Ruminations

A bit of advertising advice

I came across the following bit of advice in a small library book that I happened to check out.  I thought it was interesting.

Never use "we," "us," or "our" in the headline.  The advertisement is not about you, it is about the benefits of your product to your customer.  When an advertiser uses "we" and not the brand name, the company must assume that the customer already knows the company, or instantly recognizes the company. If the customer already knows the brand message, then why advertise at all?  "Brand awareness" advertising means keeping customers aware of the brand, not of a personal pronoun.

I thought that was sage advice.  A lot of small business advertising, unfortunately, is very much "we"-centered.