The challenge of getting quality feedback on your marketing content

Adapted from image by John Tyson on Unsplash.

So you’ve written your draft of a landing page or sales letter. It’s sort of okay, but you feel it’s missing something. Or you wonder if people will misunderstand something you’ve written. Or you wonder when to stop tweaking and share what you’ve written.

We all need an outside perspective. We all get too close to our copy.

For instance, I was writing about how comedians can help you tell stories. Someone asked, “Are you going to teach people to be funny?”

Well no, actually. You have to be super careful about using humor in business. Obvious to me but not to my readers.

But getting feedback can be challenging. Sometimes you get really great free feedback in groups. But sometimes…

…they recommend the latest cookie-cutter formula they just learned in copywriting class (I did this when I was brand new and can recognize a newbie copywriter a mile away)

…they’re so eager to be helpful that they’ll say anything at all

…they don’t want to hurt your feelings so they say everything seems great (and why not…taking the risk of being critical can feel like work)

…you need more than a fast-action response: you need to step back, review your story, and consider your…