+JMJ+
There’s a big lesson I learned from my days as a news writer that I find is absolutely critical to my life as an email marketer.
It’s one of those things that when you see it, you’re going to say, “Oh yeah, of course, that’s totally obvious,” but, for a lot of people who aren’t used to cranking out copy, this one simple thing is easy to overlook.
Now, when I was breaking into the TV news biz, the first thing I realized was how much I stank as a writer …
And I mean STANK in all capital letters …
Like a torn up bag of trash with steaming piles of rotting food that’s been festering in the hot sun for five straight days.
It was bad, but I guess I had some level of promise (plus I was handsome and charismatic), so the editors were kind enough to walk me through my mistakes and show me how to get better.
One of the most critical things they taught me was the importance of clarity.
You see, I’d get bogged down with trying to write this perfect news story, but a lot of times it sounded clunky, or it just didn’t flow well.
I think one of the main reasons for that was because I wanted to sound exactly like the source material, which is sorta of the style you want to go with for print, but that’s not how great writing works in TV-land.
Eventually, though, it started click, and it was when one of my editors made it real simple for me:
“Write it so that your mom can understand it.”
That’s been my litmus test ever since.
Now, I’m not insulting my mom’s intelligence by any means, she’s a smart woman, but if I had to explain something to her about a medical breakthrough, or something about the economy, or a complicated political event, I couldn’t do it in a way that would go over her head.
What would be the point?
I had to explain things in the simplest way possible, so that anyone would understand, and if I couldn’t do that, I knew it meant that I didn’t understand the material …
And that lack of comprehension was bleeding through as a jumbled mess in my writing.
Clarity, you see, is key in broadcasting because most of the words are already going in one ear and out the other, and if you aren’t getting across the information in a clear enough way, you’re making it that much tougher for the audience to understand your ideas.
One of the easiest ways to check for clarity in your copy is to read it out loud, which is an old broadcasting trick …
And I still do it today.
What can I say?
Sometimes, the ear catches something the eye glosses over.
If there’s something in there that makes you stumble, there’s a good chance someone else will find it clunky and awkward, too.
The same holds true with your emails, as well, where being clear takes on an even higher level of importance.
Why?
Because if you’re telling the reader about a deal, but you’re not clear on the steps they have to follow, for example, then you’re going to lose potential clients.
If there’s a link they need to click on, then tell them to do it.
If there’s a form they have to fill out on the landing page, then explain how to find it and what information will be required.
If you have a specific button they need to look for when they get to your website, tell them exactly where it is and even what colour it’ll be.
Does your sales funnel involve some kind of key follow-up with a phone call? Then let your reader know.
Selling online can be a funny business at times, and it helps to walk people through the process as much as you can.
So, the lesson for today …
ABC … Always be clear!
That Rule #4 of my 11-Teen Marketing Trad email rules. For the full list, go here.
That’s enough teaching for today.
Stay holy my friend and God bless.
Vic
The Marketing TradPost Scriptum – Hit the reply button and shoot me an email and book a paid consultation today, and we’ll see if we can come up with a plan that works best for your business, whether we’re talking about daily emails or weekly newsletters. Your consultation fee will go directly toward the package we negotiate. The only way you can reach me is at [email protected].