This is the last piece in my series on what copy is, so I want to end on a poignant note, especially as our society goes through health problems at an unheard-of scale and our culture is at odds over moral issues with every flip of the calendar.

As marketers, we have but a couple tools: images, sounds and words. We use those tools to build trust with our customers – awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, advocacy… trust. 

And you know what they say about trust: It takes forever to earn it, but it only takes one mistake to lose it.

So with heightened customer sensitivities and a need to be trusted, I can’t emphasize this enough: Your copy – the way you communicate about yourself to others – must be responsible.

(Spoiler: I really feel like the difference between being responsible and irresponsible with your copy is the difference between being intentional and unintentional with your word choices, your direction, your tone, your planning and your mindset.)

Maybe this only happened in sitcoms, but when you were a kid, did you ever pet-sit for a friend? The well-being of a hamster or a goldfish was in your tiny hands. That’s a lot of responsibility.

Now, it’s your customers’ well-being, their money, and their trust. 

As I’ve said a few times in this series, customers have questions, they have problems, and they have fears. Marketers should feel responsible to those customers, for the safety and well-being and comfort of those customers. 

Our copy should be written in a way that answers their questions, solves their problems and assuages their fears. (And it should just so happen that we’re their answer, solution or guide.)

Beyond that, we must consider more than just their feelings in their moments of need. We must consider their greater context: their lifestage, their upbringing, their social values, and the factors that make them feel like they’re either part of something or not part of something. 

We cannot risk alienating people who read our copy and, because of it, feel left out. Our copy must be intentionally inclusive, not unintentionally exclusive. (And, honestly, being “unintentional” with your copy is just as criminal as being “exclusive” with it.)

What does irresponsible copy look like in action? 

Let’s say you’ve invested in creating a video – shooting it, editing it, captioning it, optimizing its audio, posting it to YouTube, and promoting its existence through Facebook and Twitter. And let’s say 6 percent of your target audience has a disability related to vision. If you were being unintentionally irresponsible, you might use a call to action like “Watch Video.”

How would you feel if you were one of the people who couldn’t “watch” it?

And why would you risk missing out on that portion – any portion – of your audience after making such an investment?

How few of those people there are does not matter. You were being unintentional with your word choices. You were being irresponsible.

How about words that seem benign like “Click Here,” being displayed to people without the motor skills to click a mouse?

What about using words like “men” and “women” or “ladies” and “gentlemen” or something colloquial like “guys” and “gals” when more and more people identify as gender-neutral?

What about using a phrase like “Don’t Worry!” in an ad promoting plumbing services when your customer in need is a single parent of two whose basement pipes are spraying water everywhere and the repair will wipe out her meager but hard-earned nest egg? Now you’re risking being condescending, which is no way to earn trust from a person in trouble. It might sound empathetic, but if you think a little harder, you may find that it’s not.

What does responsible copy look like in action?

It’s more culturally aware. (“They” is more acceptable now than it’s ever been vs. “he” and “she.”) It’s more inclusive. (No more “they’re ruining our neighborhoods” and a lot more “we’re in this together.”) 

It’s more solution-oriented. It’s telling people how they can “learn more” or “join now” or “check it out.” 

It’s not saying “Don’t worry” when someone is worrying; it’s saying “We got your back” and comforting them.

By nature, we’re not irresponsible people. But, more often, we need to be intentional people. Think about your customer as a person, not as a nameless mob or a bag of money.

When you think of your customer as a person and you’re intentional about how you thoughtfully communicate with them, that’s when you write copy that is responsible.