My copy was flat for years until someone told me the problem: I was writing to a crowd. Now I picture one real person, a customer or a donor I've actually talked to, and I write to them. I use "you," not "everyone." The post gets warmer and sharper. Broad messaging is forgettable messaging.
Someone told me the problem with my copy once, and it was so simple I'd missed it completely: I was writing to a crowd. Every sentence was built to apply to everyone, so it landed with no one in particular.
Broad messaging is forgettable messaging
Writing for "everyone" feels safe and efficient: one message, maximum reach. But to make a sentence true for every possible reader, you have to sand off every specific detail, because specific details are what exclude people. What's left is smooth, general and forgettable. It was written for the average of everyone, and no real person is that.
More polish didn't fix it. Narrowing the audience in my head to one person while I write did, even though the piece still goes out to everyone. That surprised me: it didn't shrink my reach. The sharper writing made more people feel spoken to.
How I actually picture the one person
No persona worksheet, no made-up "ideal customer" with a stock photo. I think of someone real, a past customer or donor I've talked to, before I type a word. What did they say when they explained their problem to me? When did something click for them? What would make them roll their eyes and stop reading?
A fictional persona is a crowd wearing one name. It's built from averages, so it produces the same flat writing a "target audience" does. A real person carries detail you can't fake: the exact phrase they used, the worry they had before they said yes, the thing that almost made them walk away.
Before I write, I ask who this is actually for. Not the brand's audience: which specific person is going to read this next. Then I write the whole thing to them.
The mechanical shift: from "everyone" to "you"
With that one person in mind, the writing change is almost boring. I stop writing "our audience," "everyone," "people like you" and "small business owners everywhere," and write "you." A sentence built around "you" has to be concrete enough to be true for one person, which cuts the vague, safe language.
Before and after
Before: "Our clients often struggle to keep up with their marketing while running the rest of their business."
After: "You're running the whole business. Marketing is the thing that keeps sliding to the bottom of the list, not because it doesn't matter, but because everything else is on fire first."
Before: "Everyone deserves access to quality care, regardless of their circumstances."
After: "You shouldn't have to choose between paying rent and getting the care you need. That's not a fair choice, and it's not one we're asking you to make."
Before: "Our team is excited to announce a new resource for our community."
After: "If you've been asking where to start, this is it. We built it because you kept asking."
Warmth comes from direct address: "you," not "people." Sharpness comes from the fact that you can't write something vague enough for everyone and specific enough for one real person at the same time.
I wasn't writing badly. I was writing to nobody.
When this doesn't apply
Use this where connection matters more than uniform coverage: marketing emails, social captions, landing pages, donor asks, sales copy. Skip it for compliance copy, legal disclosures and terms of service, which need to say the same precise thing to every reader. If a lawyer has to sign off on it, write to everyone on purpose.
Where to practice it
Three places to try this today
Key takeaways
- Broad messaging is forgettable messaging: writing for everyone forces out the specific detail that makes writing land.
- Picture a real past customer or donor, not an invented persona. Real detail can't be faked.
- Replace "everyone," "our audience," and "people like you" with "you." That single mechanical swap does most of the work.
- Writing to one person makes copy warmer and sharper at the same time.
- Use it for marketing, not compliance or legal copy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When you write to everyone, you have to keep every sentence vague enough that it applies to all of them, which strips out the specific detail that makes writing feel real. When you picture one actual person and write to them, you naturally use "you," reference their specific situation, and cut anything that wouldn't matter to them. Broad messaging is forgettable messaging because it was built to offend no one and move no one.
A real past customer or donor, not an invented persona worksheet. Pick someone specific you've actually talked to: what they said, what they were worried about, what finally made the decision click for them. A fictional "ideal customer avatar" is still a crowd wearing one name. A real person carries real detail you can't fake.
Formal compliance copy, legal disclosures, terms of service, and regulatory language need to be precise and apply equally to everyone reading them. Warmth and personal address work against you there. Save this hack for marketing emails, social captions, and web copy, where connection matters more than uniform coverage.
No. Writing to one specific person is a technique for making broad content land, not a way of narrowing your audience. The people reading who aren't literally that one person still feel spoken to, because specific and personal reads as more genuine than general and safe. You're still publishing to everyone. You're just writing like you're talking to someone.
