Get Voice: What’s Wrong With Your Email Marketing, Holiday Cards, and Survey Invitations

For the past month, my inbox has been overflowing with the voices of marketers in festive holiday style. It’s nice to get real cards in my real mailbox from real people I really know, but most of this digital pile has gone straight to the trash. But don’t people love seasonal greetings? Yes and no. If you want people to actually read your emails — and, yes, your survey invitations! — you gotta have voice. With that in mind, check out these three buckets…   What’s Voice Again? When you hear my voice, you know it’s me. This totally straightforward concept is a powerful tool you can use to review and improve your writing, marketing-focused or otherwise. Voice is the golden thread that flows through language. It reveals something about the author, connects to the audience, and connects to the topic. It’s why some of those holiday cards you received sounded like they were from real people (probably because they were!).   Polished to a Chill You know those houses where everything is put away, where there’s nothing on any horizontal surface and it’s impossible to tell anyone lives there at all? That’s this type of message. Sure, it’s clean, but that’s about it. It might be stylish, but it’s impossible to tell anything about the personality of the occupants. Who are they? What are they into? Marketing messages and survey invitations that sacrifice personality for brevity and class are missing out. There’s nothing for readers to connect with, nothing […]