We are devouring so much media these days: websites, emails, newsletters, TV, radio, print (albeit dwindling), online videos and social media. With this avalanche of content you’d think that we would be less detailed about picking up on the nuances, less effected by poor communication and design, but I find the opposite to be true. The more media I consume the more neon orange and off-putting the really bad content becomes and the more pastoral and engaging the well written/designed content becomes.

Here are a few examples of messages I recently received that turned me off:

WHERE’S THE BFF

“Hi Ian,

I’m thrilled to personally invite you to Mediabistro Circus 2009, Extraordinary Impact: Where Media Meets Technology. An impressive roster of new media MacGyvers will share ingenious ways to make the most of limited resources in a challenging economy.

At Mediabistro Circus, you’ll learn how to:

Turn your passion into a business with Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek
Give your brand personality with Gary Vaynerchuck, host of Wine Library TV
Build relationships that power success with Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone
Create a journalism of engagement with John A. Byrne, executive editor, Businessweek.com
Create your own social network with Gina Bianchini, founder and CEO of social networking platform Ning.com. And we’ll have entertainment, valuable opportunities to meet your colleagues, and some fun surprises.

One especially good bit of news is that we’ve reduced the ticket price this year to make it easier for you to attend and learn from these inspiring innovators. The early-bird 2-day pass for one person is $695, and the group rate is just $245. Register now to lock in these deals.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Laurel
Laurel Touby
founder & cyberhostess | mediabistro.com”

Communication Next Time

While I appreciate the “personal invitation” once I scroll past the fold I realize I am really not that special. “Personal invitation” is camouflaged marketing lingo for there is a field in our database named FirstName. If this was indeed “personal”,  Laurel Touby would have sent me an email not mailer@mediabistro.com. It is these small things that differentiate building real trust and just asking for the sale.

Next time just send me, and the other 100k people in your database, a more informative email and skip the personal business, it’s not personal, it’s business—and I understand we’re not bff’s.

WHERE’S THE DISASTER?

I, like much of wired America, order many things from Amazon. I have very few complaints—except this.

It wasn’t raining on January 27th; it was neither too hot nor too cold. Everything was perfect about the day except I needed dual monitors to get started on a content migration project and needed (4) Tritton TRI-UV100 SEE2 USB 2.0 SVGA Adapters and they weren’t in the office when I arrived. This created a wee bit of stress that was further amplified by the lack of knowledge concerning a potential “natural disaster.”

This got me:

a. Worried about the UPS driver.

b. Wondering if a tornado was headed towards me.

c. Wrestling with navigation at weather.com (which actually is a disaster).

Communication Next Time

Next time tell me my package is running late and give me a realistic date of when it’s going to arrive— “Delayed”, is just fine.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 11:01 am and is filed under News, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.