I often talk to clients about making their marketing more personal. Below is an excellent example of great email marketing. This is the email I received after subscribing to a newsletter:
“Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. I hope it works out well for you. Every newsletter contains instructions on how to unsubscribe, so if it becomes too much, feel free to cut back.
If you find something you like, feel free to forward to your friends and colleagues.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Thanks!
Are you also subscribed to my blog? Get it sent to your feed reader of choice, or your inbox by clicking here.”
Notice the friendly and simple tone, the way it communicates that I am not being sold (I can cut back if it gets too much.) Marketing became cold and neutral in the mass marketing era when one incurred big costs to print and distribute a message. Marketing also needed to appeal to the largest possible audience and it needed to last until the 5,000 brochures were used up. A lot of people still make the mistake in thinking they have to sound neutral for it to be “marketing”. This is simply not the case.
With digital printing and electronic marketing, hard costs (printing and distribution) are dropping to zero. If you change your mind or want to correct a typo (my achilles heal… umm I mean heel) there are almost no hard costs. Don’t miss this opportunity; be real and sound real in all your marketing. “People do business with people they know, like, and trust.” Forget most of what you learned about marketing and let your personality shine through. Hey, if you know who I need to give credit to for that quote, let me know.