Who do you write about in your posters, fliers, brochures and web-site? If your copy is mainly about you, your business and your products then you may be reducing the effectiveness of your copy.

People like reading about themselves. They like to imagine themselves enjoying the benefits of dealing with you. They are a lot less enamoured by having to turn their imaginations to you.

We-We Score

There is a measure you can use to understand just how good you are at writing balanced copy.

Start by looking at the total number of customer-focused words:

• Count how many times these words appear in a marketing piece:

  • “you”, “your”, and “yourself”

  • Include abbreviations like “you’ve” and “you’re”

• These words are customer-focused.

Then look at the total number of self-focused words

• OK, here comes the scary part for many of us. Count all the words in the document or web-page that are self-focused:

  • Words like: – “I”, “me”, “my”, “mine”, “myself”, “our”, “us”

  • Do not forget to include your name and company name – if these are mentioned.

Now you can calculate your We-We score – the moment of truth.

• Count the total of customer-focused words and self-focused words.

• Calculate the percentage of customer-focused words by dividing the total number of customer-focused words by the total sum of customer-focused words and self-focused words.

So for instance, if the total number of customer-focused words is 8 and the total sum of customer-focused words and self-focused words together is 32. Now, if you divide 8 by 32, you get a customer-focus rate of 25%.

Use a similar calculation for self-focused words. Divide the number of self-focused words by the total sum of customer-focused words and self-focused words. Or in the case of the example, 24 divided by 32. The self-focused rate is 75%.

If this was an accurate example of your brochure, it means you speak about yourself 3 times as often as you speak about the customer.

Do you need to begin converting your web-site and brochures to be more customer-focused?

Which side of the scale is the greater, customer-focused or self-focused? If it’s toward customer-focused – congratulations – you really do focus on your prospects and customers! On the other hand, if it is not, this could be one of your most important discoveries about your marketing.

There are sites that enable you to get a score automatically. One is at: http://www.futurenowinc.com/wewe.htm

This was a guest post by Paul Fileman of SPS who are a national team of proven senior management professionals, passionate about working to help businesses achieve their next level of development and performance. Whether they are facing market changes, financial problems, people/skills issues, or are preparing a major project, they offer dedicated support from a multi-disciplined team of experts.

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