Welcome back to our ongoing series on writing tips for creating brilliant content that builds trust, inspires confidence, and leads to more sales. In the first three parts, we laid the groundwork for crafting readable, authoritative content that captivates and persuades. We explored techniques for mastering engagement and visual impact to keep eyeballs glued to the page.

In part four, I’ll share five tips for connecting with your audience on a human level:

Getting to know your reader in a profound way
Documenting what you know by way of personas
Creating a shared world for you and your reader
Showing instead of just telling to bring shared worlds to life
Using empathy to generate feeling and make every word work

Let’s dive in.

Tip 17: Get to know your reader

Imagine you're out to make a new friend. You wouldn't just hand them a questionnaire and call it a day. You'd hang out, see how they interact with their families and friends, and get a feel for what makes them tick. The same goes for getting to know your reader.

Sure, you can conduct surveys, analyze data, and use social listening. But I’d like to share a few lesser-traveled techniques that can give you deeper insights.

For instance, conduct ethnographic research by immersing yourself in the online communities where your tribe hangs out. Join groups. Jump into discussions. Note the topics that raise ire and admiration. Jot down the words and phrases your reader uses. Those are the kinds of insights that matter.

Or how about trying customer journey mapping? Create a vivid, layered story that traces your best customer’s path, pinpointing their moments of joy, frustration, and "aha!" along the way. When you’re standing firm in your reader’s shoes, ideas for content that hits the mark at each stage will follow.

User testing is another gem—yes, even for content. Get real humans to interact with your content and give their feedback to you straight. Those insights will be pure gold for refining your approach and dialing up the resonance factor.

And don't be afraid to play. Experiment with different content formats, track what gets traction, and do more of what works. Heck, spy on your competitors' winning content and reverse-engineer that goodness for yourself. All's fair in love and content creation!

By weaving these techniques into your audience analysis stack, you'll gain a rich, nuanced understanding beyond demographics. And that, my friend, is the secret sauce for content that truly connects.

Tip 17: Use personas

Ah, personas. Those imaginary friends that guide our content creation. But let's be honest—getting lost in irrelevant details is easy. Favorite coffee order? Childhood pet's name? Who cares! What matters is getting to the heart of what keeps your buyers up at night and what gets them fired up in the morning.

Focus your personas on the juicy stuff:

Workday disasters. The infuriating inefficiencies that drag them down daily.
Performance worries. The metrics and pressures that loom over them constantly.
Solution triggers. The tipping points that turn mild annoyances into urgent needs to be solved NOW.

Imagine you're crafting personas for a SaaS company that offers robotic process automation. You might have:

The frazzled IT manager, drowning in a backlog of tasks and under constant pressure to cut costs.
The operations maven, battling bottlenecks and customer complaints that tanked their KPIs.
The data-wrangling business analyst, spending way too much time on manual reporting and not enough on strategy.

By zeroing in on your reader’s biggest pain points and the events that bring about change, you can create content that hits them in the heart and inspires action.

And when you nail your personas?

Magic happens. Just look at Fanatics, the sports e-commerce superstar. By digging deep into the psyche of the die-hard sports fan, its content team was able to craft content that boosted organic search traffic by a jaw-dropping 1,100%. Now that’s content success!

Don't get bogged down in the biographical fluff. Zoom in on your reader’s deepest frustrations and most exciting aspirations related to what you offer. Use that intel to inspire content that speaks directly to their struggles and desires. That's how personas become more than just cardboard cutouts. They become compasses guiding you to content that matters and resonates with the reader.

For more details about creating personas that work, check out this article: How to Write Success Stories that Sales Actually Uses and Buyers Read. In it, I posit that strong personas make the difference between generic success stories and those that rock.

Tip 18: Invite the reader into a shared world

Your words are more than just information carriers. They're the building blocks of a shared universe, a space where you and your reader can meet, connect, and explore together. The language and tone you choose can make the difference between a reader who feels like a distant observer and one who feels like an intimate companion on a shared journey.

