Times 2006 Person of the Year is Dead in 2007
In direct response copywriting, we were taught that the pronoun ”you” is the magic word that brings success.
Use the pronoun “you” PLUS your prospects’ name a couple dozen times in your emails, web pages, and direct marketing letters…. and YOU will be rolling in riches!
Well…. sort of.
“You” is important! But consider this…
Over-personalization has become tired and stale. I’m not impressed anymore when I get an email that uses “Laura” a few times throughout the text.
And that thrill I used to get when I received a piece of junk mail with my name in a big red font face?
Well… the thrill is gone for me.
And I will bet that your enthusiasm for these tired personalization tactics has waned, as well.
After all, manipulating a computer database to use my name repeatedly is not really personal.
In 2006, “You” may be Time’s Person of the Year.
But in 2007, You is dead!
So enter the newest, latest word in direct response copywriting….
The pronoun “I” is in!
In the age of the blog, people want real personality more than fake-personalization.
What makes a blog personal is not being assaulted with an endless attack of “you’s.”
Rather, blog readers need to sense the presence and personality of a real writer with a real personality. The best blogs, the most effective direct response letters and emails — they all come from a real human being.
Not a computer.
Not a committee.
One human being with a real voice and a real personality, writing to another.
Using a computer to splash a prospect’s name all over the page isn’t personal. It doesn’t work very well any more: I do not need to be reminded that I am a real person with a real name. And I don’t like the implied threat that my personal information can be manipulated on a database for some marketer somewhere.
The real personalization comes from one real person, talking to another real person.
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