What Works? | Shawenon Communications Newsletter

SHAWENON COMMUNICATIONS

Effective Messaging

No. 55
October, 2010

Greetings!

What works? On the Internet, whatever gets your message to your audience. But first you need to know what they want. The best way to find that out is to ask them. So our first article is about surveys and, no surprise, includes one of our own. Respond to the short survey now.

Newsletter best practices say you should survey your readership at least twice a year. I did my last one in the summer of 2008. You might say a survey is overdue. Please, please give me your opinions in this short survey. If you're lucky, you'll win the drawing and receive a free hour of consulting on marketing communications or business promotion. I'm really eager to hear from you.

The second article deals with crafting a message. It asks a profound question--what can you say that is worth reading? The article both shows and tells. I was in New York City last week, without a clue about articles for this issue. The answer was right before my eyes.

Thanks to Marilyn Jess and Jack Swegel for sharing their opinions about the use of technology in response to "Praise Technology" in the September issue. Jack pointed out that smart phones are personal data mangers first and telephones second. If you doubt that, notice how many people are looking at their phones rather than listening to them. Marilyn stated her independence from technology. "I won't become a slave to it," she declared. I'll try to remember that.

Oh yes, and in honor of the change of seasons, my "winter" photo is back.

I'm on Twitter. Follow me.

In This Issue

Reader Survey

Deep Focus

Web Tips

Email Marketing

Reader Survey

From its inception, marketing has been about discovering what the buyer wants. Focus groups, market research and independent studies have been the tools of the trade.

But like everything else, we live in different times. Today anyone can drop a short electronic survey on their customer's desk and learn a lot about their needs and wants. At least that's what I'm hoping, because I'm doing a survey of Web Words readers this month. Please, please respond.

About the Survey

This one will take about 2 minutes of your time, and filling it out will enter you in a drawing for one of two complimentary hour-long communications consulting sessions. You can ask me anything from advice about your long-range marketing plans to reviewing your Web site or newsletters.

Even if you're a new Web Words subscriber, please do the survey. It's mostly about electronic newsletters in general, and I need your help. I'm stumped by subject lines. They are the bane of my existence, and I'm really hoping to learn more about them from the people that matter the most to me--you!

Your Own Survey

Perhaps taking this survey and reading about the results next month will inspire you to try a survey of your own. Constant Contact has a great service for doing this with all sorts of reports that will tell you a lot even if you don't hear from everyone on your list.

Want to know more about the survey product? Be in touch.

Deep Focus

I visited New York City last week. Walking to a breakfast meeting on the Upper West Side, I passed armies of children being escorted to school by their parents and guardians.

I'm an inveterate eavesdropper in New York. It goes with the territory. Of course, I couldn't hear any of the conversations between the little people and the big people as they marched along. But I could imagine them.

Picture the businessman father holding his pony-tailed 8-year-old's hand. What was she saying in these few minutes of having daddy's full and undivided attention? And what business deal was on the back burner for those few blocks as he heard about her best friend and what happened last night at ballet class?

Important and Interesting

Why am I telling you this? Because you should imagine that you have your online reader's attention for a similar brief, but focused, time. If the daughter is smart, she will tell her father about things that really matter to her and that will also deepen and enrich their relationship. She will share not only what's important to her, but also what she thinks will interest her parent.

Your message should be as clear and targeted as that little 8 year old's. Talk about what matters to you, your business, industry or organization. But make your message valuable, memorable and supportive of your relationship with your audience.

Key Questions

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you write copy for your Web site, newsletter or blog:

Who do I want to reach?
What action do I want them to take?
What's in it for them (WIIFM)?
What interests them?
How can I make my message entertaining, educational and actionable?

Then when you have their attention for those important brief moments, you can deliver a message with impact.

Web Tips

I've been very busy recently. So busy, in fact, that I am finally going to get a VA (virtual assistant). In order that make that work seamlessly, my computer has to be accessible remotely. I confess this always makes me a bit nervous. But I've been persuaded that LogMeIn.com is a safe and secure way to go.

The basic product is free and will do what I need. There is a paid version for $69.95 that allows file transfer and printing. When you sign up for a free trial they give you the advanced product, but you can revert to the free version when the trial expires.

Their Web site promises it's easy to install and use. The installation was a snap. I then went to the office next door and fired up my Mac laptop. I had to add a plug-in, but that was easy. I put in my password, and I saw this very document on my desktop computer. Imagine how useful this will be when I'm with a client and realize I forgot an important file.

And Finally . . .

Shawenon Communications collaborates with small businesses, solopreneurs, professionals and not-for-profits to get their messages across in the written word.

We specialize in electronic communications, including e-zines and other forms of email marketing, Web sites and social media. We also ghostwrite articles and other business communications. As a solution provider, we resell Constant Contact's email marketing service.

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