Copy-Cat-Copywriting

If you're like me, you go to those networking luncheons. And you get advised to follow up. Set one-to-one coffee dates. Lunches. And more.

Some organizations allow you to send post cards to their membership once a year. They freely give out phone numbers.

In the last year, here's a sample of what I got from my fellow members of one organization:

• A badly typed, photocopied letter introducing me to a financial services company. The letter emphasized the benefit of working with women after the writer's negative experiences with "chauvinistic" males.



• An attractive post card introducing me to a consulting firm that targets small to medium-sized firms with employees. "We're here if you need us," said the message.



• A phone call at 11:30 AM on a Tuesday. The caller plunged right in with, "I want to introduce myself. I have a service to help with aging parents..."

I interrupted. I have no aging parents. I have an aging tabby cat who's spoiled rotten. No problem: she wanted to "introduce herself" just so we'd know who we are. She chose the phone instead of those time-consuming coffee dates.

What was wrong?

(1) Connect to invite your target audience to a special event. You can do the "get to know you" thing at lunches and happy hours.

(2) Focus your mail on the target audience's problems, not your own agenda. If you have no training in copywriting, break open the piggy bank and hire a copywriter...or invest in an hour or two of copy coaching.

(3) Respect time - yours and everybody else's. Set up coffee dates only if you have a genuine mutual interest. At the very least, ask, "Is this a convenient time to call?"

As it happens, I go to noon workout classes at my gym almost every day. That caller couldn't have picked a worse time.

Follow-ups are magical when you set them up as marketing activities. They're deadly when you don't.

Labels: bragging101, groups, internet marketing, networking