And One Marketing Trick

I was originally going to include this in the post immediately below (hence the out of place trackbacks earlier, sorry! Does anyone else have those days when you can’t stop making mistakes?), but it got a little to long for my liking.

Anyway, the fourth “quick” note–

What a Concept!, via their generally spot-on social media blog, has directed us to Amber Rhea, a blogger who prefers to send and receive semi-personalized emails in lieu of mass ones. Says Amber–

It is possible to achieve the same result of not pissing off the people you’re contacting, without spending hours starting from scratch on every message you write.

Amen.

I don’t want to steal Amber’s thunder, but rather echo it–the Wren’s Nest personalizes most mass correspondence too–email and snailmail alike–and has seen much better results than you’d normally expect.

Remember those times when you were little and your parents made you write thank you notes to your relatives after your birthday? Me neither, but let’s pretend we do.

A handwritten thank you note is much better than a typed one. On a larger scale though, hand writing everything isn’t really practical. So as long as you’re typing any sort of correspondence, the moment you decide to include a handwritten, personalized “P.S.” is the moment you really engage the reader.

Personalized thank you notes are such a no-brainer in real life that sending mass, unpersonalized emails in business seems rather counterintuitive. As a result, most mass emails are ignored; if they’re not, they often have a cold, dead-on-the-inside feel about them that’s a major turn-off.

The solution? Treat your customers and contributors like friends, and they’re more likely to become just that. Sure it takes a little more time, but consider it an investment. Personalizing a letter or an email may not pay off immediately for you, but you might just make someone’s day.

Amber’s post illustrates two great conclusions–keep it personal and keep it brief. My addition–funny never hurt anyone, either.