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Take The We-We Challenge

Written by: Will Turner

Article Overview: Marketing and sales materials need to be focused on the prospect. Evaluate whether your copy hurts or helps your efforts.

Take The We-We Challenge

What kind of reaction do your marketing and sales materials get from others? Whether you’re presenting your company brochure, your website, a letter of introduction or a proposal, you will typically get one of two responses.

The first response is “So what?” Unfortunately, this response is all too common, because approximately 80% of all marketing material gets this reaction. The reason that your material will elicit this response is because it is focused on what you do or how you do it. In other words, it’s all about you.

The second response you may get from your marketing material is “A-ha!” Obviously, this is what you want. The good news is that the way to get this response is pretty simple. You must focus on how you can help others. Specifically, you need to focus on how you can help your best prospects in your Bull’s Eye Market. Make your language benefit-rich. In other words, make it about them and what is most important to them.

Here’s an example of marketing copy that will give you a luke-warm, “so what?”

“XYZ Company offers a wide array of specialty products and promotional items. We can embroider or imprint your name and logo on all types of apparel. We also have thousands of items, from the classic to the wacky that you can choose from.”

Let’s look at the same information reworked to get an “a-ha” instead.

“How do you stack up to your competition? Do you need a way to stand out and become memorable? You have lots of choices, but they’re not all created equally when it comes to increasing sales and customer loyalty. If you’re looking for a way to position yourself as the right choice for more clients more often, we should talk.”

Do you see the difference? The first example was all about what XYZ Company offers and was presented in “we-we” language – “we can do this…and we can do that.” The second example, on the other hand, was geared toward the benefits that XYZ Company offers to others. In other words, it was stated in terms of “what’s in it for your prospect.”

An easy way to determine if your materials are focused on you or your clients is to count each “we”, “our,” and “name of your company” in your copy. Then compare that total to the number of times you have “you” or “your” in your material. The total in the second category should win hands-down.

Take the “We-We” Challenge and count each “we” and “you” in your own materials. Look for ways that you can reword your language to focus on how your prospects will specifically benefit. If you do, you’ll hear the “a-ha’s” you’ve been waiting for.

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