In his course, A Way with Words: Writing, Rhetoric, and the Art of Persuasion, Michael D.C. Drout introduces a fascinating analysis by Walter Ong, of how Ernest Hemingway uses language to create a sense of shared world with his reader. Here’s the Hemingway passage in question:

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels.

Notice how Hemingway uses the definite article—the—and the demonstrative pronoun—that—to create a sense of shared knowledge.

The late summer of that year — What year? Hemingway doesn't specify, assuming the reader already knows.
Across the river — What river? Again, Hemingway writes as if the reader is familiar with the specific river he has in mind.
And the plain — Not "a plain," but "the plain," as if it's a specific plain the reader should know.
To the mountains — Which mountains? Hemingway doesn't say, trusting that the reader can picture the exact mountains he's referring to.

Through those tiny word choices, Hemingway creates the illusion that he and the reader share a common history, set of experiences, and reference points. It's as if he's saying, "Remember that summer? That house, that river, those mountains? You and I were there together."

This example is a master class in using language to create intimacy and connection with your reader. Even though Hemingway describes a scene from his own life, he uses tiny linguistic cues to make the reader feel like a participant in the memory rather than just a passive observer.

Takeaways from Hemingway: On creating your reader

As marketers and writers, we can learn from these insights.

We may not be writing literary prose, but we can still use language to create a sense of shared world with the reader. By referring to common experiences, challenges, and aspirations and using inclusive pronouns—like we and you—we can make our audience feel seen, understood, and included.

Imagine you're writing copy for a productivity app aimed at entrepreneurs. You might say something like:

You know that feeling when you're juggling a million tasks, your to-do list is a mile long, and you can't even remember what you had for breakfast? Although people on the outside will tell you, ‘That's the life of an entrepreneur,’ it doesn't have to be that way.

By tapping into a shared experience—you know that feeling—and establishing common ground—people on the outside and that's the life of an entrepreneur—you create a sense of connection. You also hint at a shared desire for a solution—it doesn't have to be this way—priming the reader to see your app as the answer to their woes.

Or you're crafting an email for a coaching service. You could write:

Remember that moment when you realized you were made for more than the 9–5 grind? That fire in your belly, that voice in your head saying, 'There's got to be a better way'? We've been there, too, and we're here to tell you: You're right.

Again, you're evoking a common experience and using phrases like remember that moment and we've been there to create a sense of shared journey.

The key is to create a feeling of we-ness. Refer to shared experiences, hopes, and challenges. Use you and we language to foster a feeling of connection. Tell stories that give life your audience's lived realities.

This approach transforms your content from a one-way broadcast to a two-way conversation. It invites the reader to be a potential customer and co-creator of meaning and value.

Of course, to pull this off, you really need to know your audience. What are their day-to-day realities? What keeps them up at night? What do they long for? The more you empathize with their world, the more naturally your language will reflect it.

So, don't just write at your reader. Write with them, for them, and about them. Invite them into a shared universe and watch as they become a fellow traveler on the path to something better.

(See what I did? It’s the path, not just a path.)

Tip 19: Show, don't just tell

I know you’ve been there: Slogging through a piece of writing that's drier than a desert and duller than watching paint dry. The information might be useful, but the delivery is a snooze-fest. That's what happens to readers when writers get stuck in telling mode.

But when you switch gears into showing, something magical happens. Your message leaps off the page and lodges in your reader's imagination. The reader isn’t just processing information; they're experiencing a story.

So, what exactly does it mean to show, not tell? It means using vivid details, sensory language, and specific examples to paint a picture in your reader's mind. Instead of simply stating a fact, you make them feel the fact.

Here's an example. Let's say you're writing about a new software feature. You could simply tell the reader:

Our new feature makes team collaboration easier.

But what if you showed them instead?

It doesn’t help that your team is spread from Toronto to Timbuktu. You’re on a deadline and don’t want to hear one more complaint about the endless email chain and version-control nightmare. With our new feature, say goodbye to that problem. Now, you can all work on the same document at the same time, seeing each other's changes in real-time. It's like being in the same room even when you're miles apart.

