Target. That wonderful, mystical land where one can buy shoes, clothes, novelty tees, movies, Legos, and food when they were simply going in to buy a crafty little graduation card. Target is a place that sucks you in, makes you spend every penny to your name, and you never feel like you wasted a dime. How do they do this? How do they bring in thousands of people a day and convince them to buy what they need and more?
Copywriting Tips from Target
Let's take this opportunity to look at Target's various copywriting and marketing campaigns, as well as taking a little journey through the store to see just what makes us spend all our money there.
1. All The Things! First off, Target tries to appeal to a very wide demographic from Millennials to the Greatest Generation, all while "targeting" the latest group of little ones with cute designs. They have something for everyone in their store and they know that's what brings in the cash. However, their "something for everyone" isn't dollar store cheap material; most of Target's merchandise is very good quality. Many of their clothing items and shoes are even designed specifically for Target by many well-known designers around the world.
What can a copywriter take away from this point? Offer something for everyone and you will please a wider audience. Take the time to learn your demographics - you may be surprised by just how diverse your potential customer base is.
2. Epic Lighting and Easy To Find Items. Their content marketing goes beyond just their Internet and mail content - it goes into their store design. The store is one that makes every shopper feel chipper, which helps foster the feeling of needing to purchase everything in sight. The lights are bright and the aisles are laid out in an interesting and easy-to-follow pattern. Because of this, we are all ready to purchase everything we see since we can easily go through the store.
This is an incredible lesson for copywriting experts and for web designers. While you most likely will not be focusing on a physical shop, you will be focusing on the website people come to. If it is drab and difficult to navigate, people won't stay for very long. Follow Target's example and make your site an easy and fun experience for readers.
3. Creating Memorable Advertisements That Last Forever. Target has some of the greatest ad campaigns and many of these campaigns are ones that we will remember for a long time. For example, everyone remembers the Target dog, especially when it came to the Holiday season. Whenever you saw that dog, you thought of Target. Whenever you saw that dog on an item, you bought it.
Their latest ad campaign is called "The Everyday Collection" which features photographs that look like high fashion photo shoots but they incorporated the typical everyday items such as laundry detergent, food, and vitamins. It is very much a typical Target ad campaign filled with witty one-liners, all while advertising their product. Every single marketing campaign is incredible; just look at their 2013 back-to-school campaign and their 2013 Holiday season campaign.
The lesson copywriters can learn from this is common sense - create content that will be memorable. After you have begun creating memorable, compelling content, you will start seeing some excellent results!
4. Responding to Controversy. Controversy is never too far these days and it seems just about everyone is right in the middle of one. Target isn't any different. They've had their fair share of controversy from the big security breach pre-Heartbleed to the Terry Richardson controversy. Target always takes adequate steps to ensure that these controversies are dealt with properly by not reacting immediately and thinking over the issue.
This may not seem like part of a content marketing strategy, but Target always considers how many customers they will lose if they do not carry out appropriate measures. Instead of sweeping these issues under the carpet, Target deals with them in the open. This is a great lesson for every company to learn. Your copywriting can be great, but it can only go so far; having proper responses to any controversy whether large or small will help keep your business afloat.
5. Making Things Fun and Enjoyable For All. Target is the expert at making their content strategy a fun and enjoyable one. Their commercials are always upbeat or silly, their ad campaigns in the local paper always capture your attention, and they're just plain ole good at creating successful marketing techniques. Many times, they utilize storytelling in their ads and content, which connects with their customers.
This shows every copywriter why it is important to actively engage with your client base and make things fun. Create something that is unique to your company and that people will enjoy.
In The End...
Use Target as inspiration for how to engage with your customer base and how to have fun with your content strategy. Having fun is a huge element in the majority of Target's marketing campaign and it sure works like a charm! You'll start seeing excellent results if you follow some of Target's great copywriting strategies.