One of the most common marketing mistakes is not focusing your business on the needs of your prospects and customers.  Take an honest look at your website, your Yellow Pages advertising, magazine ads, etc.  Do you talk about your business or your customer?  As a basic rule, if more than three-quarters of your ad relates to benefits for your Customer or Client, your execution is good.  If most of your advertising concerns your business, your services, your features, your information (location, hours, etc.), then you are failing to be relevant to your Customer.  

Some of the greatest copywriters in the last 70 years have said this in many different ways, but it’s the same basic idea — focus on the sizzle and not the steak.  Focus on benefits, not features.  

People really want to know what’s the upside for them, especially when they are online searching for a solution to their problem.  Do your business a great service and focus on your Customer.  It will help your marketing tremendously.

If it’s too “close to home” to dissect your own marketing efforts, take a look through your Yellow Pages.  Are most of the ads describing the companies (location, hours, honors & accolades, their products or services), etc.?  I think you will find that nearly 100% of the ads you read are focused on the business and not on what the business can do for you, the potential customer.  

It has been said that Internet marketing is a lot like direct marketing; it is “me to you” communication.  This is true whether your website is focused on a B2B (business-to-business) model, B2C (business-to-consumer) model, or strictly informational with no commercial agenda.  It is very direct, personal communication.  Therefore, think in terms of your prpsective customer or client; in everything you create, imagine you are them.  What would you want to know?  

Now think in terms of your own copy (the content in your website or advertising).  After every line of copy, ask, “So what?” as it relates to your customer.  If you can pass the “so what” test at every line, you have something relevant to say to that prospect.

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