Worry less about what’s good for your company and more about what’s good for your
customer. Chances are, the former will take care of itself when more attention is paid to the latter.

Marketing strategist and best-selling author David Meerman Scott (www.davidmeermanscott.com) suggests using a simple test offered by MarketingSherpa.com to determine if your company is using an egoless approach, or more of an egocentric one. The test can be telling and it will help you ascertain how well your marketing and sales approach is working ― or, in many cases, not working.

Meerman Scott suggests examining your Web site text or a piece of direct mail by adding the number of times you see the words “we,” “us,” “our” or your company’s name in the literature, then count the number of times you see the words “you,” “your” or the job title of your prospects. If the former is a higher number, you have a copywriting problem and your focus needs to be drastically altered.

Focusing on you is also a common pitfall when discussing press releases. Don’t tell readers how great you are. Instead of tooting your own horn, take time to sit down with your marketing team and analyze what your customers want. They don’t care about your problems or the state of your business; they just want you to focus on them and their needs.

Your marketing is meant to be the beginning of a relationship that makes it easier to sell your products or services. To do that effectively, you need to work at understanding your target audience.

You can never overdo it when it comes to focusing on your customer. They are your lifeline; treat them as such.

James Diehl, who lives in Seaford, Del., is a chief writer for Hook PR Group.