See the difference? The first version states a benefit, but the second version helps the reader feel it. The reader can picture the scenario, imagine the frustration, and feel relief from the solution.

Or let's say you're writing about a coaching service. Instead of simply saying:

Our coaching helps entrepreneurs succeed.

You could show it:

Remember the last time you launched your last sure-hit only to be met with deafening silence? That sinking feeling in your gut, the doubts creeping in, the questions swirling in your mind: What went wrong? What do I do now? Can I ever recover from this?

Our answer: YES. You can recover with a seasoned mentor by your side. Someone who's been where you are, who knows the ropes, and who can guide you to a place of clarity, confidence, and forward momentum. Our coaching gives you a sounding board, a safety net, and a proven roadmap for turning even the most disheartening setback into a launchpad for your next success.

Again, the second version paints a picture. The reader can remember and feel the disappointment of a failed launch. They can imagine the confidence and clarity that comes with expert guidance and the exhilaration of their next success.

That's the power of showing. It engages the reader's senses and emotions, making your message more memorable, impactful, and persuasive.

How can you bring more showing into your writing? Here are a few tips:

Use sensory details. Describe how things look, feel, sound, taste, or smell.
Choose strong, active verbs. Instead of verb forms with is, was, and has, go for verbs that paint a picture.
Be specific. Instead of general statements, use concrete examples and details.
Tell stories. Illustrate your points with anecdotes, case studies, or hypothetical scenarios.
Use metaphors and analogies. These literary devices make abstract concepts more tangible and relatable.

Also know that the goal isn't to eliminate all telling. You need a mix of both. But by tilting the balance toward showing, you’ll make your writing more readable, engaging, and effective.

The next time you create content, challenge yourself. Ask how to make your reader feel something, not just know it. Ask how you can paint a picture, not just convey information.

Your readers (and your bottom line) will thank you.

Tip 20: Write with empathy

Imagine you're at a party, and someone you’ve just met starts telling you about their latest project. But as they talk, you realize they're not really talking to you. They're talking at you, rattling off facts and figures, and throwing out jargon without regard for your interest or understanding.

How long before you're looking for an escape route?

Now, imagine instead that your new acquaintance takes a moment to gauge your interest and understanding. They ask about your experiences, challenges, and goals. They listen, reflect, and relate, sharing their experiences, challenges, and goals as well. Suddenly, you're not just a passive recipient of information but an active participant in a conversation. You feel seen, heard, and understood.

That's the difference between writing with empathy and writing without it. When you write with empathy, you don’t just dump information on your reader. You engage them in a dialogue. You show them that you understand their world, challenges, and aspirations. You create that oh-so-desirable connection.

How do you do it? How do you infuse your writing with empathy? Here are a few key strategies:

Know your audience. This is where those personas come in handy. The more you understand your reader's world, the more naturally you can reflect it back to them in your writing.
Use you language. Address your reader directly. Make them feel like you're speaking to them, not at them.
Acknowledge reader challenges. Show that you understand the problems they're facing. Validate their struggles.
Paint a picture of a better tomorrow. Show the reader how your product or service can help them overcome challenges and achieve their goals.
Use stories and examples. Illustrate your points with relatable anecdotes and success stories. Make your message feel real and relevant.

For instance, suppose you’re writing about a new project management tool.

You could say:

Our project management tool has many features, including task assignment, deadline tracking, and file sharing. It increases productivity by 25% on average.

But what if you said this instead?

Late nights, missed deadlines, countless versions flying back and forth over email. If you've ever managed a project, you know the pain. We know you're juggling a million tasks to keep everyone on track and on time. That's why our project management tool includes features like task assignment, deadline tracking, and file sharing—so you can spend less time chasing down updates and more time doing the work that matters. We've seen teams like yours increase their productivity by 25% on average. Imagine what you could do with all that extra time back in your day.

