Your Customer - Another line in a database

Email marketing can be the trickiest thing in the online marketing jigsaw. Most promotional emails end up as being marked as read or spam. No one cares! Well because most of the time, the ones sending it through a database also don't care.

You may need a CRM system with an accurate machine learning algorithm that targets the right set of people with content that matters to them. That's one way of looking at things and perhaps the right away. Another way can be targeting fundamental human needs such as being made to feel important, liked etc. I am not getting in to theory here. In case you are interested, try checking out David McClelland's theory of needs or the media uses and gratification perspective. This should be part of every communication (not just email).

Coming to the point I got this email today, which could've been another generic emailer that would've been skipped in the pile of emails that come everyday. However it's sender chose to be creative, and authentic.

Hi Sushant,

I sent you an email today that was painfully generic and I apologize. The whole team was super excited to introduce you to Jenny and the dreadful CONTACT.FIRSTNAME salutation was delivered to your inbox. It's not good to feel like just another line in a database.

So, Sushant, please accept my sincerest apology for addressing you as another contact, because you're not. You're Sushant, and our whole team - fuzzy green deer, blow-up cactus and all - are happy to know you.

With warmest regards and a bit of a puppy-face "I'm sorry",

There is an important tip here - Are you making your customer feel like another line in a massive database? If yes, then chances are that she is going to reject you.

P.S. Content matters!

Giving the finger to a scripted life!

It's crazy to take jobs just because they look good on your resume. That's like saving sex for your old age. ~ Warren Buffet. You have plans for your life, career etc. You've built an entire script but what is this based on? Scott at Ted talks about how almost 80% of the people around the world don't like the job they do. In his career, he found one day that most of the job he did was automated by his competitors. Building the resume was clearly not way forward. It was during that time he he heard the quote by warren buffet, " It's crazy to take jobs just because they look good on your resume. That's like saving sex for your old age ". This was when he left his job. While there are know universities, which talk about finding your passion, Scott talks about a lens that can help in finding the job we love.

Twitter and the world of hate - Delhi Gang Rape

Common wisdom says that venting out reduces frustration. Twitter, Facebook, and blogs help us achieve the same. While what normally starts as a "venting out" experience, I suspect is turning out to be an anguish enhancer. When I look at trending topics on twitter all what I see is a world of "Hate". Small pieces of hate messages turn out to be a big collective bunch of hate. Take the case of Delhi gang rape and some ill-minded comments of politicians and spiritual gurus. What started as scattered bickering remarks against a comment made by "Asaram" has now become a full fledged ball of rage. This rage was "non-directional", had no agenda and was oriented towards sarcasm and wit. While Delhi gang rape highlights poor governance, societal problems and problems of law and order, venting out on a forum that accumulates the frustration by many such people only adds to the low well-being. It is time we use some discretion and post messages that...

Twitter vs. News - Effectiveness in building relations

Social Media has been termed as an effective way to build relationships. Brands are trying to harness this capability by building social presence on this new media. Celebrities today account for the maximum amount of followers on the web with twitter being a fine example for this. But is this new media effective in creating relationships with this vast list of followers, which celebrities often tend to have? In an interesting research by Lee and Jang , they explore the effectiveness of celebrities in building social presence on new media. They compare twitter and a news website to check the relative effectiveness of enhancing social presence. While the traditional PR machinery used by celebrities might give them news coverage, they contend that their tweets can reduce the barrier of relational development as compared to a news website. Their findings are counter-intuitive and very interesting.

Economy of Social - Social Media Tips, Marketing and Business

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