If Your Messsage Is About You, Change It.

It’s been almost 45 years since Mick Jagger lamented, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and sang, When I’m drivin’ in my car and some man comes on the radio he’s telling me more and more about some useless information supposed to fire my imagination. That’s still the problem with many of today’s marketing approaches.

It’s too much about “you” and not enough about “them”, and therefore the information is useless and doesn’t “fire” the target’s imagination.

I came across Jill Konrath’s Selling to Big Companies blog and she had an interesting post about this issue. In “Trash Talk and Delete Buttons: A Candid Letter from Your Prospective Customer” there is a stinging paragraph: I could care less about your product, service, solution or your company. I’m not one bit interested in your unique methodologies, extraordinary differentiators or one-stop shopping. Your self-serving pablum, while designed to lure me into your clutches, has the exact opposite impact.

It’s time every marketer examines their messages. What are you saying to your target? Is it relevant? What’s the focus?

If it’s all about you and not them, save your money. You’ll need it.