Stop writing fast food copy – here’s step one

Truth time, people.

In my work showing business owners how to get their writing done faster, bolder, and more profitably, I teach two key distinctions:

1. There’s a difference between gourmet clients and fast food clients.
2. Most copywriting and marketing experts teach you how to write fast food copy.

Let’s break this down.

First off, let’s talk about fast food clients and gourmet clients.

Fast food clients are penny pinchers. It’s not about value for them; they shop on price (they buy what’s cheapest). They want a bargain basement experience. They respond to words like cheap, fast, free, and easy. They often assume you are trying to cheat or trick them.

You know you have a bunch of fast food clients in your business when people ask you to discount your rates, want to trade, don’t have the money but are still out trying to buy from you, or don’t respect your boundaries. They tend to be telling themselves a story about why you should charge them less, and why it’s hard for them.

Gourmet clients, in contrast, are absolutely delightful to work with. They understand why you charge more, and are happy to pay premium rates, because they are investing in quality and real service.

You’ll know you have an audience of gourmet clients when they regularly tell you how much of a difference you make in their lives. They may send you gifts. They pay you on time. They are open communicators. They take responsibility for their results — and if they truly don’t have the money, they aren’t out shopping.

They assume your good intentions, and work with you from a place of mutual respect and partnership. They follow your advice and implement like mofos. Best of all, they refer you other gourmet clients.

So, that’s the difference between fast food clients and gourmet clients.
The other thing you need to know is that you as the business owner are the boss. You are responsible. You decide whether you want fast food clients or gourmet clients.

Because the words you use, the stories you tell, and the way you make people feel in your marketing – on your website, in your promo emails, in your videos – signals whether you are someone who works with gourmet clients, or fast food clients.

In a nutshell, fast food clients resonate with fast food copy.

Gourmet clients resonate with gourmet copy.

Here are examples of fast food words that tend to attract fast food clients: struggle, overwhelm, broke, stuck, easy, fast.

Gourmet copy is more interesting and original, so it’s tough to just rattle off a list.

But here’s an example of fast food copy:

• Do you struggle to find new clients?
• Are you overwhelmed with everything you need to do to market your business?

And here’s an example of more gourmet copy, for the same business:

• Do most of your clients come to you by referral—but your online marketing is a hot mess?
• Are you working on attracting great clients who happily pay you higher rates—but you aren’t sure exactly how to make it happen?

The main point here is that fast food copy uses what I call the “language of struggle” – words that tend to resonate with people whose inner narrative is about struggle, brokeness, and overwhelm.

Not to be a jerk, but those people are in crisis! And for many of us, that’s not who we truly enjoy working with. Also, they want you to tell them what to do, and they tend to ‘fear buy.’

(I just made that up, but I actually think it’s true. A lot of marketers stir up feelings of lack, fear, and inadequacy to get people to buy things. Gross.)

In contrast, gourmet clients don’t need reminders of our pain, struggle or overwhelm to buy things.

We still have problems that we are looking to solve.

But the inner narrative we use is different.

Instead of talking about struggle, overwhelm, brokeness or stuckness, we use the “language of challenge” or even the “language of desire.”

People with great self-esteem, personal responsibility and money tend to describe their problems like this:

• I’m so successful in all the other areas of my life, why can’t I find someone I like to date?
• My business is booming offline, now it’s time to focus on building my online platform
• My kids are amazing, but I’m feeling rotten about yelling at them. Time to do some research and see how I can get some new ideas.

See the difference?

Now, ready for the kicker? Most people doing business online are using fast food copy. This is why you and I tend to chafe at a lot of promo emails and web copy that just sounds so corny, unbelievable or canned… we have a different standard.

The first step is to start to notice who is broadcasting on the level of pain, struggle, and overwhelm… and who is using a higher standard.

A trick you can use, as you learn to transmit on the gourmet level in your marketing, is to notice how other people’s marketing makes you feel.

Who feels real?
Who is telling you that real progress takes elbow grease?
Who is selling you what people want to hear – that it’s easy, cheap, and fast?

I’ll be back with more ideas, exercises and tips – but that will get you started.