AND START CONNECTING AND CONVERTING, INSTEAD

The show notes for this podcast originally appeared over on The Guide Culture Podcast website.

Have you ever become a victim of “box-checking” syndrome inside your business?

Maybe you’re an avid reader, podcast listener, and learner (like me!) and you hear all those “hey this changed everything for me” to grow your business, and you just ADD ‘EM TO THE LIST. Because you are IN for whatever it takes to grow?

Well, I am IN for whatever it takes to help you grow, too, and I’ve got some real talk from this podcast interview for you today.

Because here’s the thing: Adding things to your list that have made other people successful doesn’t necessarily equal automatic growth.

AND, checking boxes doesn’t always mean you’re moving forward.

Case in point? The idea that you need to “show up” on social media.

In this interview with some of my best biz besties, Macy McNeely and Kat Shubert of The Guide Culture, we go DEEP on why it’s not your job to just show up, it’s your job to GET THROUGH.

At Guide Culture, they are big on making sure you are taking stock of where you spend your time so that you can move the needle the MOST in your business.

And, I totally align with that mission. I know you could spend ALL the time in the world creating copy and content—but is it actually getting through?

If the answer is “yes,” it’s time well spent.

If the answer is “no,” it’s time WASTED.

And ain’t nobody wanna see that.

We talk about what it means to truly connect and convert your audience consistently with words on a page, and how to come to LIFE for your audience in a seemingly one-dimensional medium (words on your website).

The Guide Culture Podcast: Copy that Connects with Jess Jordana

Macy, Katherine, and I talked for quite some time about defining your ideal client. Yes, this is a super important aspect of your biz, because if you don’t know who you’re actually trying to attract, then you’ll never attract the right people.

But here’s the problem: creating an ideal client avatar is another one of those things in business most entrepreneurs see as a box to be checked off your To Do list… which is maybe why you have a Google Doc graveyard of ideal client freebies, yeah?

We understand how difficult it can be to niche down or get ultra-specific in your copy, and who you’re talking to, especially when you’re newer to business. But the truth is, if you’re not saying no to anyone, then nobody’s saying yes to you—which sort of defeats the purpose of owning your own business, right?

Like Katherine said, “General is never the move—we want to be as specific as possible.” This applies to identifying your ideal client, writing your website copy, sales pages, Instagram captions, blog posts, and everything in between.

Specificity comes more easily when you truly understand your ideal clients. It’s not enough to know their age, where they live, their income, and what they like to do for fun.

Why do they like to do what they do for fun?

What is their intention behind their hobbies, hopes, and dreams?

What do they value?

What have they already tried to solve their problem, and why haven’t any of those solutions panned out for them?

We get to the bottom of these questions in our signature client homework for done-for-you copy clients, and in the prompts section of The Promptlates, because when you understand the why behind what they do and how they feel, that is when you can make true connections with your ideal client: understanding where they’re at right now and where they want to go. Only when you truly understand their pain points and how you can solve their problem, can you provide true value for them—content, programs, and offers that are either important, worthy, or useful to them.

TL;DR — you don’t get to decide what’s valuable for your audience and what isn’t, your audience does. And when you think about it, that makes your job WAY easier… all you have to do is listen!

Show Note Highlights:

5:00 – The value of the Brand Messaging Guide & teaching clients the foundational elements of brand copy

6:30 – Getting to the root of who your ideal client is, why what they do matters, and understanding them deeply as a human and in relation to how YOU can solve their problem

11:15 – How to come up with references on the fly based on your ideal client’s age and values

12:52 – The importance of niching down to attract + repel the right people, and the trial/error process inside of that

14:40 – How to pick one (or a few) ideal clients and letting your clients do the talking for you

18:40 – Jess’s journey to becoming a copywriter

21:07 – How connection creates conversions in business

23:39 – Tangible things business-owners can do to actually connect with your audient and serve them well 

26:00 – How to actually get specific and the value in specificity in copy

28:06 – How and why specificity is more memorable than broad copy

30:30 – Why writing like you talk is more relatable and impactful than being overly polished

31:52 – How to not like a robot

33:50 – How Instagram captions are different than your website & sales copy

37:31 – The importance of showing up with value and intention vs. just showing up

41:20 – How Jess & Guide Culture met!

45:06 – How to connect with Jess & about The Promptlate Shop

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