There’s no point in writing anything if it doesn’t connect with people. Whenever you write something you should always ask yourself “What do I want my readers to feel when they read this?” We’re going to talk about how to write with emotion and about writing for an audience.

Your audience is your ideal client. Always write to them. If you’re a marriage and family counselor who works primarily with married couples, write about relationship issues specific to them.

Copywriting is great for reaching people and getting them to do something, like sign up for your services, because it uses a conversational tone. Using an informal tone means you can speak directly to your audience as if you were talking to them. You want them to feel like you’re in the room with them. This is all about how to write with emotion that connects to your audience.

What Do You Want Your Audience to Feel?

One thing to always ask yourself when you’re putting a piece of copywriting into the world is “What do I want my audience to take away from what I’ve written?” That goes back to knowing that you’re writing for a specific audience.

What’s the purpose of your writing? Are you writing to inform? Educate? Dispense advice? Sell? Get super clear on what the takeaways are from your writing. What do you want your readers to feel? What do you want them to do?

When you’re writing for an audience, you need to decide what the takeaways are. Maybe you want your audience to have a better understanding of what you do as a mental health professional. Do you want your audience to know more about you and the way you work? Do you want people to feel more connected to you? If so, you need to know how to write with emotion.

Choose topics that people already have strong feelings about and make them, through your writing, feel something different. Change their mind or help them view the topic through a different lens. What do you want your readers to feel at the end of your piece?

Offer resources online to your clients by writing blogs that inform but also give them action steps. You could provide parents with tools they can use to help their children handle big feelings. Focus on preventing tantrums and meltdowns before they happen. If you’re writing for an audience of parents, you’re speaking directly to their pain points. You’re giving them resources and making them feel seen and heard at the same time. You’ve figured out what you want your readers to feel and how to write with emotion.

If you’re a licensed therapist who works primarily with high-powered millennials working their tails off to be the best, write about issues you see in this field. Give them tools to make changes.

Obviously, Writing Isn’t Therapy

It may sound like what I’m telling you to do is provide therapy through your writing, but I most definitely am not. The copy you write isn’t a replacement for therapy, but it gives people another tool in their toolbox. There’s a huge difference between providing online written resources that make your demographic both feel something and want to take action and trying to provide therapy through the written word. You and I both know that’s not how it works. But there’s still a way to write with emotion and write for your audience without it becoming a one-way therapy session. 

People should walk away from your writing feeling something. You get to decide what you want your readers to feel. When you hire a mental health copywriter to do the heavy lifting for you, you’re hiring someone who knows how to write with emotion.

When you collaborate with your copywriter, you need to determine what the point of the piece of copy is and what you want your audience to feel when they read it. Then you can decide what you want them to do next, and that’ll dictate the way the copy is written.

Empathetic Writing

One of the best ways to write with emotion and write for a specific audience is using empathy. You tap into your empathetic side all day every day when you work with your clients. Copywriters do the same thing when they write for an audience (which is always).

You should hire a copywriter who understands how people feel about certain topics and how to get them to feel differently about them. There are lots of types of copy out there that are focused on selling. The number one way to write copy that sells is to understand who the client is and what their pain points are.

As a mental health professional, you’re most likely not as focused on selling as say an eco-friendly cosmetics brand. But you do have things you want your audience to feel and do. Maybe you want them to sign up for your services or book a workshop you’re hosting. Perhaps you want to increase engagement on your social media or blogs. You might want people to walk away from reading your copy with a new perspective about the topic.

Whatever your motivation, you’re always writing for an audience. The key is how to write with emotion and figure out what you want your readers to feel. You’re an empathetic person or you wouldn’t be doing the work you’re doing. Use your empathy to reach your audience. Write emotion-driven copy and I guarantee you that you’ll reach your readers.

With Our Empathetic Powers Combined…

If you’re struggling to come up with the words yourself, don’t worry, because I know just the mental health copywriter who can write for an audience with emotion and understand what you want your readers to feel. Contact me today to combine our empathetic powers and translate them to the written word. Let’s reach your target audience one piece of well-written copy at a time!