Please Don't Use Email For This


Have you ever sent an email you regretted as soon as you hit Send? There can't be many who haven't felt that in their gut at some time or other, including me.

Facts are perfect for email communication; feelings are not. (Tweet This!)

This is particularly important when it comes to our business communication. While I haven't been completely successful in curbing this tendency, the thing that works best for me is to keep myself from hitting that Send button until the next day. Most often, a cooler head prevails and I end up deleting the draft instead of sending. But there's catharsis in the rant.

Rant privately (not on Facebook), then cool off. This is one time I'm asking you NOT to use email. Emails are not conversations.

Click to Tweet this Article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take the News out of Newsletter

Image
I'm campaigning to rename 'newsletter', but I know it will take Google forever to catch on. Do you sign up for newsletters in excited anticipation of getting company news ? I didn't think so. Granted a newsletter can be a great source of industry news if it's timely. But that's only one strategy. The main goal of your newsletter strategy should be to provide value. Useful + Interesting = Value No 'news' in that equation. How about... ? valuemail infomail infoletter useletter Whatever you call it, don't make it all about your company news. Give people a better reason to subscribe. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

List Size Matters

Image
While enjoying coffee with a client last week, we talked about the challenges of selling training programs strictly by email advertising. Doing some quick mental math, we figured we'd need a list of 100,000 minimum to have any small chance of success. Building a large list is no easy task and to do it fast would require buying or renting email lists, or scraping email addresses off the web. I'm not very comfortable with either of these list building tactics, however, "quantity" email marketing is extremely successful for a lot of organizations. Take note: big list campaigns require a big budget - not just at the start, but continuously. On the other hand, you can accomplish a lot with a small list - quality instead of quantity. A different strategy , this is all about information (or content) marketing - giving something of value to your target market . It requires having a good reputation to be successful AND it also helps build your reputation . If yo...
Keep reading »

The Difference Between Editing and Proofing

Image
We often use the words editing and proofing interchangeably but there is a significant difference. If you're not aware of it, you could be failing at both. Editing is big picture or 'zoomed out'; proofing is detailed or 'zoomed in'. Editing is about the overall structure and flow of the article. Are the introduction and conclusion supported by the content in between? Are the paragraphs organized well? Is it easy to read and digest? Are the sentences structured well? When you're reading something and you have to pause to reread a line - that's a signal that editing is needed. Proofing is about grammar and spelling and punctuation. It's often about the little words, like 'of' instead of 'if'. And about missing words, like 'the' or 'an'. It's hard to proofread our own writing because our brains follow the same pattern as when we typed it. Reading out loud, or printing to proof with paper and pencil, are both good...
Keep reading »

Good Marketing Practices Wear Out

Image
Is this you... ? When you watch TV, you can't wait for the ads. On YouTube, you let every ad play fully. You open your email inbox eagerly every morning, anticipating all the emails with this week's sales or next week's webinars. You read the newspaper for those big black and white ads. You check out every promotional link that Google places in your search results. You go for the ads first when you log into Facebook. You're entranced by the billboards on the Bedford Highway. So, is this you? No? It's not anybody . There is no one eagerly anticipating your sales pitches. (Your mother doesn't count.) We keep on doing these things, even without an eager audience, because they work sometimes. That perfect timing, or perfect graphic, or perfect wording, sometimes gets people's attention. So we keep doing what works sometimes. Eventually, though, what worked sometimes starts to work even less frequently . As more and more marketers adopt the same st...
Keep reading »

Are You a Poet and Didn't Know It?

