Write your marketing in your customer's words

After a few years in any trade you start thinking in its vocabulary. You sell an implementation programme, an integrated approach, process optimisation. Your client never asked for any of that. What they said was that quotes sat around for too long, that every Monday afternoon disappeared into retyping data, or that the previous supplier never called back. Those are the sentences people search with, forward to a colleague, and eventually decide on.

The gap looks small, but it decides whether someone recognises themselves. A visitor who reads their own problem within a few seconds stays. A visitor who first has to translate what you mean is gone, even when you offer exactly what they need.

The best source for your copy is not a brainstorm, it is your most recent clients. Call five of them and ask three questions. What was going on when you started looking? What had you already tried? Why did you end up choosing us, and what tipped it? Record the call or write down their words verbatim. You are not after the gist, you are after the exact phrasing.

After a few calls the same sentences start to repeat. They are often not the things you are proudest of. Where you would highlight your method, the client mentions that you replied within a day, or that they finally had an overview. That is not a disappointment. It tells you what you are actually selling.

Collect what you hear in one document anyone can pick up: the problems in their phrasing, the doubts before buying, the reasons for choosing. That becomes the raw material for your homepage, your ads, your proposals and the first question in a sales conversation. If AI writes your copy, this is exactly what the model needs from you. Without it, you get the average copy of your entire industry.

Repeat the exercise every six months. Clients change, your offer changes, and the words move with them. It costs a few hours on the phone each time. In return, you stop guessing what people want to hear, because you simply asked.