fresh off the press

In marketing, we’re taught to create buyer personas—fictional avatars that represent our ideal clients. But here’s the problem: overly generalized characters often lead to disconnected messaging and tuned-out readers.

So, how do you switch your language to speak to real people instead of pre-packaged archetypes?

Take a boutique yoga studio, for example.

Their messaging might target the “millennial quad-stretcher”: the over-caffeinated, overstimulated, Lululemon-wearing stereotype. But speaking to “30-something-year-olds” squashed into a box isn’t moving anyone.

Instead, tell a story.

Maybe this 30-something-year-old is Jane—a single mother, reclaiming her sense of identity and power through movement, community, and pants that lift her rear to the heavens.

Your reader might not be Jane. But they’re far more likely to connect with the human inside her story than the cardboard persona.

The more we lean into creating stories behind our buyer types, the more conversational and convincing our language becomes.

You don’t need a perfect story—you just need a relatable one. Any story rooted in genuine emotion will resonate on some level. That’s because buying behaviour is tied directly to emotion.

When I tell the story of a young, single mother trying to find her way back to herself, it makes me feel something. I lean in. I want to know more. I want to understand how yoga is helping guide her. I want to be part of that community.

Heck, it makes me want to sign up.

Why? Because I relate. I was a single mother. Lived experiences make our stories real. Struggle is relatable. Desire is relatable.

This is the art of making words felt—not just seen. It’s the foundation of brand messaging and copy that converts browsers into buyers.

Stories don’t sell to personas. They sell to people.

So, write from experience—whether your own or from thoughtful research into your audience. Write from the heart. That’s the difference between “marketing copy” and copy that moves.

If your copy feels like it’s talking to a cardboard cutout instead of real people, I can help you craft stories that connect. Let’s turn your persona into a person worth buying from.