I'm not much of an ego kinda guy so I really don't like "tooting my horn". Thus marketing myself is always tough when I'm not meeting someone in person. It just feels, well, impersonal and that puts me off. So I have been thinking of some way to make my meager attempts to get new business more personal and more like, well, me. Sending out postcards and e-mailers really has a mass produced feel to me. I mean if you are going to print out, say, 500 identical cards with the same image on them how do you get around the cookie cutter aspect of it? Well you can, as I do, write a note directly to the person. That's cool but writing 200+ little notes reminds me of some kind of penal sentence rather than some form of human outreach.
But the little things matter. Editor who gets something like this knows that even if the image isn't quite what they are looking for you took the time to pick up a pen and jot something down.
Even a: "Hey there Mr. Gill. Loved the April issue. That feature on autism was amazing. Would love to work for you. Cheers!" let's them know their work and that you are paying attention. It's the little things. You aren't going to get that from a service that mails postcards from your database. Nope.
But the rub is: I have to hand write them and my handwriting has been called many things except for "elegant". Scribble, chicken scratches, not-so-short-hand, a total mess, illegible ... that kind of thing. So when I'm writing out my cards I'm printing so slowly and concentrating so hard that it not only takes me a very long time to write out a few sentences but after a dozen or so cards my hand is cramping and I need a nap. Well maybe not that bad but still!
So enter "Diana".
I picked her up today. She's a little green Royal model "Diana" from the early 1960's and came complete with the neat brown leather clam shell travel case. Twenty bux! I'm going to do my next promo deal-y on her. It will be just as personal as doing it by hand but might give people the idea that I am eccentric. A plus! Artists are supposed to be quirky right? Most importantly they will be able to read what I'm sending. Super bonus with that.
When I get my next promo going I'll post it here. Should be fun.
Sounds like a great idea. You do realize that there is no backspace key that erases (like the one I used ten times just to type this much).
Good luck, I look forward to a description of your success.
Posted by: PvR | July 06, 2010 at 07:12 PM