By Jeff McLinden

Many people have the wrong idea of marketing.  They tend to equate marketing with selling. But that’s a flawed view that prevents many organizations from achieving the type of success that can win — and KEEP — customers (or donors, if you happen to be a nonprofit group).

A good definition of marketing is giving people more and more of what they want and less and less of what they don’t want.  The emphasis here is, of course, on people, rather than on products.  If you are truly sensitive to the needs and desires of your customers/donors, then the marketing messages you use to communicate with them will benefit greatly through the use of the most important word in marketing: YOU.

Ad agency owner Larry Thompson coined the term “you-focus” back in 1983 to describe the slanting of communications toward the reader / listener / viewer.  In order to connect with the target customer / donor, frequent use of the word “you” is an essential element to establish an emotional connection and to help the prospect “see” his or herself as the beneficiary of your product or service.  The superiority of benefits over features has long been established in marketing communications — but that is so seldom the focus of sales or fundraising copy!

Organization-centric or product-centric copy tends to discount the significant role of the customer as the focus of marketing messages.  Check your marketing communications, advertising or fundraising messages and circle every use of the words “we,” “our,” and “us.”  Now rewrite the copy to make it address the target audience liberally using the word “you” instead.  Read the end result out loud and you’ll notice a significant difference.

Marketing author and Fundraising Success Team co-founder Barry McLeish addresses this concern in several of his books including The Donor Bond and Yours, Mine & Ours: Creating a Compelling Donor Experience.  For fundraisers, these books are excellent in helping shift the focus to the prospective or already active donor.  You can learn more about creating compelling marketing copy for fundraising communications as a Premium Member of Fundraising SuccessTeam.  Success cannot be achieved if your audience won’t read what you write!

If you want to REALLY reach your customers and donors, keep this mantra in mind:  It’s all about THEM, NOT about you!