If you forget all the other babble about copywriting, and remember this one thing…you're going to be we wildly successful. You'll blow your competition out of the water and you'll never struggle to find customers. 

Ironically, this copywriting mindset goes deeper than words and phrases that sell.

Words are the tools. Words are important. But this copywriting mindset is the seed from which all those words grow. 

All you need to know about copywriting is "Hospitality."

Hospitality elevates your customers' experience doing business with you. It goes beyond your products and services and transforms how your customers feel when they encounter them.

You can spend your life focusing on your services and products and forget completely how to discern what your customers are feeling about your business.

Think of a successful and personable business person in your community. They may change what they offer and even work within different niches in their primary field. Yet their hospitality factor probably remains constant. 

Business people who know the secret to connecting show hospitality before their customer ever walks through the door or engages their services. They exude hospitality in their local communities and to their employees. They are well-known and well- liked. You don't need to be a customer to see it. Genuine hospitality is part of the fabric of the company.

Hospitality connects you with your customers and clients by showing that you care about them. And your copy — the words your prospect and online community reads — can easily reflect hospitality if you remember this:

Copywriting should anticipate the customer's needs and desires, just as a good waiter brings you the condiments with the dinner; and like a great hostess knows your name and seating preferences when you enter the restaurant.

Know what your ideal customers want before they want it. That's it.

That's hospitality in a nutshell and that's all you need to know to get your copy to engage action.

Would you ever invite friends for dinner in your home, yet neglect to prepare for their arrival? No one does that! A hospitable host would set the table, buy flowers and wine, plan a menu…you know, show your guests that you were expecting them!

Your copy must reflect the impression you want your customers to take with them after doing business with you. Your copy is like the revolving door that welcomes them in while anticipating how they'll feel when they leave.

Copy that works reveals a genuine offer to help solve a problem, and the confidence that you will deliver it with courtesy, friendliness, invention, curiosity and attention to the customer's cues. 

That's hospitality. 

Copywriting that exudes hospitality is what I strive for. Research is part of the deal here at MyTeamConnects. That means your ideal customer is well-understood; we can already predict what they require.

If there's a conversation your ideal customers are having online, MyTeamConnects will find it and learn their language. Contact me when you want to draw the right crowd — and make them feel that they're in good hands when they find YOU.

Capturing Hospitality in Your Copy:

• Bring the reader in. Great headlines guide readers to the first part of your text. Every chunk of your writing from there nudges the reader further along. The idea is to get the reader to read the whole thing. Just like sitting down to a great meal, you want him to stay for dessert!

• Connect with the reader through an emotion. You know in an instant whether your guest is feeling calm, excited, distracted, or in a hurry to get in and get out. The same is true for your reader. Speak to the reader "as if" that emotion exists…because for your ideal customer, it most certainly does!

• Use the words they use. Salespeople know this well. By just repeating a phrase, comment or gesture of their customer, they raise the customer's comfort level and help them get closer to a purchase. The salesperson selling a car to a mom with four kids under the age of ten will have a very different conversation than the one he'd have selling the same car to an executive of a large company. Even the tone of voice would mirror the customer's, just as we similarly adjust our gestures and positions while engaging with people we enjoy. (She touches her hair, you touch your hair. She leans in, you lean in. You know how that works.) Make a point to notice this in everyday life and then practice repeating a phrase your customer uses in your copy. (By the way, I listen very carefully when my customers speak, and I often use their words in the copy I write for them, too. It makes a difference.)

• Offer clear explanations and choices. Think of a menu. Use bullet points and short descriptions. Too much information, and you'll lose your customer. Studies have shown that a few choices is better than offering too many. Keep It Super Simple (KISS) and be ready to expand on your explanation if asked or clicked. Online copywriting often includes links to more information.

• Make your point and stick with it. Don't jump around from theme to theme. Pick one idea or keyword you're going for and support that concept with each idea you present. Just like a diner would be confused if the waiter brought french fries to an Indian meal, your reader appreciates one train of thought. Save all those extra thoughts for another day. By the way, efficient copywriters keep a folder of ideas for future content. Someone asked me recently if I could think of enough things to write about his industry. While I haven't written about this particular industry yet, I confidently assured him that I will never run out of ideas. Writing seems to generate more ideas the more you do it. It's the editing that's difficult, but so important!

• Neaten up your closing. Clear the table; remove the plates and dirty silverware. Bring the reader back to a simple and clean finish. In fact some copywriting experts even suggest that when you are finished, take that closing sentence and move it up to the top. It should not only fit well there, it might even make a better opening line than the one you started with!

The copywriting that connects with your reader has these elements of hospitality — and many more! Simply anticipate your reader's needs and serve up a solution they've been craving.

Copywriting that really speaks to your customers also satisfies them. It should make them want to come back for more (and bring their friends next time!) because it resonates on a level as sincere and basic as food and conversation.

Hospitality is the ingredient we all crave. Why should the restaurant industry have a corner on it?

With that, dear reader, I leave you hospitably and in good hands, I hope. Please come back…the door is always open.

Do you have something to add? I'd love it if you left a comment below!