Let s Talk about E-Mail, Baby


Let’s Talk about E-Mail, Baby

Increasingly, e-mail is the medium of choice in business communications, and that extends to media relations, too. Our research over the past two years, involving more than 400 people in public and private organizations, reveals that over 47 percent send and receive more than forty messages per day. Real e-mail addicts like us send and receive more than 500 messages per day, thanks to newfangled wireless devices.

E-mail has not replaced voice-mail yet, but it has made a dent. Many people get less voice mail now that they’re heavy e-mail users. E-mail gives you the ability to send more details and better support, such as attachments. It also allows you to erase, revise, resend, reply, and rethink. For that reason, e-mail is a more thoughtful medium than voice. These days you’re just as likely to hear someone say “E-mail me” as you are to hear him say “Call me.”

These developments can have a big impact on the success of your media relations efforts. For example, most journalists won’t bother listening to a story pitch that you leave on their voice mail. They can, on the other hand, save an interesting notion that pops into their inbox and send you a quick question back. If you’re lucky, they’ll cut and paste your response right into their story. This is one of the quickest, simplest, and most painless ways of getting press coverage online.

Therefore, if you’re still an e-mail technophobe, take a deep breath and just get over it. To compete for press coverage, you need to be online, as well as e-mail accessible. To do that, all you need is a computer (okay, that might cost a bit, but you’ll see a return in about forty-five minutes) and an Internet service provider, or ISP, such as MSN, Earthlink, Time Warner Cable, or, heaven forbid, AOL (very expensive, vintage, and not respected by many professionals on the receiving end). By signing up with any ISP, you automatically get your own address to send and receive your way to stardom. Yes, this is basic stuff, but as with many simple truths, it bears repeating.

By the way, although we’re strong advocates of e-mail, we’re not fans of instant messaging because currently you can’t keep a record of most instant messages—although that will change soon. But the real problem is that you can babble on way too much with instant messaging (IM has no recourse and zero consequences) and can say stupid stuff and waste loads of time. Conversely, e-mail is a nice way to edit what you write, and you quickly see that there is a record of everything you say when you talk way too much.

For e-mails with the most impact, don’t cut corners when you write, any more than you would with a real letter. Don’t use phonetic spellings, abbreviations, all capital letters, and so forth to save a second or two. If you want to be taken seriously, do not let sloppiness creep into your correspondence. You demonstrate your intelligence by how well you convey your thoughts in writing, and journalists have a keen eye for finding mistakes.

Mind Your Electronic Manners (“E-tiquette”)

Are your e-mail messages news or nuisance? Now that so many people are struggling to manage a daily stream of e-mails, you need to be sensitive to anything that could inconvenience them or cause them extra work. Here are some tips from PR people about etiquette. Please clip them to your fridge and study over your morning latte. And don’t forget to use them!

  1. Keep your message short. You don’t know whether someone is picking this up on her Blackberry or other handheld, or her desktop.

  2. Do not cry wolf. “Highest” priority should really mean what it says.

  3. Make e-mail messages easy for the recipient to file. Write a short message on each topic rather than one long message on several. And your subject line should be explicit. (For your own e-mail filing, take advantage of your e-mail features, such as sorting by date, name, filing, and so on.)

  4. Read over your e-mail before you send it, even when you’re in a hurry! Try to imagine you’re the person reading it. And treat e-mails just as you would any other business letter—with great care. For good perspective, get a friend or business colleague to read over important e-mails before you hit Send.

  5. Make it clear to business associates and journalists whether you prefer voice mail or e-mail, and find out what other people’s media preferences are. Not everyone loves e-mail.

  6. In the body of the message, mention any attachments and tell the recipients exactly what they contain.

  7. Read Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style before you write another e-mail. Do what it says. Then share it with your e-mail-ees.

  8. Use online discussion groups for virtual team working sessions, instead of over-relying on e-mail. And call a face-to-face meeting when the “Copy All” feature is being overused in your group. And don’t get us going on BCC, or blind-copy habits. That’s rude and duplicitous.

  9. Your name should appear in the sender section of the e-mails you send. No cute names, please. Because spam e-mail is becoming such a problem, many e-mail users are increasingly deleting the message before reading it if they can’t identify the sender immediately.

