Trying very hard to come up with unique ways to say things so that you don’t sound like everyone else in your industry? While I do think there is merit to that, the truth is that I made more money when I STOPPED trying to be a unique little snowflake and instead focused on exactly what my audience was looking for (and using THEIR words to write my content and copy). This mistake might be costing you money too!
I’m not saying you have to do it this way all the time or that my way is the right way (although I bring in some hard to ignore data to back me up, so keep reading!) My goal for this is to be half pep talk, half perspective shift. This is something that I see all the time as a blog writer or copywriter. And if you are feeling guily of this, literally everyone is guilty of this. Let’s get into it!
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Table of Contents
Reason #1: Your Ideal Clients Are Not Resonating With Unique Language and It’s Costing You Money
There is a lot of pressure in the online space to be different. We don’t ever want our competitors to think that we are copying them and we don’t want to copy them in general. Sometimes I will see people obsessed with the idea that they have to say something nobody has ever said before or they have to use words that are uniquely them and everything has to be a little ‘ism’.
While I do think there is value in having a message that is unique to you, I also think we can take it too far. We forget that people checking out our website or scrolling through Instagram, they’re not stopping to analyze it. This is not Taylor Swift Tortured Poets Department. Your audience is not breaking down every word to make sure they fully understand what you’re saying and decide if they resonate with it. You have to hit them with exactly how they are feeling for them to stop their scroll.
Think about it – we get so many messages that we don’t identify with that we just scroll on through. And the thing is, some of the messages we’re scrolling past are written for us, but since they’re not speaking to the problem the way that we see the problem, it’s never going to catch our attention and therefore it’s never going to result in a sale for them.
The Front Part Of Your Message Has to Resonate
They are not reaching for a thesaurus to try and understand what it is we are trying to make them understand. It’s either going to catch them right away or not. But, once we catch them, we can introduce them to our unique frameworks or whatever our goal is. There are pieces that should be unique. I just think your very front messaging shouldn’t be, and that sometimes means copy. That sometimes means that your copy is not as exciting or fancy as you want it to be.
Trust me, I’ve wrote plenty of, I want to say boring headlines. Sometimes when I’m writing a headline, the most clearer heading will win for what I will pitch as the best option (even though I’ve come up with fancier options or ones that roll off the tongue better). I know that people are going to resonate with the “simple” one. And trust me, I get in my head about this when someone hires me for a website copy VIP day, so I understand the urge to be fancy! But that desire might be costing you money.
Reason #2: SEO (If They Can’t Find You, It’s Costing You Money)
The second way that your desire to be unique is costing you money, is because people are not typing in these creative “unique you” words into Google. So because I keep saying it, I’m going to use unique as an example. I can come up with more unique and engaging words than unique. Here’s why I don’t. People search for unique. I am getting most of my business through search, so why would I shoot myself in the foot by using search terms that people aren’t searching for?
Search is expanding even to TikTok and Instagram. Everyone is saying, search is so important, and how can we rank on search if we’re using words that nobody is using?
A Concrete Example Of Why This Is Costing You Money
Your desire to be different is costing you sales because one, your ideal client’s not resonating, and two, you’re not going to be found in as many search results. I’ve literally created an example, and we’re going to use the word unique. Swipe through the below example over on Instagram.
And hey, maybe eclectic is your niche, and you’re thinking, if people aren’t calling their wedding eclectic, I don’t want them. That’s a business choice. So, sometimes you can make a case for lower volume, but more niche clientele if that’s way you want to go.
Another example that is still in the wedding industry, but it comes up for me is wedding videographer and wedding filmmaker. There’s this shift in the wedding video industry, where more luxury want to use the word wedding films, and I get it, but it’s not search as much as wedding video or wedding videographer.
So again, if you are just trying to reach that top of the line market, who is using your terms, maybe, maybe not, but that’s a business choice and you can make that business choice. But if you’re doing it because you’re like, I need to use different words to stand out and you think that that’s going to get you more business, you’re wrong. I hate to say it so bluntly, but you’re wrong.
I hope that sharing a little bit of the data and a little bit of my thoughts on it as a copywriter and blogger (that literally does this all day every day) helps. Oftentimes I’ll start with something fancier and then make it more clear.
That doesn’t mean you need to be super vague. In fact, sometimes being more specific can be helpful. So I’ll give you an example that I’m seeing. In the marketing online space we are so sick of messages that are like six figures in six months or make a lot of money from your couch. That kind of messaging is not resonating with us anymore, but messaging that is very specific, like your three hour content plan or your five step process. Even this episode – 2 reasons why it’s costing you money. Something specific is going to catch you, but you do not need to use fancy language to do it.
Wrapping Up: Trying Too Hard to be Different is Costing You Sales
That’s all I have for you this week. I hope you found this helpful. I would love to have a conversation with you if there is a word you are stuck on using or if you just want to nerd out with me in the DM’s about the data.
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