If you read the headline then you know the question.
So, what do ukuleles have to do with emails?
On the surface, not a whole lot, but I connected some dots today in a way I never would have expected.
You see …
A few days ago, my wife dug up a blue ukulele from the deepest, darkest parts of our basement.
For some reason, she mentioned the instrument to the kids and they were going on and on about it – you know how it goes.
So, my dear wife fulfilled their wishes and brought up the old uke (for my son Luke, I think).
I don’t even know where it came from …
Between the shouts of joy and the fights that erupted over this puny, four-string guitar wannabe, I thought I heard something about how a friend gave it to us.
Maybe that’s the case.
I don’t know, and I don’t care.
It’s been amazing to watch the kids grabbing it out of each other’s hands, and I’m almost half-surprised they haven’t broken it already.
Anyway, that was a few days ago.
As the plucky-go-lucky father I can be (at times), I dived into the ukulele hysteria with my usual gusto.
I’m not a complete stranger to this instrument, “learning” to play way back in the day when I was in Grade 6. A nun with no habit was in the habit of teaching her class to play this thing, and …
Let’s just say I wasn’t a great student. I was the kind of kid that was thrown into the back row when we put on shows as a class, so I could strum away to my heart’s content, and rock out like no one was watching.
As it turns out …
Not much has changed.
I couldn’t play this thing if my life depended on it, and I’m glad it doesn’t, but when you have four young kids, it’s amazing how well you can fake it until you make it.
I’ve been strumming away and trying to teach myself chords like some kind of ‘90s punk rocker or Jimmy Hendrix Jr.. Put it this way …
I’m not going to be anyone’s guitar hero anytime soon.
With that said, I managed to string together four “reasonably sounding” notes today in an order that – in my humble opinion – resembles a short song.
I named the little ditty after one of my daughters, and I think she appreciates it. (This girl is really good at knowing exactly what to say, and when to say it, when she wants to butter up her old man. I’m not saying she’s NOT playing on my heart strings, but I’ll buy what she’s sellin’.)
Who knows?
With a little practice, maybe I can take my act on the road. I already have a stage name picked out: Ain’t Bach-man. (I can see the T-Shirts now!)
So what does this musical tale of triumph have to do with writing better emails to grow your sales?
It’s one of the most important tricks of the trade …
Storytelling.
People love stories, and we’ve been telling them for centuries.
Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ even used stories – His parables – to help explain things to His followers.
Stories can illustrate a point, and they’re great for helping key ideas stick with the listeners …
In this, we’re talking about readers.
The key with email is that you need to have a way to relate the story to whatever it is you’re selling, like in this case …
I can help you incorporate storytelling into your writing. All you have to do is shoot me a quick email at [email protected], and we’ll see if we can set something up.
In the meantime, I think have another song to go write.
Stay holy my friend and God bless.