I’m currently in a mindset coaching group for entrepreneurs. The other day, someone asked our coach a question about how to attract more clients and improve their marketing copy. (Quick aside: “copy” just means the words you use in your marketing materials—your website, emails, social posts, all of it.)
The coach’s answer? “Just trust your instincts and write whatever feels right.”
Honestly? That might be the worst marketing advice I’ve ever heard!
Here’s the problem: that “write what feels right” approach is what most entrepreneurs are already doing—and for many of them, it’s not working.
Here’s why.
When you’re deep inside your own business—when you know every detail of your service, your process, your industry—it’s almost impossible to see your messaging clearly. You’re dealing with what’s called cognitive bias. You’re so close to the work that you forget what it’s like for someone who’s just encountering your business for the first time.
Things that make perfect sense to you, with all your background knowledge and industry lingo, can sound like a foreign language to someone still trying to figure out what they need. That’s especially true if your prospective customer (aka the person you want to help) is still early in their decision-making process.
This is exactly why target audience research is so important. And no, “target audience” isn’t just a buzzword. It refers to the specific group of people you’re trying to reach—the ones most likely to benefit from and invest in your services. Researching them means digging into how they think, what they struggle with, and what language they use to describe their challenges and goals.
I’ve worked in marketing, branding, and creative strategy for more than two decades—including building three in-house marketing and creative teams from the ground up. I’ve led award-winning campaigns, including a national Telly Award for branded content and multiple local Addy Awards for design work. I also hold a master’s degree in marketing. So, I don’t say this lightly: marketing without audience insight is a shot in the dark.
Professional copywriters don’t just sit down and ask themselves, “Hmm, what do I feel like writing today?” They don’t wing it.
They review audience research, look at customer personas (those are fictional profiles that represent key segments of your target audience), and they map out content goals.
Marketing Copywriters ask:
- What’s keeping my people up at night?
- How are they describing their situation in their own words?
- What are they actually hoping to achieve?
Then they write in a way that mirrors the prospective customer’s language—clearly showing how the service offered connects to what the audience wants or needs.
I got fired up when I heard the coach’s advice because I’ve spent a huge chunk of my career cleaning up marketing messes that were caused by organizations not understanding their target audiences. In my experience, probably 90% of marketing misfires can be traced back to this one issue.
When businesses don’t understand their audience well enough, both product offerings and marketing communications miss the mark.
And here’s the truth: target audience research isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s not just a “corporate thing” or something you’ll get to once you finish setting up your website. It’s a business-building essential, and it’s just as vital as securing funding or setting up your legal structure.
If more entrepreneurs treated audience research as non-negotiable—something you do before writing a word of copy, creating a website, or launching a program—I truly believe we’d see far fewer marketing struggles and far more success stories.
So no, don’t just trust your instincts when you’re writing your marketing collateral. Trust a strategy. Trust the data. And most of all, trust that getting to know your people deeply—really deeply—is the key to building a business that not only works, but thrives.
