Have you ever found yourself in a situation where someone asks you a question, you give them the correct answer, and they immediately peg you as being wrong – because it wasn’t the answer they wanted to hear?

I love to share stories that happen among friends and people I network with, especially when I can get a blog post out of it. A friend recently told me about a new client he picked up. This client, based in New York, contacted him about copywriting services. They wanted revisions done to their site to make it read better, convert better, etc. The usual cocktail of improving online business presence. They request a critique of their current site.

The next day, he delivered a page by page critique to the client and shortly thereafter received a phone call from the client who was extremely irate. Apparently he was offended by the critique, and was demanding to know where my friend came off telling him about their business.

What exactly was said in the critique? Overall the message was pretty simple:

“Your site says the same thing every other person is saying in your market. Everyone you’re competing with is using the same terminology, references and corporate babble. You’re no different from anyone around you”

The client was none too pleased.

It doesn’t surprise me really. There are a lot of businesses out there that haven’t come into the new age of marketing yet. What worked 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, doesn’t apply anymore. This isn’t about a small block of text or a little picture with your phone number and address in the Yellow Pages anymore. We’re talking global competition with dynamic websites featuring various digital media for pushing products.

My friend had it dead on, he had the guy’s number. I looked at the site myself and was in complete agreement. There was absolutely nothing on the website that made them sound any different from other similar services I’d seen. Honestly, there was nothing on the other websites to set them apart from this particular client either.

This client focused on B2B transactions, and despite the best efforts to explain, the guy simply didn’t feel the need for his content to speak directly to people. That, unfortunately, is where his website was failing.

You can tell people all day long about the services you offer and how wonderful your products are. You can do it in blogs, on site pages, in articles, reports, press releases, etc. Do it until you’re blue in the face. It won’t make much difference, because people in general don’t care about your products. They don’t care how super cool it is, they don’t care about the perks they get from buying it or what bonus offers you’re throwing in. They don’t care that it’s on sale this week.

They want to know how it’s going to change their situation.

Everyone searching online has a problem of some sort and they’re searching for information that will lead them to a solution. The content on your website should make those visitors understand that you recognize their problem, that you empathize with their problem and that your product or service can provide a unique solution to their problem.

I don’t care how intensely massive your corporate B2B suite is. You can encompass the globe in the shadow of your enormity and you still will fail miserably if all you throw to the world is corporate speak in your content. That’s like fishing without bait on your hook.

The only fish you’re gonna catch are the ones that God throws to you out of sheer pity.

Every business is being run by people; they’re not run by machines. People have emotions, fears, needs, desires, wants, dreams, hopes, primal urges, etc. Every single one of these can be leveraged in your content so that you appeal to the human nature of someone running a business.

If a person is in charge of making buying decisions for a company, would you want to rattle off a check list of features and nothing more or would you like to take the time to appeal to the nature of the buyer profile and try to win them over directly? Which do you think would be more effective?

There’s a reason that large corporations send agents or groups of agents to do business in person for major deals. They’re trying to work the game, to manipulate one another, and they use people to do that. It’s a strategic game of chess and they’re playing on the desires of the people involved hoping to leverage the power of the individual to make decisions for the whole.

In the end, my friend was able to explain to the client that it’s not about talking about how you washed your car that weekend, or posting that you eat granola for breakfast – this isn’t Twitter for Tweens – it’s about using the right combination of words, style and finesse to deliver the most important message – how you can help the customer.

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