It’s kind of like showing instead of telling. When you empathize with your reader, you naturally show instead of tell because you care about their experience on the other side of the pen.

Imagine you’re writing about a coaching service. You could say:

Our coaching service provides entrepreneurs with strategies and support to grow their businesses.

As if that’ll draw readers in.

What about this version?

Building a business is a roller coaster ride. The highs are high, but the lows can make your stomach lurch. Some days, you feel on top of the world. Others you doubt you have what it takes. That's where we come in. Our coaching service is for entrepreneurs like you—the dreamers, the risk-takers, the ones brave enough to bet on themselves. We've been where you are and know what it takes to turn your vision into a thriving reality. Instead of weathering the storms, we’ll help you use them to propel yourself forward.

See the difference? The versions with empathy speak directly to the reader. They show an understanding of their world and their challenges. They paint a picture of how the product or service can improve their lives. They create connection.

That's the power of empathetic writing. It transforms your message from a one-way broadcast to a two-way conversation. It turns the reader from a passive recipient to an active partner. It builds trust, rapport, and relationships.

**But wait: It’s not about word count; it’s about making every word count**

You might be thinking: "But, Renae, won't these writing techniques make my content longer? In today's fast-paced world, don't people prefer short and snappy?"

It's a valid concern. After all, we're all bombarded with information from every direction, and attention spans are shorter than ever. But here's the thing: It's not about word count. It's about making every word count.

When you write with empathy, when you show instead of tell, when you invite your reader into a shared world, you add words, and with them, value. You create an experience that resonates, engages, and sticks.

Think about it like this: Would you rather read a 100-word product description that's dry, generic, and forgettable? Or a 200-word description that paints a vivid picture, sparks your imagination, and makes you feel understood?

The key is to use your words purposefully. Every detail you include, every story you tell, and every moment of empathy you express should serve a function. It should draw your readers in, keep them engaged, and guide them toward a desired feeling, thought, or action.

If you find yourself writing more when using these techniques, embrace it. When you use them intentionally, those extra words are like an investment in your reader's attention, engagement, and trust.

Of course, there will be times when brevity is essential. A punchy headline, a snappy social media post, a concise call-to-action. In those cases, you can still infuse your writing with empathy and vividness but in a more concentrated form.

Bottom line? Feel free to write more when it serves your reader and your purpose. Your reader won't remember how many words you wrote. They'll remember how your words made them feel. They'll remember the stories you told, the pictures you painted, the understanding you offered. That's the stuff that sticks.

Wrapping it up: Your words, your world

Phew, that was quite the journey! We covered a lot of ground. But these techniques, powerful as they are, are just the beginning. The real magic happens when you weave them together into a pattern of words that inform, engage, and inspire.

And our journey’s not over yet. In the final installment of this series, I’ll share several advanced techniques for making your writing even more powerful. We'll talk about the power of repetition and revision, the art of finding your authentic voice, and the secret to creating content that stands the test of time.

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25 Writing Tips for Business Owners and Content Marketers: Part 4

Tip 17: Get to know your reader

Tip 17: Use personas

Tip 18: Invite the reader into a shared world

Takeaways from Hemingway: On creating your reader

Tip 19: Show, don't just tell

Tip 20: Write with empathy

**But wait: It’s not about word count; it’s about making every word count**

Wrapping it up: Your words, your world

You belong here. ♡

25 Writing Tips for Business Owners and Content Marketers: Part 4

Tip 17: Get to know your reader

Tip 17: Use personas

Tip 18: Invite the reader into a shared world

Takeaways from Hemingway: On creating your reader

Tip 19: Show, don't just tell

Tip 20: Write with empathy

But wait: It’s not about word count; it’s about making every word count

Wrapping it up: Your words, your world

25 Writing Tips for Business Owners and Content Marketers: Part 5

Loose-lipped, grammatically ill-equipped professor runs amok, destroys higher ed

You belong here. ♡

**But wait: It’s not about word count; it’s about making every word count**