a communication mistake like this..
When I sent out the invitation earlier this week to subscribe for my weekly copywriting and marketing articles I took it for granted that everyone would know that they were free – a gift. So much for my communication skills because when I sent the same invitation to my offline database I received this email:
Hi Carol,
What is not clear to me is whether you are offering these articles for free or at a cost, or only to people who have bought something from you.
Regards,
Hasse Nyman
Well, I sat there and thought “That will teach you to be clearer in your messages!”
This was my reply:
Hi Hasse,
That is a great point you’ve made! I’m so used to giving gifts (like these articles) that it did not occur to me that someone might think there is a cost.
So – the answer is they are yours, simply by subscribing.
Now, you might be thinking – why would I do that? Well, sending you a weekly article allows me to help you with your copywriting and marketing and allows me to further or create a relationship with you. Hopefully, in the long term, you may decide you would like to buy something from me – but you do not have to.
Does that answer your question?
Kind regards
Carol
Why am I sharing this with you? Because it is so easy to assume that people reading (or listening) to your message are on the same wave-length and fully understand what you mean. But that’s not always the case, especially if they’ve not had any communication with you before – or perhaps not for some time.
That’s why it is so important to make sure that you fully explain any offer you may be making.
I think the simplest way to do that is to ask someone who doesn’t know anything about your product or service or offer to read or listen to your presentation and check if they ‘get it’. If they don’t, well you’ve got some more work to do, haven’t you? 
It’s a salutary lesson for me and I’m grateful that Hasse took the time to check with me.
Hmm.. I wonder how many others were unsure? I think I’d better pop a quick note to let everyone know there’s no cost, so if you’ve already read and subscribed to the articles please ignore the follow-up note I’ll be sending.
(BTW – if you didn’t see the original message you can read it and see what the articles are – and subscribe for them – at PG-Articles).
Have a good weekend.
2nd November 2011 at 5:50 pm
Hi Banzai,
sorry this is not something I can help you with. I have no experience of Joomla. It might be worth searching the WordPress and Joomla help systems to see if they can offer a solution. Good luck
18th July 2011 at 7:58 am
this is a great article, thank you
I think it’s only just about being clear but also being structured so you communicate the important parts of your message first.
again great post
27th May 2011 at 5:58 am
You have a very powerful tips. You have a very important guidelines here Carol. This is very useful and helpful to us,a big thanks to you
.
24th May 2011 at 2:23 pm
Great point. You can never really assume that what your trying to reach to the masses has been grasped by them. Some only make a highlight of what’s important in a message so if your planning in making it brief make sure that it contains everything essential. I’ve also experienced this and I can tell you that it was a great deal of pain in the ‘arse’.
20th May 2011 at 3:04 pm
That’s true, Garry. And on the subject of being clear in our markting messages, keep a look out for my next post on the words we use (or perhaps shouldn’t use!)
20th May 2011 at 12:44 pm
Great tip, Carol.
I think it’s vital to be 100% clear with all of your marketing messages because people’s attention span is so limited nowadays, there’s always another potential shiny offer, free or paid, to distract and take them away from your web page or your email.