The Dave post; Part deux

A couple of days ago I posted an entry that was prompted by an email newsletter I received.

1. A quote from from the newsletter: “Back & forth I’ve gone on all this “social media” business, and I’m a long way from making up my mind.”
2. The fact that the newsletter was in the body of the email and was 1200 words long.
3. The mention of his “reintroduced” blog was at the very end of a very long email.

It was brought to my attention that my ‘tone’ in that post was a bit brusk …brusque (thanks Dave); intolerant (my words). Rather than change the original post, I decided to add a few constructive thoughts as a separate post and not change the original. What I write is my view on a business issue. It’s not personal and it’s not picking on anyone. The view is my own and focused on professionals doing professional work. I don’t feel anything in the post was inappropriate. It was true and honest.

To begin, let me reiterate, I did not intend to be unkind, flip or derogatory. Likewise, this post is intended to help, you, the readers, not criticize Dave. My thought is that using a real-world example can make it easier to internalize and relate to your own situation. Fortunately, or probably not, for Dave he’s the real-world example.

The author of the newsletter” is Mr. Dave Griffiths of Dave Griffiths Communications. I know Dave through my membership in the Assoc. for Consulting Expertise. (ACE) Dave’s background is journalism and today he’s a freelance writer, editor and trainer for presentation skills, writing and media relations.

You can read my previous post for the original critique on his simply titled “Our Newsletter“. Here I’ll cover a few things Dave can do to improve. Knowing his overall objectives for the newsletter effort would be key here; but let’s assume the newsletter is intended to:

1. Keep in touch with clients and prospects so his services are top of mind when the the need arises
2. Reinforce his brand, his reputation as an expert (highly qualified individual if the word ‘expert’ puts you off) in his areas of focus i.e. writer, editor and trainer for presentation skills, writing and media relations.
3. Reintroduce his blog and encourage readers to subscribe.

In order for any of the three above to happen, the newsletter has to be read. It’s important to understand how people read online, how people read email to be specific. Most of us scan the subject lines and the sender names and then open selectively based on interest and time.  (This isn’t a post addressing interest, but make sure your subject line and the ’sender name’ speaks to interest.)

How much time do you have to spend in front of your monitor reading email? Typically not more than you have to. Email is primarily for quick communications targeted to a more ‘mature’, shall we say, audience. (Did you know few people under the age of 20 use email?) If we can’t read it quickly, we open and save for later, download the doc and file it / save for later or print to read later. If we don’t actually read it then, how often do we actually go back to the “save for later” pile / file and read through everything? If you’re like most, not very. Dave’s email was 1200 words. (This post is just over 900.) That’s an enormous email. Chances are those who opened the email either printed it, saved it or just closed it. Some may have gone back to read it later, but not a majority.

Instead of including the newsletter in it’s entirety in the email, Dave could use a lead-in teaser for each article with a link back to his site or blog for the whole post. People will be more likely to glance through a briefer email, well-formatted, than a long one. Those interested in the topic covered will be more likely to link over to read the article. More people who open a long email are more likely to print, save or close it and not get back to it than to read it.

Another opportunity missed is that someone opened Dave’s email and thought, “Hey I’ve been meaning to call him.” or “I’d like to check out his services.” They glanced through the newsletter looking for a phone number or, more likely, a link to his website. Don’t make people work to find you. Dave’s website link (no phone number is included) didn’t jump out at me. I assumed the web address was the suffix of his email address – Dave at GriffithsCommunications.com. It’s not. …Yes it is. Somehow my email system truncated Dave’s contact information and I misread his address. This is my oversight and I send my apologies for this inaccuracy.

And a confused mind always says “No”. How many of you would have taken the time to Google him to look for the right web address and how many of you would have just clicked ‘close’?  BTW, there are links to his website at the very end of the newsletter but not obvious, especially for us ’scanners’.

When I did find his website, I wanted to link over to his blog to take a look, but there wasn’t a link to his blog from the site. I couldn’t get to his blog without going back to his email and searching for the link in the copy of the newsletter. On his website, Dave only has a link to subscribe to his blog feed, not the blog itself.

I found the challenge on his blog site. There’s no way, at all, to get to Dave’s website from his blog. These last two points don’t have anything to do with a newsletter, but are comments about my overall ‘Dave experience’.

So, what are your takeaways?

• Don’t make me work to find you! If you do, I’ll go somewhere else.
• If you want to engage with me, understand what I want, where I am and how you can help me get it.
• Chances are, many of who YOU want is online. Don’t take too much longer to make up your mind about social media.

Hope this helps.

And, Dave, I admire you. Thank you for putting up with being (as Barbara Hart, aka @BarbAtSea, calls EW aka Stewart Hart) ‘the topic’.