Title: What Does Your eMail Really Say?
Length: 1035 words
Author: BIG Mike McDaniel
eMail: Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com
Category: Advertising/Business/Marketing
Copyright 2005
Web Address: http://BIGIdeasGroup.com
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What Does Your eMail Really Say?
eMail Holiday Cards May Send the Wrong Message
By BIG Mike McDaniel
Thinking about saving time and postage this
Holiday season by sending your greetings
by eMail? Don’t.
Using eMail will get the greeting delivered all
right, but it might not be the message you want to
convey. eMail is great for rapid communication.
eMail is terrific for business. eMail it is great
for old friends to keep in touch. But eMail is a
real flop when it comes to expressing genuine
emotion or caring.
The sentiment expressed when you snail-mail a
card, picked by you, addressed by you and signed
by you cannot be duplicated on a color monitor.
Some people like to use the free electronic
greeting cards that send an eMail message that
points the recipient to a web page that has an
animated greeting card, some artificial music, and
an ad for a product! What feeling does that
convey?
Think back to holidays past and the joy of opening
cards and reading the handwritten messages. Now
consider how you felt when the card was factory
imprinted with the name or business of the sender,
or worse, how you felt when your name was
stickered on the front by a computer label.
I help people and businesses better understand and
use eMail. With over 50 Billion eMail messages
traveling around the globe every day, there is not
a lot of room for the flat emotion of an eMail
holiday greeting.
First, more than half of the people who use eMail
still see only plain vanilla text. Newer and
fancier eMail programs allow the reader to see
fancy pages with color and photos, called HTML.
But if you send an HTML encoded eMail message to a
friend with plan vanilla text eMail, your message
will be lost in lists of code and funny
characters. I tell my audiences to stay away from
eMail greetings at holiday time.
Many people put their snail-mail (US Post Office)
address in the "signature" at the end of their
eMail messages. Most eMail programs will do that
automatically on every message, if you ask. Start
now, collecting post office addresses so you can
mail a sentiment to your friends.
You can keep your holiday list in the computer,
nothing wrong with that, but leave the labels in
the drawer and print the list only as a guide for
hand addressing those envelopes. Get the family
involved. Everyone can address, even the kids.
If you feel comfortable with your computer, check
into printing your own greeting cards. There are a
number of programs available at office and
computer supply stores that will design and print
cards for you, for any occasion. They come with
blank cards and envelopes. Make sure the program
you select has refills and additional card blanks
available.
Exercise restraint when making your own cards, it
is so easy to let the computer print your name on
the inside like those factory imprints that most
of us find so distasteful. I recommend you make,
or purchase, several styles of cards. Cards with a
Jolly Santa, A Holiday Tree, a Serene Setting and
a Religious Theme, or more.
Send different sentiments to different friends,
business associates and relatives. You may want to
send a Happy Holidays card to those who
might be offended at Merry Christmas.
Whether you print or purchase your variety of
greeting cards, choose ones that use the same size
envelope. By doing this, you can have an address
party instead of watching TV and get all the
envelopes done at one time.
Then have another party (a week later) to select
and sign the cards. Take the time to add a
personal note on every card, it will convey
emotion and friendship so much more than just your
signature.
Hold back on the desire to insert one of those
"what we did this year" newsletters. Those tend to
say the recipient is not important enough to have
heard from the you at the time of the breaking
news. If there is big news in your family in June,
print your card list and hand address some notes,
don’t wait until December.
Most holiday cards will still mail for 37 cents
even with a picture enclosed. Sort though the many
pictures taken this year and choose one or more to
insert with your cards. Order your reprints now,
so you have plenty of time.
If you took pictures with your computer camera,
you can get special glossy paper to print pictures
that look like drug store originals. Don't make
them too big. There is nothing tacky about using
your computer to add a caption to the picture
before you print it. Computer or drug store, be
sure all photos have names and dates of those
pictured. Oh, if Grandma had only done that, those
old pictures in the drawer would have some much
more meaning now.
The Post Office always wants you to mail early,
but for best emotional results hold off until
after the first of December. In 1860, the goal of
the Pony Express was to get mail from St. Joseph,
Missouri to Sacramento, California in ten days.
Not much has changed. Mail before December 10 or
your snail-mail may not make it in time.
Convey your message of friendship, love and
business communication in a very personal way this
holiday by not using eMail for seasons greetings.
© 2005 BIG Mike McDaniel
- All Rights Reserved -
BIG Mike McDaniel is a former successful
radio station owner and major market TV News
anchor and nationally recognized Speaker,
Author, and Small Business Consultant.
Big Mike has authored seven books and hundreds
of articles and publishes a sales magazine.
He has served as a Director of the
International Idea Bank (a marketing think
tank).
He is the founder of the BIG Ideas
Group, a marketing and management facilitator
for small business growth through seminars,
MasterMind Idea Exchanges, focus groups,
distance learning, sales training and
operational strategies.
http://BigIdeasGroup.com
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