It’s Not You, It’s Me: 3 Writing Rules That Put the Customer First
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It’s Not You, It’s Me. In the dating world, these are 5 little words you don’t want to hear. They send the message that it’s time move on. Adding just 2 more little words creates another message you want to avoid in romantic relationships, and with your target audience: It’s Not About You, It’s About Me.
Potential customers are egomaniacs; before they give you their money, they want to know what your product or service will do for them. The language in your website, brochure, direct mail or other marketing materials should feed that ego. The #1 thing you want to tell your audience is how their lives will get easier, more fun or better yet, more profitable when they buy what you’re selling.
Putting the customer first in your writing changes “We are the premier provider of bird training products and techniques in the Southeast” to “We’ll give you the tools to get your unruly macaw tamed and talking”. “We offer managed services for business critical platforms” becomes “We’ll keep your software and systems at peak performance and put your mind at ease with our monitoring, testing and backup services.” These 3 points will help make sure your written content is “you-centric” and not “me-centric”:
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First, YOU Must Know the Benefits. Take a step back from your product or service and look at it from the customer’s perspective. Which of your services do your customers use the most? What version or model of your product is most popular, and why?
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Beware the Royal “We”. “We” and “Our” are not totally off-limits when you’re writing for your customers, but whenever possible, go with “You” and “Your”.
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You Can Still Toot Your Horn at the Right Time and Place. It’s important to keep the chest-thumping and navel-gazing under control. Still, for everything there is a season, and this includes writing about yourself. The “About Us” page of your website or a secondary panel of a brochure are good places for this. When you do promote yourself, focus on accomplishments, not routine activities or bland descriptions.
The truth about potential customers is that they’re just not that into you. For lasting customer relationships, let them know it’s all about them.
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Reneisha Black-Ferguson is Founder and Managing Director of Proxy Prose (www.proxyprose.com), a commercial writing and editing firm where compelling content creation combines with years of project management experience.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
Great info, Reneisha! Wonderfully written and a reminder to us all to be conscious of our words when communicating.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
Great post, Reneisha! These are tips everyone can use and benefit from during writing exercises.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:35 am
A belated thank you. We are really enjoying this group
November 10th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Customers find values that they aspire to in the solutions presented by your products. Your piece above does an outstanding job of relaying the power of being “other” focused. When you look at growing your business relationships, one is often reminded that the most fertile ground is that which houses the feet of your customer. Understand and relate to the opportunities and troubles of their soil and you will often stir an interest and a commitment that is worthy of your times.
Great reminder Reneisha! Keep the nutrients coming
November 12th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Thanks for the powerful words, Owen. Given your unique perspective on the right way to take care of customers, this means a lot.