Try things you’re writing about.

One of my writers sent me a blog post yesterday, which also needed her to write tweets for distribution. The moment I saw the tweets, I called her: “Are you on Twitter?” I asked. You know where this is going.

While signing up for Twitter — and checking the character limit — is the absolute bare minimum one could do, I see people maintain two arm distance from the products they write about all the time! I think this is a big mistake. 

As much as possible and is reasonable, try out the product you’re writing about. Going through the customer experience first-hand helps perspective in ways that no amount of Googling and reading can offer.

Don’t ask me if you should buy a BMW before writing copy for their ads. That’s not what I mean. But it’s not unreasonable to walk into the showroom and see what emotions the experience evokes, no?

At emdash, if it’s a B2C software, I download and try it out (I did this for a mutual fund management app, and trust me, it helped so much!). If it’s a B2B product, I ask for a demo, just to see it in action. If you’re writing for an organic honey brand, perhaps taste it. If your customer is a restaurant, go eat there. 

Get an idea of what it feels like to be the customer before endeavouring to influence them.