You know how sometimes “real life” can teach you so much about business, marketing and things online? I had that experience recently when we signed our kids up for a Bible program called AWANA at a new church we had never visited before. Our first time there was to enroll the kids was on a Wednesday night and we had no intention of trying the church services on Sunday – we just wanted our children in the Wednesday night program.
Friday afternoon I got a letter from the pastor in our mailbox. Expecting the standard form letter “Thanks for visiting”, what I found was a much more personalized and heart-felt letter that has relevance to all of us.
He welcome us by name. He mentioned each of our children by name in the letter, and let us know who the teacher was in that age group, and what they were currently studying. He invited us to the small group session and let us know that we’d already met the teacher of the young marrieds group at dinner on Wednesday night. What his letter taught us about marketing and reaching out to first-time visitors is truly profound.
Here are the takeaways:
1. Be Personal
Our family was mentioned by name. Our children were included and since it was obvious from our first visit that our children are important to us this was a huge plus to us. When you thank someone for a purchase or a visit or contacting you, do you respond personally? Or with a stock form letter?
1. Be Specific about What to Expect
In this case it was the mention of my children and their age groups that provided the specific details. Hearing their teacher’s names and lesson topics meant that I could prepare my children ahead of time if we chose to come. It made me feel like I already knew what to expect and so the fear of the unknown was eliminated.
People can come up with a hundred excuses to not go to your website, buy your product or hire you for a job. Often they boil down to not knowing what to expect – the fear of the unknown. The other is feeling a lack of connection to the company, brand or person. This letter from the church effectively address both of those major concerns in a very neat and concise manner. How are you doing?
Great ideas Angie. Important information we can all use, regardless of what we are “presenting”. I often visit blogs or websites thinking I’m going to learn something to help me make my blog better, or something that will help me sell my book. Often I am disappointed. Oh, it’s usually good info, just not something I can tap into. This is. It’s something almost everyone can put to use.Thanks.
It’s called Customer Service – an ancient, lost art. Great article.
That was a very good point. I try to do that (write personal responses etc) and at times, it seems to take a lot of time. I have been told that I don’t need to do that but I am all about the relationships and being real. I want to brand myself….sure…and I want to make money….no doubt….but I don’t want to do it at the expense of not being personal. I haven’t bought your book yet, but am doing that with this next paycheck.
Your info from Bloggy Boot Camp–Austin–was awesome. I misspelled your name on my post. Arggg…..I also made another mistake but have corrected all.