How to Narrow Your Marketing Copywriting for a Broad Niche

As someone who has been creating marketing copywriting professionally for over 30 years, I can tell you that one of the most difficult things to do is write to (what I call) a split audience.

Have you ever asked the question, “How do I write copy to broad audiences?” Then you understand the dilemma.

These types of broad niches stretch out across a wide range of demographics and interests making it hard to communicate effectively. One of the best examples I can think of is pickleball.

While pickleball players all have the sport in common, there is a lot of differentiation between individuals. It’s all over the map as far as:

• Occupation
• Income
• Age
• Education
• Religion
• Gender
• Pass times
• Likes & dislikes
• Food preferences
• And so on

I started playing pickleball approximately five years ago. At that time, it was this obscure sport with a quirky name that practically nobody had heard of. Today it is common to see major brands competing for a share of the enormous pickleball audience on TV, video, social media, print, web, apps and a lot of other places.

It makes perfect sense that you’d promote pickleball tournaments, pickleball paddles or other equipment, court shoes and so on to players. But what if you want to market your organizational services, money-management program, handmade jewelry from your Etsy shop or recipe blog to pickleball athletes? That changes the game.

Here’s the problem. The only thing this broad audience has in common is the sport of pickleball. So how exactly do you communicate with them as a whole in a way that gets their attention and also conveys your marketing message?

Tips for Marketing Copywriting 

As a professional, online marketer, and a pickleball veteran, I am available as a pickleball consultant for your marketing.

But regardless of the split audience you are attempting to reach, these tips will come in handy.

1.  Understand Your Audience – You don’t have to become a highly-rated pickleball player. You do have to understand the basics of the game and the language pickleball players speak. Knowing the general characteristics of the players will also be enormously helpful to you when trying to relate to this broad audience.

2.  Be Accurate – Especially in the early years, everyone in the pickleball groups I was a member of got so excited when we would see pickleball used in marketing. We would also roll our eyes and laugh at the companies who blatantly portrayed pickleball incorrectly.

There are pickleball blog posts written specifically to call out companies that don’t get it right and long threads in pickleball groups making fun of the same. Consistent players are watching and not liking what they see.

A couple of examples include an Ozempic commercial that shows people hitting the ball wrong and shaking hands after the game.

Also, a Dooney & Bourke magazine ad with copy that speaks only about Dooney & Bourke and not the players.

Then there’s the Pedialyte commercial that shows a player stepping in the no-volley zone (kitchen). Not illegal considering what the player was doing at the time, but not something a player in the know would do.

You will lose the respect of the audience you were trying to reach if you don’t take the time to properly represent your connection to the niche.

3.  Decide Specifically How Your Product/Service Will Relate to the Audience

The Etrade babies have become something of a phenomenon, but the connection between cute + pickleball doesn’t necessarily equal success.

How many times have you told someone about a cute, funny or interesting commercial only to have them ask, “What was it selling?” And I’ll bet you didn’t know.

Same goes for cute commercials that take your attention away from the marketing message. What can be done?

Instead of funny trash talk with babies, the script could be written with adults talking between points about retirement. Perhaps one player can to his/her partner their plan to spend their golden years on the courts instead of getting a part-time job just to pay the bills.

Good Marketing & Copywriting Examples for Broad Audiences

Let’s look at some companies that got it right with their marketing copywriting for pickleball.

Consumer Cellular everything represented correctly including the pre-game stretches (nice touch). They also made it obvious what the connection between cellular plans and pickleball was: same coverage for less money no matter where you are.

Discount Tire also does a great job (although refs don’t run on the court for safety checks). The message is clear from the start (schedule tire work and save time so you can play more) and the addition of safety glasses keys in on a hot topic right now.

Whatever the audience, it’s important to actually communicate through your copywriting and your visuals specifically how your product/service connects. Just tossing up a few pictures without taking the time to make a solid connection will almost certainly result in a lot of wasted money and time.