, for example, may be managing projects or data analysis in spreadsheets rather than a purpose-built tool or database. So, this is particularly common if you have invented a brand new tool to solve an age old problem, but there are many different work arounds. Perhaps you provide a course, but your ideal customers think that they can obtain the same knowledge through books or free information on the internet. People may be using a workaround because they genuinely don’t realize a solution even exists, and, as I say, this is really common if you’ve developed something that is brand new, but it may also be because they know a solution exists, but they feel that their workaround is good enough. Or it might be that while they know they will get better results from your product, they think it’s going to be difficult to implement, costly or complicated – we looked at some reasons why people talk themselves out of getting what they want in episode 41.
Acknowledging and tackling ‘the workaround’ is definitely something you want to do when coming up with copy ideas and I’d say that there’s four components that you need to think about.
- What are they doing?
- Why does that make sense to them?
- Why is it a bad idea?
- Why is your solution better for them?
And a bonus part to 4 – why might it be easier than they think?
Let’s look at number one first, what are they doing? So, what is the work around? Now, if you can identify the work around that your customer is using it can be a great way to get the attention of people that you want to help. For example, you might run a series of ads that specifically mentions this:
“Still managing your team using spreadsheets?”
Or,
“Still handing your accountant a stuffed envelope of receipts?”
Now, I’m not saying those are great headlines on their own. Ideally, what you would want to do is show that there is a risk component in addition to that, but just by acknowledging something that they are doing today is often a good way of getting people to recognize that you are speaking to them because it’s something that they can recognize.
So, the first step is to ask yourself, what is your customer’s work around? What are they doing to try and get the same results that you provide? When writing your copy, you can include this as a question like the two examples I just gave you, asking them if they are doing this thing. Another way that you can mention it is by providing it as an insight, for example, by saying, “Hey, you know, most people who are trying to solve this problem, try to do this. . .” and then you would go on to describe the workaround so that they could recognize it and relate to it. So, step one, identifying the workaround is really about getting their attention and saying, “Hey, I have a message and I have something interesting to tell people who are taking this approach to solving their problem”. What we want to show them at the end of these four points that I’m going to lay out for you is that what they’re doing is not the best solution for them – what they’re doing today isn’t a great fit and surprise, surprise, we’re going to explain to them why your product is the best fit. But you really want to show them that whilst you understand their approach, it is like fitting a square peg into a round hole and it’s just not the best path in life for them, it’s not what they meant to do.
[SKETCH – Job Centre]
Recruitment Consultant: Ah yes, Mr. Presley. Now, what skills do you think you have to offer an employer?
Elvis Presley: Well, I’ve got these wiggly hips, or I got this little black hair and a beautiful lip curl. Thank you very much. And I’ve been working on this thing, which kind of goes urh,huh,huh.
Recruitment Consultant: Okay.Let me just put that into the computer. Ah yes, there are a range of vocations I think would be perfect. Shall we start you with some placements?
{New Scene – Television Voiceover}
This week on Employing Elvis . . .
Nurse: Doctor, IC1 male admitted to A&E after falling off a roof. It looks like he’ll need emergency surgery. Talk us through what we should do.
Elvis Presley: Well, I’ll take that little thing there. I’d put a scalpel uh,huh,huh, yeah, did you get all that?
Nurse: Sorry, no, what was that?
{Patient flatlines}
Nurse: Oh, never mind.
{New Scene – Terrorist Observation Deck}
Terrorist Security Officer: The terrorists have been hiding out on that boat and are about to make their escape. They’ve set a bomb to detonate in just 30 seconds. If I can diffuse this, I can get on board and stop them. Agent Presley, can you talk me through it?
Elvis Presley: Well, what I would do is, I’ll take that blue wire off of the red wire and then maybe the green then push the button, then go and push the button and get all shook up, uh,huh,huh. You hear?
Terrorist Security Officer: I need some more information.
[End]
So yes, we are trying to explain to our customers that what they’re doing now is not the right solution for them, but you want to get people on side so you’re not just going to come out and tell them that what they’re doing is a bad idea, even though it is. You have to get on their side and acknowledge that whilst what they’re doing isn’t the best solution, it does make sense. So you’ve got to ask yourself, why does it make sense to your customer? Why are they doing what they’re doing? And resist the temptation to be critical. When asking yourself about why they’re doing something other than using your product, the answer shouldn’t really be because they’re dumb, lazy, stupid, annoying, et cetera. It can be frustrating to see people not use your thing when you know it’s good for them, but we’ve got to show them a bit of compassion.
So why does it make sense for them to do what it is that they’re doing? For example, perhaps they’re not taking your course because information on the internet is free and they think free equals a cost saving and they’re probably not weighing up the amount of time that they could be saving if they took your course. Now, I recently purchased a course which actually appeals to this particular workaround. They openly acknowledged that everything in the course could be found on YouTube videos, but what wouldn’t be found on YouTube videos was a specific structure where you’d be guided through the course subject over 14 days with specific practice elements so you would actually be improving your skills rather than procrastinating by watching one tutorial after another, after another. So they really emphasize the fact that yes, you might be currently be looking at tutorials and getting information and you think you’re solving your problem, but unless you’ve got a guided path through, and unless you’re actually putting these skills into practice, you’re probably not going to get the results that you want and deserve.
