One word forces you to talk about the most important person in your marketing equation: the prospect. It's the most important word you can use in your advertising, promotional copy and sales scripts, according to Larry Mersereau, a small-business consultant, speaker and author in the field of marketing and promotion. He says that too many marketers talk about themselves or their wonderful product. They want their prospects to know about their awards, and they want their prospects to know what they look like. These companies also appear in their own ads like they're the most important person in the deal.
Mr. Mersereau notes that an important point for businesses to keep in mind whenever they talk to prospects, whether it's in print, in a sales conversation, on their website, any time and anywhere: They (the consumers) don't care about you. They don't care what you look like or how you build your product or how big your building is. They care about themselves and what will be better about their life after they own what you're selling.
So, the most important word in your vocabulary is "you." Start a headline or a sentence with "you," and you must talk about the prospect. A few examples using this tactic: "You will enjoy..."; "You will experience..."; "Your family will..."; "You're invited..."; and "You could be..."
Look at your current marketing materials. Read them to yourself sentence by sentence. After each sentence, ask yourself who it was about. Was it about you? Or was it about the prospect? If it was about you, try to turn it around and make it about the prospect.
For example: "We have over 10,000 parts in our inventory" could be turned around to say "You'll surely find the exact part you need in our 10,000-piece inventory." "We deliver FAST" should be "You'll have your parts FAST." Start talking about the person who really matters: The Prospect. Start with the word "you," and you can't go wrong.
Source: Larry Mersereau (May 29, 2007). "The Most Important Word..." Bringing In More Business (electronic newsletter). http://promopower.com.