I never send newsletters on the hour or half hour.
Why? Because that’s when meetings begin.
Which means that when the meeting ends, the first thing people do is look for things to delete that arrived while they were offline.
A few minutes before the hour or half hour, on the other hand, and people are sitting at their desks, waiting for the next Zoom call to start.
What better time to read an interesting and informative newsletter?!
It was to a newsletter that one of my clients had written.
She opened by saying, “I hope that all of you had a nice holiday.”
I changed it to, “I hope that you had a nice holiday.”
The thing to remember is that while we write our newsletters, social media posts, etc., to a group of people, each individual reads it all by themselves.
If you want to make a stronger, personal connection, talk to your readers as if you are having a one-on-one conversation.
I hope all of you have a nice day (you knew that was coming).
Every weekday, I receive an email from MarketingCharts.com.
Each contains a handful of charts with often interesting, sometimes useful, always obscure data. Plus links to many other places.
I want to stay up to date, but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by how much there is to absorb.
So whenever that email arrives, I pick just one chart and take a look (today’s winner was, “TV Ads Still Drive Purchases, US Consumers Say.”). I ignore the rest.
Here in the 21st century, it can feel like there are only two options: read everything or just throw up your hands and give up.
One small bite each day keeps me in the loop without taking over my life!
Actually, it’s automated to update to the current year, but however you do it, now is the time to update yours as well!
It was a story on the radio (hey kids – a “radio” is a thing that plays live … never mind) about Buffalo, New York, which just received six and a half feet of snow in some areas.
Or, as the reporter said, “That’s equal to the height of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.”
Why are they doing that? I have a pretty good idea of how much six and a half feet is and I rarely measure things in “units of Josh Allen.”
Two reasons…
#1. Six and a half feet is a dry, lifeless stat. Using a real person makes it more relatable, more alive.
#2. The snow was in Buffalo and Josh Allen plays there. That ties the entire thing together in a way that saying the snowfall was “as tall as actor Dwayne Johnson” (for example) would not.
All this to say that we, too, should be using relatable, real life examples in the things we write, the presentations we give, and the stories we share with clients and others.
Gotta run. My wife, who is two inches taller than Tom Cruise, is waiting for me to eat lunch.