Really? Oh my word. Not the way to present yourself to any business or potential client. Yikes. Let’s hope those students didn’t take that advice verbatim.

Another annoyance? In the second example, the copy throughout the entire email was centered. And they got “creative” with fonts – sizes, styles, colors. It looked anything but professional. It was definitely not easily readable, but I bet they tell their “students” that tricks like that make things stand out.

The only thing it makes stand out is their inexperience.

Thanks for the tweets, Paula. 🙂 I appreciate it.

Oh, I hate those CAPS and exclamation points!!! Drives me nuts and to me, those are both red flags indicating that someone is trying really hard to sell something not worth shouting about.

Some people take self-promotion to obnoxious heights. And they all seem to think I gullible enough to buy into their self-hype.

Despite registering for a recent virtual freelance writing event, I decided not to participate. Not only did I have better things to do with my time, but one of the “experts” was someone I’ve known through social media for several years, long before she deemed herself an expert. I know she’s a hack.

Since then, I’ve been receiving marketing email from one presenter or another from that event, saying since I’d “registered” for their “session” I should follow them. Of course they’re trying to sell their advice.

One “expert” has only been freelancing since 2012. Eight years in the biz isn’t exactly a newbie, but she hasn’t been around long enough to have weathered one, let alone multiple, recessions.

I have no clue how long another has been in business, because her poorly-written sales letter was too busy bombarding me with lots of CAPS, italics, and exclamation points!!!!! Sorry, but if that’s what they consider persuasive writing, I’ll pass.

Knowing your audiences is perhaps the single most important aspect of marketing.