So, you want to acknowledge what they’re doing and also acknowledge why it makes sense but then we need to introduce component number three, which is: Why what they’re doing is really a bad idea. Now this doesn’t have to be dramatic. It’s not like if they keep doing what they’re doing, the world will end. Your consequences have to be believable, but it should be uncomfortable. If you can point to specific costs or risks of them following the approach that they’re following and if you can even show why it’s not going to get them the results that they think, then this is really good material for your copy – can you point to time lost by doing something manually? Or perhaps there’s a risk that they don’t know about that they’re exposing themselves to by taking a shortcut? I do see this a lot in larger organizations that may be, as I mentioned, manually tracking and managing things in spreadsheets, but spreadsheets can go missing, files can get corrupted, and a risk of this may be that they don’t have the information that they need to be compliant or to face an audit. So think about the potential downfall of what they’re doing. Will it be more expensive in the long run to fix what they’re doing today? Pretty much anything I tried to do myself DIY-wise is going to cost me more to fix, which is why I don’t do it!
Finally, point number four is, we want to contrast this consequence and this risk with what we have to offer. And it’s important to remember that when you do this, you also need to tackle the appeal of the shortcut and that means tackling point number two: Why did it make sense to them in the first place to look for free information e.g., handle things in spreadsheets, etc. It’s like the course I bought, the creator points out that, yes, you can find YouTube tutorials and that makes sense because it’s free and there’s some excellent tutorials out there, but you will spend more time searching for answers than learning practical skills and putting them into action. And with it being a 14 day guided course broken down into short lessons, it’s something that you could fit into a schedule and actually use, compared to a long list of YouTube videos that you might click save, save, save, but never get around to watching. So for your customer, can you show them that not only will they get better results by doing what it is that you have, but that it’s actually easier, faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to take your solution than they may have previously thought.
So, in summary, things to consider when showing a workaround isn’t the best solution – you have to identify:
- What are they doing?
- Why does that make sense to them?
- Why is it a bad idea?
- Why is your solution better for them and easier than they think?
That’s all for this episode, keep fighting the good copywriting fight and working on your persuasive skills, because when you publish content that gets the attention of the right people and persuades them to listen to you, good things can happen. And remember, your customer may think that their solution to their problem is one thing, unaware that what they really need is something completely different.
[SKETCH – Guru Workshop]
Guru: Okay, so why don’t we go around the room and tell me a little bit about yourselves – Dave, do you want to go first?
Dave: Thanks Guru. I’m Dave, I climb mountains and do 5,000 pushups before breakfast. I’ve completed 30 marathons in 30 days, and I’m looking for that next fitness goal that I can SMASH!
Guru: Very nice Dave, you can put your abs away now. Shelly?
Shelly: Hi, I’m Shelley. I’ve read every personal and professional development book, including Lean In, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and I’ve risen to the level of CEO so many times it’s boring. I just want to know how I can be even more successful.
Guru: Just pop your phone down for a moment, please.
Shelly: I’m just shorting some stocks. Just one sec, one sec. Yeah, just made a million. Now, how could I have made that 2 million Guru?
Guru: Dave, Shelley, I know you think you’re here because you want to reach that next level of success but You’re actually here because everyone thinks you’re a couple of w*****s.
Dave: What?
Guru: Dave, the constant posting about smashing it, bringing it, pushing yourself, crushing it. It’s boring and annoying. Shelly, your posts about #workhardplayhard,#blessedtobeinbusinessclass, #martinisinmontecarlo . . .
Shelly: You’ve got to believe . . .
Guru: To achieve, blah-blah-blah. No, your friends are concerned, which is why they’ve signed you up to this Moderation Masterclass. You’re going to learn how to appreciate little things.
Shelly: Oh, I get it, like mindfulness. I already do that. I met the Dalai Lama like 12 times. In fact, it’s his turn to have me around for dinner.
Dave: I meditated for a week.
Guru: Stop it. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Here’s your first test.
Dave: What is that?
Guru: That’s a cup of tea, a plate of biscuits and a chat magazine.
Shelly: Is this a lateral thinking exercise? Do we need to combine the three elements to make some kind of structural engineering feat?
Guru: No. You have 20 minutes to sip the tea, flick through the magazine and eat at least one biscuit. Dave, if you mention carbs or micros, I swear I will slap you.
{Sound of clock ticking}
Dave: How long has it been? This is so tough.
Shelly: It’s been 90 seconds. Sip your tea Dave.
Dave: Please let me plank. I can plank for 14 hours.
Shelly: This is so cruel. Please, please let me translate some medieval texts rather than read this trashy magazine.
Guru: You haven’t even reached the genius tips page Shelly, and you’re going to learn how to use tippex to cover up scuffs on your skirting board.
Shelly: What’s a skirting board?
Guru: Later, you’re going to learn how to make a film recommendation that isn’t a Ted talk, how to post on social media with humility, how to take a nap and the delights and nutritional deficit of a pork pie.
Shelly: No, please.
Dave: I want to go to boot camp.
[End]
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