Article 1: We Didn’t Sell „Premium Saddles.“ We Solved for „Saddles That Fit.“
It all started with a simple observation in our Google Search Console data for Iberosattel. Internally, our language was precise and, we thought, aspirational. We talked about „premium dressage saddles,“ „craftsmanship,“ and „luxury equestrian equipment.“ We were building a brand around the idea of quality. But our customers weren’t searching for any of it.
Their language was simpler, more urgent, and rooted in a problem. The highest-volume queries weren’t about brand names or premium features. They were questions like:
- „saddle that fits my horse’s back“
- „does my saddle fit correctly“
- „signs a saddle is causing pain“
This was our first major disconnect. We were selling a solution but marketing a product. The data showed us that for our audience, „premium“ wasn’t an abstract idea of luxury; it was the functional promise of a perfect fit. A saddle that didn’t cause pain was the luxury.
Realizing this forced a fundamental shift in our approach. We stopped leading with our internal vocabulary and started mirroring the language of our customers. This wasn’t just about SEO keywords; it was about empathy. It’s a lesson confirmed by Nielsen research, which shows that brand messaging addressing a customer’s specific „job-to-be-done“ resonates 45% more effectively than feature-based marketing. Our customer’s job wasn’t to „buy a premium saddle.“ It was to „find a saddle that doesn’t hurt my horse.“
We used this data to build what I call a „Language Map.“ It wasn’t a list of keywords to stuff into pages, but a translation guide.
- Where we once would have said „Unparalleled German Craftsmanship,“ the map guided us to say „Engineered for a perfect fit, preventing pressure points.“
- Instead of „Luxury Materials,“ we learned to say „Breathable leather that adapts to your horse’s back.“
This new framework became the foundation of our entire editorial strategy. Every product description, blog post, and social media caption was filtered through this lens. The goal was to answer the user’s search query before they even clicked. We were building a system where our brand voice was a direct reflection of our customers‘ concerns. For more on this, you can read about how we approach running experiments with customer feedback (https://patrick-thoma.com/running-experiments-customer-feedback).
The insight here is simple but profound: your brand’s most authentic voice isn’t created in a conference room. It’s discovered in the data logs of your customers‘ needs. We had always thought our role was to be creative storytellers; it turned out we just needed to be better listeners. The data wasn’t just numbers—it was a transcript of our market’s most pressing problems. By adopting their language, we started building trust long before we ever asked for a sale.
Article 2: The Five Words That Defined Our Tone
In the early days of running Google Ads for Iberosattel, we tested dozens of headlines. We tried creative angles, emotional appeals, and feature-focused copy. But after a few months, a clear pattern emerged. The ads with the highest click-through rates (CTR) weren’t the most clever; they were the most direct.
One ad consistently outperformed all others. Its headline was a simple question: „Does your saddle fit correctly?“
Those five words held more power than any tagline we could have invented. They weren’t „salesy“—they were diagnostic. They met the reader exactly where they were: in a state of uncertainty, worried about their horse’s well-being. This wasn’t just an effective ad; it was an editorial directive from our audience.
On average, our data showed headlines framed as questions about a specific pain point earned a CTR 60-70% higher than those announcing a product or feature. This taught us a critical lesson: our audience wasn’t looking for a sales pitch. They were looking for a guide.
That observation led us to create our „Core Messaging Pillars.“ We took our top three to five highest-performing ad headlines and treated them as the foundational themes for our brand’s entire content ecosystem.
- „Does your saddle fit correctly?“ became the pillar for all our educational content about saddle fitting, anatomy, and problem diagnosis.
- „Preventing back pain in horses“ became the pillar for content discussing the long-term benefits of our adjustable saddle trees and our measurement process.
- „The saddle designed with veterinarians“ became the pillar for building authority and trust by highlighting our collaborative approach.
This framework simplified every communication decision. When writing a new product page, we’d start with one of these core questions. When planning our blog calendar, we’d brainstorm topics that provided the answer. This process ensured every piece of content aligned with the powerful motivators our ad data had already revealed.
This system is a perfect example of what I call building systems for marketing (https://patrick-thoma.com/building-systems-marketing-automation)—turning a manual, creative process into a repeatable, data-driven workflow.
