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Email Marketing
It's appropriate, in the month of Halloween, to start this issue of the dispatch by mentioning a scary development.
Adverts in newsletters, served by an ad-tech company that is given access to the reader's data to tailor their advertising experience inside the newsletter, possibly even in realtime.
Isn't diversity awful?
That's not us speaking, by the way. It's Mailchimp's AI. It doesn't like diversity one bit. It wants us all to do things the same way. Write the same as its algorithm says we should.
Psst! Is someone else talking to your customers? (Hint: yes, they are.)
A couple of weeks ago, Roger asked in a LinkedIn post what people who have a newsletter want to achieve with it. The post was viewed 310 times. Five fabulous people left a response. Maybe the other 305 didn't have a newsletter.
Anyway, here are the results:
You can’t trust anything written here. Every single word was written by someone who makes money from creating newsletters for businesses. He should not be trusted.
Newsletters are brilliant! Much better than social media (Boo!) Here are three times newsletters KO’d social media.
Marketing departments have ruined everything.
Building an email list used to be easy, especially if you didn't ask anyone whether they wanted to be included. They got your emails, no backsies. There was some attrition, of course, and it upset a lot of people, but the collateral damage was considered justifiable by marketing executives. Besides, they weren't doing anything illegal, so regulators weren't too fussed.
Roger here. Writing this intro from the heart.
I wasn't sure whether to send our dispatch today (its scheduled release day). I'm a little shaken at the moment. Maybe you are too. And I doubted it was the right time to send out a monthly round up of lighthearted newsletter insight. In the face of cataclysmic events, Show & Tell's work seems very small indeed.
Why we decided to dedicate ourselves to making the most appetising newsletters we can for you, so you have a direct and independent connection to your audience.
Businesses today are genuine. They are guided by authenticity. They reek of honesty.
Isn't it awful?
This issue of our dispatch celebrates lies, deception and falseness.
We have adopted these as our new values.
Bad news.
Our dispatch readership is getting smaller.
What could be causing it?
Perhaps the problem is we have too many subscribers?
If your audience isn't listening, you're addressing a crowd that's too big. There are people in it who shouldn't be. (Maybe you shouldn't be reading this even?)
It's a liberating thought.
This past week, we thought about effective messages.
We agreed: short is best.
Are you new to our dispatch? You are very welcome.
Are you a returning friend? You are always welcome as well.
Here is insight for first timers (it is available to repeat visitors too):
Once upon a time, we decided we wanted to give you useful information, every week, delivered in a format that surprised and delighted you. We swore we'd deliver our best work. We promised that we would trip up your eyes and ears, and this dispatch would cling to you after you closed it and lived happily ever after.
Last week, Paul wrote to you the day after Brexit (which was based on feedback from UK citizens about EU membership). I'm writing this dispatch the day after another political feedback loop: the general election in Ireland. The feedback from this election is surprising and disturbing for many people. (For others, just like Brexit, it is welcome news.)
I’m thinking of you on the day after Brexit. Say what you like about Brexit, but it's certainly bold.
In Ireland bold means naughty. In the UK it means fearless.
Whatever your business, being fearless attracts attention. People admire courage. Confident communications carry further. Bold works.
We’re writing this on Chinese New Year's Day—the Year of the Rat—more precisely Year of the Metal Rat. Some of your customers, staff, suppliers may be Rats. You might even be a Rat, like
Gwyneth Paltrow, Al Gore, William Shakespeare, TS Elliot, George Washington, Pope Francis, Nigella Lawson, Ralph Steadman, Hugh Grant, Diego Maradona, Bono, Erin Brockovich, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Katy Perry, Andres Iniesta, Prince Harry, AB de Villiers...
Unmemorable news!
I'm sitting at my home office desk, safe from falling trees*. The tree that was threatening our granny annexe has been safely cut up. (The family has firewood for the winter.) The manly men with chainsaws told me the tree was only being held up by the electricity cable it was resting against. The threat is gone. A happy end.
Paul is playing the role of "Father of the Groom" at a wedding in Italy this week. I think he will have a speaking part, even though his character doesn't usually have any lines in the script. But Paul is unconventional. That, of course, is the whole appeal.
