Nobody cares about you.

OK, maybe that's a little too extreme. Your mother cares about you. Your dog cares about you. And your creditors care about you, too. If you question whether they care, try missing a payment and see how long it takes them to call and check up on you.

But other than that, nobody cares about you.

This may come as a shock to you, but your clients — even your most loyal clients — don't stay up all night worrying about whether your business will be successful.  They spend little time fretting about the viability of your business plan or about whether you can remain competitive in a changing business environment.   

They are too busy worrying about their own problems.

Understanding this simple concept will help your business boom.  If your marketing focuses on you, your needs, or your aspirations, your clients and prospective clients will tune it out.  In their minds, your company will meld into an indistinguishable blob of sameness with every one of your competitors. 

Think about how people in your industry market their services.  Everyone says that they focus on their clients' needs and provide superior services at reasonable prices.  No one says that they do sloppy work, charge too much, and ignore client phone calls.  But many do.  Your clients are not persuaded by the fact that you believe you are the premiere company in your industry in the tri-cities region.  Your competitors say the same thing about themselves.

How can you get the attention of your clients and prospects?  Stop talking about unimportant things (i.e., you and your needs) and focus on things that they care about (i.e., them and their concerns).  Most marketing fails because it ignores this simple rule.  Your clients and prospective clients simply do not care about where you went to school, what clubs or professional associations you belong to, or whether you like long walks on sandy beaches.  What they care is about is much simpler:  Can you fix my problem?

Change your way of thinking.  Stop thinking like everyone else in your industry, and Think Like a Client.  How can you package your services differently?  Stop concentrating on the services you want to sell and focus instead on the services that your clients want to buy. 

What keeps your clients awake at night?  What is their greatest pain?  Show them that you understand their concerns and develop solutions that will let them sleep soundly.  As David Meerman Scott wrote in World Wide Rave, "When it's obvious that you understand your buyers and their problems, it jars your visitors into paying attention."  Once you get their attention, provide them with Client-Centric Service that takes away their pain.

As long as you focus on your own needs, nobody cares about you.  But once your clients know that you are obsessively focused on fixing their problems and taking away their pain, your business will boom.