How Speaking the Right Language Can Help You Convert Leads
One of the most important aspects of business is developing a full understanding of your audience so that you can speak their language. When you can do that, you build greater trust with your audience and begin to foster a close community.
Getting to know your audience well enough so that you can speak a common language will create a situation where your audience feels as if they know you. This will let them like and trust you, making them more likely to join your groups, email lists, and to buy from you.
Here are 6 ways that speaking the right language can help with conversions:
1) Shows Your Expertise – Speaking your audience’s language shows your expertise because it demonstrates that you understand them on a deep level — their challenges, goals, and the way they communicate. When you use the same words, tone, and style that they naturally respond to, it signals that you’ve worked with people like them before or that you’ve done your homework.
2) Establishes Trust – When you speak at the same level as your audience using the terms they use for issues, problems, joys, and concerns, they will trust you more. Without trust, you can have the best product known to humans, but they won’t buy it. Using the right language proves that you’re not just an outsider delivering generic advice. Rather, you’re someone who “gets it” and can offer real solutions.
3) Helps You Develop Appropriate Products & Services – The more you know about your audience, the easier it is to develop products and services that resonate with them. Learning their language helps you to match products and services with their issues.
4) Enables You to Create Clear Offers – When you truly understand who your audience is and how they talk about their challenges, you can craft offers that speak more directly to their needs. The language your audience uses to describe their problems is often the same language they want to hear when considering a solution (i.e. your product).
By mirroring their words and addressing their pain points in a way that feels familiar, your offers become instantly clearer, more relevant, and attractive. Instead of vague promises or industry jargon, your messaging will highlight specific outcomes your audience craves, making it easier for them to see the value and take action.
Clear communication builds confidence, and when your offer feels tailor-made for them, it eliminates confusion and hesitation, leading to more engagement and more conversions.
5) Creates More Effective SEO – Of course, proper communication has to include search engine optimization. When your audience searches for solutions and answers, they’re not likely to use corporate jargon. They’re going to type in their own words in the search. Understanding how they speak is going to help you improve SEO, both on and off the page.
6) Ensures Your Blog Content Will Be Compelling – Knowing the words your audience uses to describe their problems will also help make your blogs more compelling. That’s because you’ll be able to speak directly to your audience in a way they understand.
When you commit to using your audience’s language on your website, in blog posts, in forums, and in product development and creation, you’ll experience more success with conversions. Words do matter.
Of course, the first step in speaking the right language is to learn how your audience talks. To accomplish this, you need to know who your target audience is, and you do that through market research.
Some folks think you only have to do this once—at the onset of your business start-up. And, yes, audience demographics can indeed stay the same for decades. But the audience still changes in terms of language, problems, values, and how they respond to marketing.
If you sell things successfully already, you can look at the stats to find out who the audience is that is buying, and tailor your language accordingly. But otherwise, to identify your audience, you need to create a client avatar.
Here are three ways to do that:
- Research Your Audience – Conduct surveys, and interviews, and even create focus groups to help you get to know them more.
- Join Your Audience Where They Are – As you conduct your research, you’re going to discover that your audience hangs out in different places both online and offline. When you join them in their groups and natural environment, you can become a fly on the wall and observe, but you can also become a participant and learn that way too.
- Research Your Competition – Another way to find more people who fit your audience is to observe your competition . Sign up for their email lists, buy a product from them, and join the groups they are part of, so that you can see how they engage with their audience (which is the same as, or similar to your audience).
The best way I have found to do market research is to send out an email to my list inviting them to a “business insight” session. I tell them it’s not a sales call, just an information-gathering meeting. Whenever I do this, I usually get between 10 and 20 responses.
It may sound like a chore, but I’ve found it enjoyable getting to know people on my list. The conversation makes us feel like friends when we’re done. And they are more likely to become future buyers because now they feel like they know me.
I record all the calls with Fathom.video (free app) so I can get a transcript. Then I use it to pull out words and phrases that my audience uses.
So that’s how you can speaking the right language to your audience in all your content, show that you’re an expert in your niche, and build trust with your audience enough to convert your leads into buyers.
Want some insights as to how you can apply this to your business? Schedule a “Business Insight Strategy Session” with me HERE.
