If you’ve had a phone call with me, or seen some of my posts on social media, you’ll know that one of the things I bang on about all the time is BEING SPECIFIC.
And the reason I bang on about it all the time is that it works.
It’s tempting when you write a post or put a video on social media, whether it be LinkedIn or Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, to try and get in all the things that you do.
Because you don’t want whoever is watching or reading it to miss out on any of the services you provide, right?
But the problem with that is that you become generic, not specific.
Be specific, not generic
Instead of this:Â I’m a copywriter who writes websites, blog posts, social media posts and case studies.
Do this:Â 4 different posts. 1 about a specific website you wrote or helped to write, 1 about a client you write blog posts for, 1 about social media posts, and 1 about case studies. Talk about the pain points and problems that made clients come to you in the first place and how you solved them
Instead of this:Â I’m a coach who works with leadership teams to help them fulfil their potential.
Do this:Â Write separate posts, each focused on a different problem your services helped to solve. Do you help people deal with the stress of moving into management positions? Talk about that. Do you help teams to work together in a better way to avoid conflict? Talk about that.
Instead of this:Â I’m a website designer. I design websites.
Do this:Â Talk about the results your clients have seen after they’ve had a new website. Did they get more enquiries? That’s one post. More Google rankings? That’s another. Is their website now working properly on mobile where it wasn’t before? That’s a third.
I’ve written each of those examples for certain industries/skills, but they all apply to all of you.
- Talk about the issues your clients had or could have.
- Talk about how you solve them.
- Tell them to get in touch.
One issue/problem per post. Don’t confuse things.
Why does being specific help to get clients?
Being generic means your readers have a general awareness of what you do. Being specific means that they can put themselves in the shoes of someone with that problem.
I talk a lot about repurposing stuff that you’ve had a copywriter write for you. IÂ wrote this post 3 months ago.
Just this morning I had a potential client get in touch because they saw a generic post someone else wrote on LinkedIn about repurposing, and they remembered my specific post.
Let’s just think about that for a moment.
ANOTHER content writer wrote a post about repurposing (I read it, there was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn’t specific enough for my potential client to drop them a line) and someone got in touch with ME because of something I wrote 3 months ago.
2 of my current retainer clients come from that one specific post. It has also generated one off repurposing clients and 1:1 calls.
Whenever I ask any of the people that come to me why they liked the post, they all say variations on “Because it showed me exactly what you could do with my podcast/webinar”.
Similarly, when I post about the results that clients have had from SEO, or specific issues I have fixed, I get enquiries.
Don’t get me wrong, not every post you write will hit at the right time. And not every post will generate loads of enquiries. But all you need is for each of your posts to stick in the minds of a couple of people who read them, and when they’re ready for your offer, it’s you they’ll think of.
This post was originally written for members of my Content Engine group. If you were a member, you’d have seen it a month ago. You should probably sign up.
