Growing up in an age where advertisements are abundant and unavoidable in many mediums, over time I developed a discerning eye for the types of marketing messages and styles that are most effective. The Austin Copywriter marketing philosophy embraces a few simple but important marketing tenets:

• Accuracy is crucial – Sell what you have.  If what you’re selling isn’t something people want, it’s better to improve your product or services than to create unrealistic expectations in your marketing.  If people expect something awesome and get something mediocre or worse, you’ll destroy your brand.

• Keep it simple – It can be tempting to embrace industry buzz words or impressive sounding copy that doesn’t actually say much, but you risk diluting your message and frustrating potential customers who don’t understand what you’re saying.

• Listen to your current customers – The best way to know what will impress future customers is by paying attention to the feedback of those you already have.  Few things are more valuable to a small business than those customers that already love you.  Make sure you keep them happy and you can use their genuine praise to convince others.

• Don’t bombard people – Have you ever signed up for an e-mail newsletter and regretted it almost immediately because of how much it filled up your inbox?  Everybody in every industry gets a lot of mail and e-mail about products that companies think they should be interested in, not to mention daily exposure to television advertisements, billboards, and the list goes on. One of the best ways to lose the goodwill of your potential customers is to be part of this problem. While it’s important to remind people of your business from time to time to stay front of mind,  make sure to keep from contacting your list too often and ensure everything you send is interesting or essential, or you’ll risk being seen as spam and losing their attention altogether.

• Know your audience – If you’re wasting time and resources marketing to people or companies unlikely to ever be interested in your products or services, this will show in your results.  Make an effort to know what kind of people and businesses value what you’re selling and do your best to ensure that your message gets in front of them.