Save yourself from looking silly in just 5 minutes.

July 27, 2010
Filed under: Writing Tips — @ 12:53 am

Yesterday, I received a cover letter from a job applicant which quietly featured this sentence as the opening to its third paragraph:

Another couple sentences on what makes you stand out and valid for the position based on facts and experience.

Indeed.  Those sentences would have been quite useful at just that juncture in the letter.  But the transparent – and clearly inadvertant – stage direction sadly negated  their benefit.

With less than 5 minutes of proofreading, this woman might have scored an interview with me…one skim of this letter would have caught that preposterous mistake.  And had she done so, I’m sure her heart would have skipped a beat and she would have said to herself, “Good god.  Can you imagine if I had sent THAT??”

Alas, she did not proof the letter.  And now her poor judgment is forever immortalized here, after we had a good chuckle over it in the office.  Well…we sort of chuckled, as we sheepishly remembered preventable mistakes we’ve each made in the past.

No one is perfect, and mistakes will be made.  But when communicating in writing, you have the power to prevent them by resisting that almost-primal impulse to hit “send” the moment you finish putting your thoughts to paper. 

Ideally, you can focus your attention elsewhere after finishing a draft of something — even if it’s only a 4 or 5 line email! — and then come back to it with fresh eyes.  You will be amazed at the silly mistakes you can catch that way.

My motto:  better to have your heart skip a beat at the thought of ALMOST looking ridiculous, than to feel the kick in the gut that comes from actually LOOKING ridiculous.

Why blog now?

July 22, 2010
Filed under: About the Blog — @ 4:30 pm

Those who know me best know that I’m never at a loss for words, especially when it comes to marketing ideas and strategies.  So, why have I never chosen to blog before now?  In a word…time.

In amongst my daily priorities both personal and professional, sharing my thoughts with the world at large just never made it to the top of the triage pile.  My feeling was…who would listen?  And with my firm understanding that time is the only non-renewable resource, I thought…why spend time writing down thoughts that will simply get tossed to the wind?

But then something occurred to change my mind.  At the close of a recent industry workshop I taught (How to Spend Your Marketing Dollars Wisely) during one of Redpoint’s signature Marketing Boot Camps, someone from the audience asked if I had a blog.  When I said I did not, he answered, “Damn.  If you had a blog, I would read it every single day.”  And to my surprise and amusement, the rest of the audience all nodded their heads in enthusiastic agreement.

Well now…a built-in audience certainly propelled “maintain a blog” to the top of that triage list.  If people are eager to hear my thoughts…who am I to deny them?

So Jim…you may end up being the only one reading, but you asked for it and I am happy to oblige.  “The Voice of Reason in Marketing” is a home for marketing inspiration, tips, ideas, and sometimes a bit of humor.  I hope you find the posts entertaining and useful.