  10. Never send e-mail when you’re angry. And we do mean never. Consider first sending it to yourself before hitting the ultimate “No Exit” button (Send).

  11. Assume that whatever you write in an e-mail could be printed on the front page of the New York Times. E-mail, friends, isn’t private.

  12. Avoid huge attachments. Graphic files can be too large for many people to open. It’s a breach of new Internet etiquette to assume that the whole world has the same access to bandwidth that you do. Instead, send a link to a website where you’ve got the graphics loaded. If you have to send a large attachment, warn the person to whom you’re sending it. Spank people who send you large attachments without warning.

  13. Stop checking your e-mail when your spouse wants to make love, your kid wants to talk to you, or your best friend calls and wants to chat. And take a whole day off from e-mail now and then.

  14. Do not check your e-mail when you’re in a face-to-face meeting, even if this is an accepted practice in your company. We guarantee that your seeming preoccupation will annoy someone, and you could miss hearing some important information. Consider what you’d want people to do when you’re making a presentation or talking.

  15. Don’t give out another person’s e-mail address without permission. And be careful when sending broadcast e-mails—if you don’t suppress the list it’s like broadcasting your contact list.

  16. Set a goal to keep the number of messages in your inbox below twenty-five. This will bring you great stress relief. And your administrator (“tech person”) will worship you.

  17. If you’re going to harass someone, e-mail is not the place to do it. This seems self-evident, but some people are dumb enough to do this. The judge and jury will waste no time convicting you after reading through your clueless e-mails. And if you employ people, make sure they’re not doing it, either. You could be liable for their behavior.

  18. Write a handwritten note from time to time instead of sending e-mail. In a world of effortless electronic correspondence, taking the time and care to send a handwritten letter says a great deal about you.

  19. Be careful when you’re addressing e-mails from your address book. It’s really easy to click on the wrong “Bob.”

  20. Don’t assume people have definitely received your e-mail. Servers go down, machines crash, and e-mails are misdirected. Give people the benefit of the doubt.

  21. Cut down as much as possible on the time you spend with e-mail. If you receive fifty e-mails per day and you spend five minutes on each one, that’s a little over four hours per day.

  22. When you receive e-mail from someone, pay attention to the style he uses. Is it terse? Friendly? Imaginative? Matching a person’s style when you respond can be a very effective communication approach. If the person is no-nonsense, keep your correspondence all business. If, on the other hand, the person to whom you are writing is more laid-back and mentions his vacation, don’t offend him or make him feel foolish with a curt response.

A word or two about “carbon copy” e-mails: They’re like bills—no fun and far too numerous. And they are spam—meaning totally unwanted, excess garbage. Not only are all of us subjected to lame jokes forwarded by well-meaning but not-so-funny friends, but we’re also at the mercy of marketers who are getting cleverer by the nanosecond. You know the type: They send e-mails that seem to be personalized, with innocuous subject lines that catch you off guard and prevent you from hitting the delete key immediately. From the perspective of creating buzz, this means that you should avoid using these tacks yourself, both with reporters and consumers. You won’t win friends, customers, or press coverage that way. Just say no!

Once you’ve started exploring the possibilities of communicating with the media through e-mail, start checking into other avenues. E-mail isn’t the only way to communicate online, and we’re not just talking about having your own website (which you should have, by the way). Just about any industry, pastime, profession, or event has a website and some sort of public message board associated with it. The most dedicated fans of every subject go to message boards to compare notes, share info, and generate buzz.

Plus, it’s a good way to find out what people really think of you. For instance, if you run a start-up sneaker company, a quick visit to www.runnersareus.com will produce a network of runners from around the world, comparing everything from socks to sport drinks. Posting information about your trainers will start the ball rolling and produce some quick-hit sales for you. And, of course, direct them to your site, which by now is a masterpiece. Right? Cover the waterfront, so to speak. Don’t stick to one message board; try several to help increase your chances of getting a hit. That’s the way to start word of mouth on the ole Web!




Full Frontal PR[c] Getting People Talking About You, Your Business, or Your Product
Full Frontal PR[c] Getting People Talking About You, Your Business, or Your Product
ISBN: 1576600998
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 105

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