If you’re a corporate communicator, creative director, marketing manager, small or medium business owner, solopreneur, marketer, blogger or writer of any type, please take heed.

Stop — right now, right this minute — writing, saying or speaking these words or any variation, thereof:

In these tough economic times …

In times of uncertainty …

In these interesting times ..

Please, just stop. These words are overused, not to mention highly annoying. Why? Because they mean absolutely nothing to your customer, reader, client or audience. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nyet.

Let me be blunt about what using these words means. It means someone (you or your writer) is lazy. It means you’re not taking the time to think about your customer’s need. It means you don’t know how to communicate how current events relate to your customer through you or your product or service.

What precipitated this bold and forceful blog post? Just the umpteenth email newsletter that began with some of those very same words. Aargh. I cannot differentiate one company or offer from another. And I cannot relate to, nor care about, what these companies want to tell me. I’m doubing their perceived value in my life and my business. I may click “unsubscribe.” I may not read their next few newsletters. I may miss the important offer that was buried beneath the mumbo jumbo filler copy.

So, before you put another word in front of your customer, take 30 seconds to think about what really needs to be said. Then say it. Simply and clearly. Speak to the point from their perspective, not yours — and certainly not from some vague collective “we.”

Here’s a made-up example to illustrate my point:

Save $50 today only.

Now that is lead copy that’ll get attention a lot faster than this, wouldn’t you say?

In these tough economic times, everyone is looking to save money.

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