Why you're the wrong person to write your marketing copy

Here's an uncomfortable truth: you're probably rubbish at writing your own marketing copy.  And before you close this tab in a huff, let me explain why it's not actually your fault.

You know your business inside out.  You've lived and breathed it for months, maybe years.  You understand every feature, every benefit, every clever thing your product or service does.  That's brilliant for running your business, but it's absolutely terrible for writing about it.

The curse of knowledge

When you write your own copy, you're writing from your perspective, not your customer's or client’s.  You're explaining what you think is important, not what they actually want to know.  And here's where the problem lies: these two things are rarely the same.

You might be super-excited about your ‘revolutionary 12-stage filtration process’ or your ‘cutting-edge cloud-based infrastructure’.  Your potential customer?  They just want to know if their water will taste better or if their files will be safe.

You’re talking to the wrong person!

Most business owners write marketing copy as if they're explaining their business to themselves.  They use industry jargon that makes perfect sense to them, but sounds like gibberish to everyone else.  They spend three paragraphs on how their business was founded in their garage, when potential customers are frantically scrolling to find out whether you deliver to Manchester.

It's not that your founding story doesn't matter, it's that it matters after you've convinced someone you can solve their problem. But you're too close to see which bits go where.

Features aren't benefits (even though they feel like they are)

This is where business owners trip up constantly.  You list features because you're proud of them.  You worked hard on that stuff!  But customers don't buy features. They buy the life improvement those features give them.

‘We use organic, locally-sourced ingredients’ is a feature. ‘You'll know exactly where your food comes from, and it tastes incredible’ is a benefit.  See the difference? One's about you; the other is about them.

But when it's your business, making that shift feels counterintuitive.  You want to talk about what you've built, not translate it into what it means for someone else.

Too much context, not enough clarity

You know all the context.  You know why you made certain decisions, why your approach is different, why that particular feature exists.  So when you write, you accidentally include loads of backstory and explanation that nobody needs.

Meanwhile, your potential customer has about eight seconds of attention span before they click away.  They need the answer to "Can you help me?" immediately. Not after a preamble about your business philosophy or a detailed history of your industry.

For example – when you look at the first screen that appears when you load your website – does it tell you what/how you help?  If not, you might need to rethink that – before your visitor hits the back button.

The solution? Get out of your own way

This isn't about you being a bad writer; you might be a fantastic writer.  But you're writing about the one thing you can't be objective about: your own business.

The best thing you can do?  Get someone else to write it.  A copywriter, a marketing-savvy friend, even just someone who fits your target customer profile.  Give them a brief, answer their questions, and then let them translate your knowledge into something that actually connects with real people.

Or, at the very least, write your draft and then brutally edit it whilst pretending you're seeing your business for the first time.  Ask yourself: "Would I know what this means if I'd never met me?" and "Does this answer the question my customer is actually asking?"

Your business deserves better than copy written from inside the bubble. And your customers deserve copy that speaks to them, not at them. 

Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is admit you're standing too close to see clearly.