Three Steps to Great Copy for your Fashion or Lifestyle Brand

Show some love

As a brand owner, keeping new customers coming and keeping hold of existing customers is no easy feat. A huge part of how to do effectively starts with how you talk to your customer.

You use words, right? You pop some words in an email, fire it off and wait for the hordes to start knocking your door down.

The thing is, your customers are picky, rushed off their little feet by the ridiculous pace of modern life, not to mention, hounded by tonnes of other brands doing the exact same thing as you.

So, how do you cut through the noise? In a nutshell, by just being you, silly.

If you talk, walk, act like everyone else, why would anyone pick you? You need to stand out. Make an impression. Be you, god dammit.

And here's how you do just that, in three steps.

1. Cosy up with your audience

It's impossible to overstate just how important it is to understand who your ideal customer is. Where do they hang out online? What job do they do? Do they have a family? Have they watched every episode of Task Master? Do they only cut the grass on a Sunday between 9.35am and 9.56am?

Spend time getting to know your customers. You've probably got more than one ideal customer (different ages, genders etc.) so use your imagination, come up with a handful of personas, give them names, a backstory and an avatar.

Once you know WHO you're talking to, you can start to find better ways of talking to them.

2. Define your voice

With Bob, Shirley, Jimmy, and John, now clearly in your mind (better yet, on a page), you can start figuring out how you're going to talk their language. Are they easy-going? Are they outdoorsy? Do they spend a lot of time uploading pics of them wild swimming?

Then, they'll be most likely to speak in an open, casual tone. How do people who wild swim talk? I have no idea. Check it out.

Do your ideal customers dine out a lot? Do they never miss the six o'clock news? They may be used to more formal styles of communication and be ok with a more muted, sensible tone of voice. In this case, pun-laden copy may not be the way to go.

Just FYI, yes, you are making assumptions and generalising. But, you have to.

While you're doing all this, don't lose sight of your brand.

Imagine your brand as a person, too. What does he/she/they sound like? Dress like? Eat? Drink? Picture them at a party with a tipple in their hand making small talk with Bob, Shirley, Jimmy and John (actually, not John, he's disappeared off to the buffet again).

What would they say? How would they say it? Remember, in real-life situations, we often adapt how we speak depending on who we're talking to. You can't really do that as a brand so you've got to find middle ground. While there will be differences between your ideal customer personas, they'll also have a lot in common, too. So, will your brand talk in an open, warm, light-hearted tone? Or will it lay down the law? No nonsense.

Write down your ideas. You've now defined your brand tone of voice.

3. Knowledge is your super power

Now you've defined how you're going to speak to your customers, you've actually got to do it. From your research, you should know how your customers preferences for communication. Are they all over Instagram or do they prefer email?

Start writing, keeping in mind the personas you've created. You don't need to get it spot-on. It can take a while to get into the groove of copywriting, particularly if the brand you're writing for is rugby and you're football.

The great news is that you don't actually need to do any of this at all. I'll do it for you.

Ask me about doing everything I've just talked about, just part of it, or something else. I'm here to help. If you do try my 3 Steps to Great Copy yourself, let me know how it goes.

Good luck.