It's the cardinal sin of marketing, and it's the one that is most frequently committed in every area of marketing, in every industry. I've seen it time and again, not only in the stuff I see on the street, but even in the stuff my own clients initially think they want me to write for them. Luckily, they have me to persuade them to do the right thing, instead.

What is this blight on the marketing landscape? It's what I refer to as "Me" marketing. Pick up just about any brochure from any industry, and you're likely to see something like this:

"Since 1022, we've been doing stuff, giving us an edge. We know more about doing stuff than anyone else around; you can trust us when we say we know our stuff. And we back up our strong history of doing stuff with exceptional customer service, and an attention to detail that makes our stuff much stuffier than any of our competitors."

We're Stuff Doers, your number 1 source for Doing Stuff.

Guess what? Your customer doesn't care about the stuff you do, or how long you've been doing it. You know what else? Your competition talks about their exceptional customer service when they talk about doing stuff, too. And like you, they aren't giving any examples, which means that they are probably lying.

Not that you're lying...I mean, you've said it there in black and white. Exceptional Customer Service. What's not to understand?

Right now, your audience wants to tell you where to stuff it. Which is a shame, because you and both I know you've got great stuff! Your stuff can change your customer's life! You do stuff they never imagined. And your employees will bend over backwards to make sure their stuff gets done right. They'll chase you down in the street if you forget your stuff. They'll check up to ensure you have enough stuff. If you don't, they'll deliver it right to your door.

Wait-why aren't you telling your audience about that??? Don't tell them that you do good stuff...give them examples that show how good your stuff is...more importantly, show how you made a difference in someone else's business!

Generalities are the key to wasting your marketing dollars. If you have something worth saying, then use specifics to illustrate exactly how impressive it is. Give an example. A case study. A guarantee. If you can't use specifics, then there's a pretty good chance that you're either being lazy or you can't back up what you're saying (perhaps because it's just not true?). In either case, you're better off simply leaving it out of your ad or brochure, then raising a question in the prospects mind that you can't or won't answer.

Move on to something else. Something you CAN be specific about. Bite onto something that you can claim as your own, and chew the hell out of it! You'll get a much stronger response from your marketing, and all of that effort won't be wasted on thousands of brochures that no one will remember ab hour after reading it.