Image
Work is especially fun at this time of year because I'm busy putting together holiday ecards for clients. After a few, though, the messages of joy and peace start to become a tad lacklustre. And then Lea Brovedani sent me the message to go into her ecard. It wasn't till I started formatting it that I recognized it as a poem. Then I giggled because I realized Lea had written it. You see, Lea is all about teaching others to be more trusting and trustworthy. Here's the first verse (she said I could share with you): It's time for carols and some snow, Time for being on the go. Take a moment, and don't be fussed, To show thanks to those you love and trust. When I congratulated Lea on her winning message, she gave me this tip: "I went on a website for Christmas messages, found one I liked, and adapted it so it was my message on trust." "Hmm, I have to try that," I thought and started Googling. I have to say Lea's message about trust is m...
Keep reading »

Brief is the New Black

Image
There is so much information available online that it's hard to even give it away. If your content is top notch and needed by your target market, you still have to get their attention ... before you get a chance to make the sale. The competition for attention via email has increased... a lot. Starting fresh is more difficult now than it was when I started - people aren't as apt to subscribe to *anything*. It means that giving away amazing value is even more important... and the bar for what constitutes valuable content continues to rise . Just because it's hard to do, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. People appreciate good information but they also appreciate brief. Your readers can avoid the fear of missing out (#FOMO) if you give them small snippets of your own or others' content. 'Brief and useful' is a great way to start thinking about your content, especially if you are just getting started. Don't be fooled, though, because brief and u...
Keep reading »

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Image
As an entrepreneur, it's often difficult to find time and energy for back burner items like... setting up, figuring out, checking out, gathering new ideas or starting anything new. Particularly when the item is computer-based and it's a sunny summer day! It's easy to get overwhelmed online and stray from your goal. The best approach is to find a small amount of time to do something on your list each week and then put the list away until the following week. You will find it will not even matter if you finish a single task each time. Each short session will add up to accomplishment over very few weeks. My time is Saturday morning with a coffee. A great quote that Mary Jane Copps likes to use is:  "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little." (Sydney Smith) Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

You Don't Know Jack About Social Media Until You've Worked With Experts

Image
Last fall I remember feeling disappointed that I never seem to have much time for learning anymore. I was thinking the small business people taking my courses were smart to commit a half day a week to learn key marketing skills. I learn while I'm teaching, but it's not skills related to my business development. Then in November, along came Anita Kirkbride with her plans for the Social Media Day Halifax 2018 Conference . While I knew enough about social media marketing to do a good job for my own business and help a couple of clients, I quickly discovered there's a whole lot I didn't know until I started working closely with Anita and Tina Capalbo on the Conference. Since January I've been prodded to record video, participate in Facebook Live sessions, and learn things about Instagram and chatbots and ... too many other things to list here. Often I've been surprised at how much I don't know about social media - strategy, tactics, apps and tools, best p...
Keep reading »

Perpetual One-question Survey = Evergreen Content

Image
You and I both know it can be a lot of work to keep the content machine going - blogging, email marketing, social media and more. When I find an idea I can execute in 15 minutes that will give me social media posts and blog content (plus market intelligence) for years, I'm all over that. It's easier to explain if I give you an example - here's my own one-question survey: What is your content creation stumbling block?   Why run a one-question survey? You get market intelligence which is a fancy way of saying you can find out about your target market's problems, or preferences, or habits, or whatever you want to find out. I was curious to know what it is about blogging that people struggle with the most because I want to write articles that are helpful. You get three kinds of content: Calls-to-action to get people to complete your survey - on social feeds, in your newsletter, on your blog, in your email signature, and so on. Sharing the results periodically - on social...
Keep reading »

Keeping in Touch

Image
Photo:  Wim Mulder One of the most common reasons for starting a newsletter is to keep in touch with clients, past clients, prospects, colleagues, suppliers and other contacts with the purpose of staying top of mind . I have said that this shouldn't be your only reason for having a newsletter but, in fact, sometimes that’s just what it is. "I'm just writing to say hello..." Here are some questions to consider: Do you still have to give value to succeed at keeping in touch? Do you even need your readers to open your email to achieve that? If you’re not giving value , what reason do you have for emailing? How often do you need to email your contacts to stay top of mind? This might be a factor of how often your readers would need/want your product or service. Remember, if you want someone to know you're thinking about them , a card by snail mail is more appropriate. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »