Today’s Tough Love Tuesday tip is all about “you.” I mean the word “you” and how you’re using it (or not using it enough) when you’re communicating with your clients or prospective clients.
The word “you” is one of the most important words when it comes to writing content that connects with your client or prospective client. You always want to speak directly to the person who is reading your message, as if you’re talking just to that one other person. As if you’re having a private conversation about what they are experiencing, thinking, imagining. Whether you’re writing an email, a sales page or a page on your website, you want your content to be speak to that one person!
To do this, you need to address that person as “you.” Not “we” or “one” or “they” or any other pronoun you can think of. I mention this because some of your email messages, articles and blog posts skirt that direct, one-to-one, conversational approach by avoiding the word “you.” Some of you are writing messages that sound like:
“When we feel at the end of our rope, when we don’t know what to do next, it’s easy for us to…. blah, blah, blah.”
There’s nothing wrong with this, from a grammatical or prose perspective, but from a “copy-that-connects” prospective, it’s weak. It’s not as effective nor as personal as:
“When you feel at the end of your rope, when you don’t know what to do next, it may be easy for you to…. blah, blah, blah.”
See what I mean?
Here’s another example of how the word “you” transforms a message from dry and distant to direct and powerful:
Before: “It can be challenging to put a lot of time and energy into creating a product, and then it doesn’t sell.”
After: “It can be so challenging when you put a lot of your time and energy into creating your product, and then you don’t get the results you want.”
Can you feel the difference?
Make sure your message is rich in the word “you.” Look over your copy and content to see if you can tweak it so it feels more intimate, as if you are speaking one-to-one with the person who is reading your message. Where can you create more of a connection by using the words “you” and “your” rather than some other pronoun?
Let me know what you discover by leaving a comment below!