Every now and then, we forget how critical copy is, but last night one member of the Infusionsoft marketing team received a funny reminder.
She received a letter on her doorstep, soliciting a date. She was both flattered and horrified. After reading through the letter, it’s easy to see why. We’ve censored the names to protect the innocent (and desiring).
I’ll point out that she was approached from this individual once in an unsolicited manner. Then she received this:
Without digging too deep in the approach or diving into ad hominem arguments on the subject itself, we believe there are several key lessons you can learn from this letter.
- Authenticity is important but not everything. It’s obvious that the author was expressing genuine feelings in this letter but the spelling and grammatical errors completely detract from those sentiments. Imagine how effective the letter could have been without the distracting errors.
- Always spell check or use a dictionary. If you’re not sure on how to spell a word or if you’re stumped on the homonym (e.g., right vs. write), always look it up. You can effortlessly run a spell check in Microsoft Word by pressing the F7 key.
- Establish rapport before making a sales attempt. Getting a date is a lot like closing a sale–both are difficult to do without a previously established rapport. I’m sure the author would benefit from establishing a strong rapport before asking for digits or professing his love.
- Having character and spirit always helps. Two ways to engage readers are to include character and spirit. The same spirit and character you should share in your copy. Be mindful not to go over the top or else you could scare your readers.
Do you have any interesting tales from letters you’ve received? Dish it in the comments!
