If you’ve never heard of DISC, it’s a popular assessment tool used to categorise personalities. There are four traits - Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Most of us possess a combination of these four traits, but we will usually have one or two that are dominant.

Dominance (D): Results-driven, confident, and direct.

Influence (I): Enthusiastic, energetic, and relationship-driven.

Steadiness (S): Patient, dependable, and cooperative.

Conscientiousness (C): Analytical, logical, and objective.

Lots of companies use DISC as a tool for recruitment, team-building, training and people management, but it can be useful in marketing too.

A ‘D’ personality is decisive (even impulsive) and results-driven. They want information to be delivered clearly, concisely and quickly. They will want to know what results, outcomes or return on investment you can deliver. Punchy ads and strong hero sections on landing pages can be enough to win over a ‘D’ (as long as you can deliver on your promises).

‘I’ personalities are more sociable and community-driven. They are more attracted to stories (such as case studies and your business story), emotionally-driven copy (e.g. creating fomo or a sense of belonging), social proof and popular trends. Images and videos featuring real people are good for marketing to ‘I’ personalities as they help establish a human connection.

An ‘S’ personality type values steadiness, so trust is a key factor. They would be looking for guarantees, low-risk commitments, and proof of quality. Use customer reviews and make buying from you as risk-free as possible. Sharing your expertise through blog posts, guides, emails and so on can help you build trust over time.

‘C’ personalities are analytical. They like facts, data, and logic. They would be put off by emotional fluff and flashy claims, but give them a feature comparison chart, data sheet or ROI calculator, and they’ll be in their element. White papers, in-depth research, FAQ sections and detailed comparison guides are good for this personality type.

Appealing to different personality types is not the same as trying to appeal to everyone. You still need to be clear about exactly who your ideal client is and how you help them, but it is possible to cater to different personality types in the same piece of copy.

Let’s say you are creating a landing page for one of your services. It’s possible to structure the information in a way that appeals to fast decision-makers, analytical buyers and those that fall somewhere in between.

Buyers with a ‘D’ type personality want information quickly. They won’t want to read through loads of text to understand what you offer and how to get it. So open your landing page with a concise benefit-led headline, a couple of sentences summarising the most important information, and a clear call to action.

To appeal to ‘I’ readers, you should include emotive client quotes and images of people (ideally of you or your team). Where appropriate, share part of your story, a client story, or community metrics (e.g. “join our community of over 5000 freelancers”) and make sure there are plenty of reviews on your page. If you’re comfortable sharing a video, this can be a great way to connect with ‘I’ personalities.

For the S’s, you’ll need to build trust. Reviews are great, as are money-back guarantees, free trials, try-before-you-buy options, contract flexibility, the ability to cancel anytime, low-risk or short-term commitments, extended warranties or the offer of ongoing support (from a human). Make your offer as low-risk as possible.

Your C buyers want the detail. They’re the ones who will read the entire page, the FAQs and the small print. Give them facts, tell them how it works, and provide any technical specs. Use feature comparison tables or data sheets (if relevant). Provide statistics or research to support any claims you make about the benefits of your product or service.

This doesn’t just apply to landing pages. You can cater to multiple personality types in other types of copy too.

Or if you’re doing a series of social posts or ads, you can create slightly different versions to cater to different personality types. As long as your core message is consistent, it’s ok to reframe it in different ways.

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