I hear this question a lot from people…
“How long should my marketing messages be?”
When you’re writing, whether it’s your copy on your website, whether it’s your product descriptions, whether you are writing a sales page (both long form and short form) they come in different forms.
Same with landing pages, blog posts, social media posts, how long should you write them?
And my answer to that is…
…it needs to be long enough that your reader understands what you’re talking about, and brings them to an action.
Listen to this episode as I explain how your audience’s stage of awareness and the type of reader they are (do they skim or want to take a deep dive into the details?) makes a difference in the length of copy you write in your marketing messages.
Transcript:
Hey there. I’m Christine basics marketing, conversion copywriter and marketing strategist for makers like you creating products that are making a difference.
What I was thinking about today is, I hear this a lot from people like how long should messages be when you’re writing, whether it’s your copy on your website, whether it’s your product descriptions, whether you are writing a sales page, which they come in long form, they come in short form, they come in different forms.
Same with landing pages, blog posts, social media posts, how long should you write them?
And my answer to that is, it needs to be long enough that your reader understands what you’re talking about, and brings them to an action.
Now I also hear “I hate reading long messages”. All right.
One of the things I want to talk to you about this, too, is yes, I know that some people you know, hate reading those long form sales pages. Or hate reading long form posts on Facebook or Instagram.
Here’s the thing to remember, you are not your reader.
You may be a skimmer.
You may love to just take a quick glance, you may skim through the headlines, it may be enough information for you to say, “Okay, I either want it I don’t”, “I’m either going to click Yes, I’m going to click No”, I’m going to leave whatever.
But, you also have readers that may be that detail-oriented reader that needs to read all the information…
- look at all the details,
- get the data,
- get the notes,
- get the facts,
- get everything they need before they’re going to make a decision, or they’re going to act
I want you to remember that.
This is where your research for your voice of customer data comes into play.
So when you’re researching your customers, maybe a question for them for you to ask them is, you know what kind of what you know, when you’re reading a page?
What do you do most? Do you read all the information?
Keep those questions, rather fun and conversational, rather than digging in and saying, Hey, what do you do?
Do you really do your skim? Because again, that conversation can open up to a lot of people?
I know, it’s really easy to want to ask that straightforward question and get a straightforward answer. But the conversations are really, really where you get the juice and the meat for, for whatever it is you’re writing, and people feel more open to answering your questions.
Again, your reader needs to have enough information that gets their attention.
So that’s your headline, your value proposition, it needs to answer their questions.
So whatever questions they may have, and again, do your research, find out what’s going on in their heads, and enough to, to bring them to the benefits to introduce your solution, what’s in it for them, so that they can take some sort of action.
Alright, so people that are making product, you product makers out there, people can see they can feel they can touch the product. Even if you are selling online, and you have an image, you can show them a little bit more.
And again, it’s different when people have a visual of what things look like and what they could possibly feel like, even if you’re doing maybe your Facebook Live or your Instagram, your igtv showing what maybe your product looks like once the package is opened, so people can see and feel that.
However, your reader still needs to know and understand that they need to hear that you understand all their pains, their issues, what’s going on in their life, their desires, whatever that may be, however you’re directing that message, they still need to know that you understand where they are and that you’re not just trying to sell them a product.
Because we’ve all been there when things feel way too salesy.
Feels like somebody’s just pushing a product, what does that feel like for you?
However, when you’re reading the information, and they feel like they’ve included you in that conversation that changes things in the message, and makes your want to read more and read more of that information, especially if they feel like they’re part of that picture part of that conversation.
Now, if you have a service, because you don’t have a tangible, something tangible that you’re offering, like a product, you need to make sure in your messaging that you’re showing your reader that again, that you understand your reader, what they’re going through, what the questions they have are, how are they feeling about certain things, what they expect, what those desires are, what they need out of your service.
So depending on and I talked about this in one second, they’re going to have a lot of questions that you’re going to need to answer before that they can take an action.
They want to know how will your service change their life?
What are the benefits to them?
So whether you’re doing a product or a service nervous, you’re messaging me really needs to get them where they are.
So that length of the message depends on their stage of awareness.
So if your person is in the middle of a problem or an issue, they have a pain point going on, it means that you know, they really understand their own issue, what’s going on for them, that they are ready to start looking how to solve that.
And that this may be just there may be just at the beginning of their research on how they’re feeling, what do they need to do?
How can they solve that problem?
So what are they going to do, they’re gonna end up googling, you know, a search, they’re gonna start looking for a solution, the solution aware person means that aren’t so there, they know that there are other solutions out there, they’re just looking for the right solution for them.
So they may be looking at several different products, reading several different ads, looking at several different posts, to see if there’s a solution offered that feels right for them.
And again, this is where you talk about the solution, the benefits, what they can get out of it, how it will make them feel really important in the product awareness phase.
This means that these people know what your product is, already, they’re aware of you, they’ve seen your product or your brand around.
Now, they just need to find out which one of your products is right for them.
And then the most aware is that they’re probably already a customer ready, they bought from you before, they know what you’re all about.
So this really dictates how long your messages will be.
So remember those stages of awareness.
Again, if they’re most aware, your messages can be fairly short and very succinct.
Hey, you know, for your list of customers, maybe you’re sending out an email to people that have already bought, you can say something short and sweet.
Like, hey, we just developed a new product, we knew that some of you wanted the rosemary bacon (don’t ask me where that just came from.) And it’s out, it’s ready. Here it is just click.
So you’re most aware, your customers are going to be like, hey, the ones that are looking for that, hey, I’m gonna buy that right now.
When you’re looking to possibly connect with your customers on social media, and they may be either a pain or solution or person, you really need to have that messaging be a little bit longer.
Because you need to grab their attention.
You need to talk to them in a way that shows you understand where they are in their head, what’s going on for them?
How do they feel about that?
And that’s where you get your information from your voc?
And do they feel comfortable enough?
Are they starting to trust you enough?
Do they feel that you know what you’re talking about enough to help lead them to that solution?
Those messages are going to be a little bit longer, because think about that conversation that you’re going to have? You’re going to start at the top.
Hey, how you doing? Getting to know you understand asking some questions, getting to understand them. Okay, great. Now I understand you. Here’s what we have. Does this feel like a fit? Maybe a couple more questions.
All right, well, here’s what our solution does, here are the benefits. And this is how you can get your hands on it.
So that’s why I’m kind of talking about it. It’s not a funnel, but in that kind of a way, because you are leading them down that path, leading them through that story.
Depending on that level of awareness, that pain of a person, you’re going to be doing a lot more talking about pains problems.
What does that mean? If they don’t solve it way up here in the conversation, where if a solution or your product or person is in this middle part of your conversation, they already understand, you know, what they need, what they’re looking for, they just need to know how your product can solve.
So that conversation is going to be a little bit shorter.
That most aware, you can have shorter conversations with them because they already know you.
If you have any questions whatsoever, drop them in the comments below.
Yes, I’ll be checking because I want to make sure that you guys really understand this, that your messaging really connects with your people and with your reader and that it doesn’t feel salesy that it doesn’t feel pushy because I know so many of you just hate that.
Not only for you when you’re a reader or customer, but you don’t want your customers to feel that way either.
So that’s why these messages and the way you write them are really important because we want them to kind of feel that warm and fuzzy with you that we want them to feel like you really get them and that what you’re offering is the perfect fit for them.
Have a great time. See you later and be well
