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Cover Letters Capture Attention
part of the series: How to Use Print Promotional Tools
 Cover letters give a personal touch to everything you send out. People look at your cover letter first, so it deserves your attention. You only get one chance to make a first impression - and you want it to be a good one.
A good cover letter captures your reader's attention. Attention is the first step to relationships. And relationships lead to sales. Have I got your attention now?
A well-written cover letter won't guarantee you results. But you can be sure that a poor one won't get you past "hello."
"I have received letters that were two and three pages long. I never have the time to read about the life and times of an artist whom I did not know. When reading a cover letter, the most important thing I wanted to learn about this person was whether the artist knew anyone I knew. And when these artists mentioned a familiar name, I would spend a great deal more time reviewing the material.
"Recently I saw a cover letter from an artist who had run-on sentences and no break between paragraphs. It was impossible to follow what this artist was trying to say. Remember that with any writing you do, keep it simple and understandable to the general public. When you have only a short amount of time to get your point across, it is essential to be clear and concise."
Few people can just sit down and write perfect letter first time in just a few minutes.
Writing is a four-part process. Think, Write, Edit and Check.
1. Think
Be clear about why you are communicating. You can use cover letters to submit a proposal, follow-up on interest, or thank someone with a gift. Cover letters serve many purposes, but each one you send should have a single focus.
Know your audience. Take a moment to think about the person who will read your letter. If you don't know much about them, this is the time to do some research. Write to a human being, not a job title.
2. Write
It takes longer to write a good short letter than a poor rambling one. Limit your cover letter to three paragraphs. Keep each paragraph to three or four sentences. Keep each sentence on the purpose of that paragraph. I love the Flesch-Kincaid Index that gives you a score for passive sentences, readability and grade level. (You will find it in the spell-check Options in Microsoft Word. The readability for this post is 76.3 and the grade level is 5.6. That means you can scan it quickly and get the message.)
3. Edit.
Set the letter aside for at least a few hours. Come back to it with fresh eyes. Put yourself in the reader's shoes and see if it makes sense, is appealing and if you would want to go to the next step.
4. Check.
Review grammar and spelling. If you use spell-check software remember that it does not pick up incorrect word usage and watch out for auto-correction of words like "you're" for "your."
Click here for a free cover letter template.
Have any good tips to add about how to write a good cover letter? Please post them here.
P.S. If you missed the beginning of this series, click here.
P.P.S. We have a sample cover letter and lots more info in "Creating Your Professional Portfolio.
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Robin's Marketing Action Tip - How to make your letters and documents represent you well
Okay, you've written a cover letter, what next? Take a look at these two images.
They both have the same info, but which one do you think will get read,
and taken more seriously? The recipient WILL judge this artist by how it
looks.
Again, the content is the same, but the formatting and layouts are different. Here's what I did:
1. Instead of just typing the artists name, I added her logo and contact info into the header area. (assuring that the formatting will remain stable even if text and images are moved.)
2. The text is broken up into the three paragraphs Aletta talks about in her tip (above).
3. The images are larger (so the receipient can actually see what they look like) and are aligned within the body of the letter, not just added at the end.
4. The margins are adjusted and are equal side-to-side and top-to-bottom.
The second letter has a more professional appearance and shows that the artist cares enough to apply her professionalism, and her sense of style and layout, to everything she does.
If you were a gallery owner or show judge, which letter would give you the impression that this artist is someone worth considering?
Write to me if you have questions
and I'll cover them in upcoming tips (robin@artistcareertraining.com).
All my best to you and yours, 
Robin Sagara
Web Marketing Mentor |
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Contact:
Aletta de Wal
Author of the Forthcoming Book:
"My Real Job is Being an Artist: How to Make a Living Making Art"
Artist Advisor
Artist Career Training
www.ArtistCareerTraining.com
www.ArtBusinessLibrary.com
(650) 917-1225 Pacific Time
aletta@artistcareertraining.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/artmktgmentor
Friend me on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/aletta
Supplemented by ArtMatters! Art Business Bits, Art Career Cheer, Art Marketing Morsels and A.C.T. Learning Opportunities to Help Artists Make More Money. Library of Congress ISSN# 1552-9428.
© 2010 Artist Career Training. Aletta@ArtistCareerTraining.com. All Rights Reserved.
*FTC
Disclosure: When we find artists like Tara Reed who have deep, proven
experience in a topic that will help you make a better living making
art, we put them front and center. When these fine folks offer
services and products that are first class, sometimes we agree to help
each other get the word out to you with an "affiliate" arrangement,
which means that we will earn a small commission for referring you to
their resources. Those are marked with an asterisk.
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