I have been teaching a Wine Business class at my local Junior College in Sonoma County. This eight-week class, which has students ranging in age from 20 to 60 is about wine clubs. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about different ways of connecting with people and one of the ways was direct mail. The youngest member of my class raised her hand and asked, “What is direct mail?” It started me thinking that so many people don’t correspond by mail any more, they text, email, Facebook, or YouTube, which moved me on to how we make sure that we are effectively corresponding with our audience, no matter how we choose to reach them.
In business, what you say and how you say it is important to sales, to customer engagement, and to keeping your business profitable. Knowing who will be reading or listening to what you have to say, as well as what and how they want/need to hear from you is of the utmost importance.
It’s also important that you consider the ages ranges of the people you are talking to. They may want information in different ways. How is the message being read by your audience? Is it going out in a blog, through email, text, tweet, or on a postcard. Write for the avenue you choose to use. Also understand that most of your audience is going to be just as busy as you are. There are those in your audience who don’t have much time and even less patience. If you have something important to tell them get to it quickly.
Once you have given them the core of what you have to say, you can then expand on your topic for those who want to learn more about your subject. Even then, try not to go into more detail than most of your audience can soak in. Encourage those who want more to let you know so you may send them more information.
Engage and connect with the readers or viewers, using words or pictures that are entertaining and interesting. Leave them wanting a little bit so they will come back for more.
A tip of the glass from me to you
E Column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
Follow E on twitter @esavant and facebook.
