NaNo count: same as yesterday
I swear they smell when you’re thinking about a vacation. I’m taking time off beginning noon today. I decided that Friday. That’s when projects began to arrive, all needing priority, most having the same deadline. It’s about to get interesting.
My mother is the type who leaps out of bed if she hears anyone in the house moving about. She doesn’t want to miss anything, I guess. I’ll have to sneak downstairs if I expect to get any NaNo writing done or any project work started. Once they’re up, there’s no way I can concentrate.
I sat down yesterday and opened my email. One thing stood out very clearly – some people market well, while others…. I received two emails from two different writers. One I know a little and have attended her Webinar. Another I’ve shared lunch with on a few occasions and “hung out” with during the newsgroup days of the Internet. I just subscribed to her site on Tuesday of last week. Yesterday, I unsubscribed.
It was too much. Not that I won’t tolerate a few emails from friends trying to promote something. I’m fine with that. What I object to was what felt like pushiness. In under a week, I received five emails, each one selling something else or touting something. It was exclamation overload, and it hurt to read it.
The other writer? I still get her newsletter and will continue to. She sent two notes in the last week. Neither one contained a single exclamation point. But more importantly, she knows how to deliver her message. Here’s what I saw:
No shouting. She stated her case in one sentence up front, then supported it with a minimal amount of prose.
Focus. I know exactly what she’s selling. With my friend – the one I’ve lunched with – it wasn’t obvious on first read. Or second.
Relevance. This is a writer who knows how to market; her emails presented something relevant to me, her reader. The other writer – I’m still trying to figure out what it is she’s selling and why I should care.
Thoughtfulness. This is where the first writer scores huge points over the second writer. She’s thoughtful about her audience – what they want, need, and how to reach them. She’s also considerate about how many emails per week she’s sending. She limits it to one per week. Honestly, if she sent more than one, I’d not mind because they’re not begging for business. They’re offering a service.
Brand identity. She knows what her strengths are and what her products and services are. It’s clearly stated and you know this writer is her brand. The other writer has a brand, but she seems to slap it on thickly as if convincing her audience about its usefulness is a struggle. Plus I got varied emails citing different services, none of which seem to tie together.
Urgency without the hysteria. There is urgency to sign up before this deadline or that one, but I didn’t feel the same sense of “DO IT DO IT DO IT!” that I did with the second writer’s emails. I paid much more attention to the first writer’s emails as a result. No one wants to sign up for another person’s stress.
So how do you send out your message to your clients? What turns you off instantly? What gets your attention and keeps it?
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