How to Catch a Human

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Phase 1: Research
• Phase 2: Resonate
• Phase 3: Reach
• What’s the bottom line?

Introduction

Want to make people aware of your brand’s benefits? Need to fill your funnel with interested prospects? Is there a stage in your sales cycle that could be converting better? Catching Humans is tricky business, but with practice, you can hone your marketing copy to attract more of the right kinds and compel them to buy now, book a call, swipe right…

Copy plays a crucial role in marketing. When written well, it becomes the seasoned salt that adds context, flavor, and personality to your brand. It provides a sneak peek to your prospects about who, what, and why you are, and motivates them to give you a try, become a loyal consumer, and hopefully evolve into an influential brand ambassador. But, to catch a Human, you have to know them… At least well enough to resonate with their level of curiosity and evoke a sense of understanding.

Talented copywriters have a knack for knowing the psychology of their audience and infusing creativity to wordsmith intriguing narratives. Skilled writers can compel action from their readers by using storytelling techniques, metaphors, alliteration, humor, and other tools.

Phase 1: Research

Creating conversion content for your brand involves a deeper understanding of your target audience. You’ll want to connect with your ideal customer and craft convincing copy to resonate with their experiences, which should stimulate a feeling of comfortable familiarity and confidence. By adding a personal touch to your writing, you can transcend informational or transactional to tap into the Human disposition of wanting to be seen, heard, and valued.

McKinsey & Company extensively studied consumer buying and discovered that 71% expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen. This is why it’s essential to strategically identify your ideal customer, create a buyer persona, and build a profile through extensive research so your messaging can more effectively appeal, attract, and allure the right people.

Professional copywriters are masters at communicating in ways that draw in and hold the attention of their ideal customers. Establishing an emotional connection is a crucial part of capturing the fleeting attention of readers, especially since most swipe next after merely glancing at a headline or skimming a page. But, by understanding the needs, desires, aspirations, and pain points of your ideal customer, you can tailor content to create a personal connection and foster a sense of relatability, increasing the odds they will want to [Read More].

Phase 2: Resonate

Music is a powerful medium for communicating with Humans. The right tone and tempo, rhythm and beat, frequency and volume all contribute to an experience that, when correctly executed, extends beyond hearing. We can feel it in our body. Dopamine — the “feel-good” hormone — and serotonin are released into our brain. And we begin to connect with the words, making them part of our own story. We sing the lyrics and, for a moment, see ourselves through the eyes of the artist.

In music, resonance is a reverberation off of surrounding surfaces and the right pitch, delivered the right way, penetrates matter, and connects with our soul. In Marketing, resonance is an echo of familiar experiences, and the right pitch, delivered the right way, connects a matter (a concern) to a solution that generates hope-filled satisfaction. Consumers feel justified in their decision to give you a try.

In other words, resonating with your audience gets your foot in the door.

The importance of creating resonance content is reverberated throughout the marketing community. Forbes Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Baremetrics, a data analytics platform provider, and Jay Acunzo, founder of Unthinkable Media and former digital media strategist at Google, all describe the how and why in uniquely different ways. However, the common theme is the industry’s shift toward generating data-driven, personalized content that strikes a chord with each audience member.

Phase 3: Reach

Have you ever heard the expression, “fish where the fish are?” It seems so intuitive it’s almost silly to say. But knowing your audience and crafting personalized messaging won’t catch a Human unless you promote it where they are and deliver it when they are most receptive. The right tools and bait won’t get you very far unless you’re casting your line at the right time and place to attract more ideal customers. But where are they?

The intelligence you learned through the research phase of your marketing mission should have generated a detailed dossier on Founder Faye, Director Dan, Manager Michelle, or Buyer Bob. Who they are, what they need, why they might object, how to best deliver your message, when they are most receptive, and where should be the primary questions you seek to answer.

Now you know.

• Faye is most active on LinkedIn between 8 am-10 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• Dan skims X and Meta to glean industry insights every afternoon around lunchtime.
• Michelle watches short, inspirational videos on IG and TikTok four to five times daily.
• Bob is adding to cart most evenings after 6 pm.

The more you research you do, the better your reach will be. Here’s five examples.

1. After 20+ years of researching user behavior, the Nielsen Norman Group confirms that most internet users only skim and skip around a webpage for relevant info.
2. HubSpot furthers this study with reports that 73% of people admit to skimming rather than reading a blog post.
3. Semrush reports 2x traffic and 1.5x share rate when page headlines are 10-13 words long, and BuzzSumo found that 11-word headlines receive the most shares across Facebook and Twitter.
4. According to the Content Marketing Institute, LinkedIn is the favored and most effective platform among North American B2B marketers.
5. The Social Media Examiner explains why small businesses, B2C marketers, and the self-employed prefer marketing through Facebook.

What’s the bottom line?

Building an arsenal of content including blogs, emails, videos, infographics, landing pages, polls, posts, and more, personalized to resonate with your ideal customer, delivered on the platforms they frequent most and scheduled to drop when they are most receptive to bite, is how you catch a Human. Targeted campaigns will produce the most effective results because you go into them with data-backed confidence that replaces variables with behavioral statistics from extensive research.