It was a major turning point. The market votes with its clicks. A high-CTR ad isn’t just a successful piece of marketing; it’s a clear signal from your audience about the language that resonates. We stopped guessing what our brand should say and instead let our most successful, data-backed phrases define our editorial tone: helpful, direct, and focused on solving a problem.
Article 3: Why We Stopped Writing for Style and Started Writing for Signal
For months, our marketing meetings for Iberosattel involved long debates about tone. Should we sound more traditional or modern? More technical or emotional? We would spend hours wordsmithing taglines and headlines, with each decision based on subjective preference. It was inefficient and, as we later learned, completely misguided.
The change came when we began running simple A/B tests on our landing page headlines. We pitted our carefully crafted, „stylish“ copy against direct, functional copy pulled straight from our search query reports.
- Version A (Creative): „Experience Equestrian Excellence. The Art of the German Saddle.“
- Version B (Direct): „An Adjustable Saddle That Prevents Back Pain. Guaranteed to Fit Your Horse.“
The results were immediate and undeniable: Version B consistently generated over twice the number of leads. Our audience didn’t want poetry; they wanted a clear signal that we understood their problem and had the solution. And it matters. According to HubSpot research, 47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. If your initial messaging is unclear, you lose them before they even start that journey.
The data gave us permission to abandon our quest for the „perfect“ creative style. We replaced subjective brainstorming with a new framework: Write for Signal, Not Style.
The system worked like this:
- Identify the Core Problem: Using search and ad data, we pinpointed the primary user problem (e.g., „my horse has pressure points from its saddle“).
- Formulate a Signal Hypothesis: We drafted a headline and a short description that stated the problem and our solution in the plainest language possible (e.g., „Our saddles eliminate pressure points with a fully adjustable tree.“).
- Test and Measure: We ran this „signal“ against a more „styled“ version in a low-cost ad campaign or as an A/B test on a landing page.
- Codify the Winner: The winning message was added to our central „Brand Language Guide“ and became the official way we described that product feature across all channels.
This process removed ego and opinion from our copywriting. It no longer mattered what we thought sounded best. The only thing that mattered was which message generated the clearest signal, as measured by clicks, engagement, and conversions.
The insight here is powerful: clarity is its own style. When you’re speaking to someone in pain or confusion, the most elegant and empathetic thing you can do is be direct. We stopped trying to impress our audience with clever wordplay and focused instead on earning their trust with clarity. Our brand voice became less about who we wanted to be and more about what our customers needed us to be: a clear, reliable signal in a noisy market.
FAQ: Turning Data into Brand Language
Q1: Won’t using data-driven language make our brand sound robotic or generic?
This is a common concern, but we found the opposite to be true. Using customer language isn’t about sounding robotic; it’s about sounding familiar and empathetic. The most authentic brand voice simply reflects the customer’s own thoughts and concerns. The „data“ just provides a transcript of that inner monologue. Creativity is still essential, but it’s applied to how you address the customer’s problem, not to inventing a new vocabulary they don’t use.
Q2: What’s the first step to finding our customer’s language?
Start with the data you already have. Look at your Google Search Console queries, your on-site search logs, and the exact phrasing customers use in support tickets or sales calls. These are unfiltered sources of your audience’s true vocabulary. Don’t look for keywords; look for full questions and problem statements.
Q3: How do you balance data-driven messaging with long-term brand building?
We see them as fundamentally connected. Your brand is ultimately defined by the trust your customers have in you. By using their language and focusing on their problems, you build that trust from the very first touchpoint. A strong brand isn’t built on clever taglines; it’s built on a consistent record of understanding and solving customer needs. These data-driven messages become the building blocks of that long-term trust. It’s a core part of building systems that scale (https://patrick-thoma.com/building-systems-overview), ensuring coherence from the first click to the final sale.
Q4: How small does a business have to be to start this process? Do I need a huge amount of data?
You can start with very little data. Even if you only have a handful of customer emails or a few dozen search queries per month, patterns will emerge. The principle is not about „big data“ but about listening intently to the data you have. The earlier you build this habit of listening and adapting, the more aligned your brand will be as you grow. Start by analyzing your first 10 customer inquiries—I guarantee you’ll find an insight you can use immediately.
