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Abstract

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Michael Katz's
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A Self-Paced, Electronic Newsletter Program for Professional
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Michael Katz's E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters
August 27, 2010
Issue #249

The Story Behind The Story

What I'm about to tell you may sound like an exaggeration, but I don't
think it is. If you asked me to list the top three things in my life
that I most enjoy, #1 would be playing basketball every Tuesday night.
I don't really know what it is that makes this such an ideal
experience. Maybe it's seeing the same guys week after week. Maybe it's
spending two hours engaged in an activity whose sole purpose is fun.
Maybe it's the wife-sanctioned beer drinking at the local dive bar
afterwards. Whatever the reason, I love it.
During the school year we play inside at the middle school gym. We sign
up through the town's recreation department, and in exchange for our
$35, we get a t-shirt, some balls and use of the courts.
It's not really a league - there are no pre-set teams - and there's no
age restriction. Were I a statistician, however, I'd tell you that the
mean, the mode and the median all hover around 45 years of age. We get
some outliers on either end, but not many.
In the summertime, however, everything changes. Beginning in June we
move outside to the asphalt courts in front of the school ... these
games are open to anyone (cue scary music).
Yikes, big difference. Because while the proportion of "old guys" in
the summer is still a good 70% or higher of the total, there's now a
healthy mix (emphasis on "healthy") of high school and college-age
players. They're not necessarily better, but they sure are faster,
stronger and decidedly less breakable.
OKAY, LET'S STOP RIGHT HERE. Normally, this is where I'd write some
kind of connector sentence - a sentence to tie the opening basketball
story to a useful lesson about E-Newsletters. (If you're new here,
check out this recent newsletter from the archive as an example.)
Today, however, instead of continuing on as usual, I want to take a
close look at the basketball story itself, and point out some elements
which are deliberately in here and which serve to make the story (I
hope) interesting and compelling for you, the reader.
In order...
"What I'm about to tell you may sound like an exaggeration, but I don't
think it is."
Intriguing opening line. Your readers have a lot of distractions and
you need to draw them in from the start. It's hard to read this first
sentence and not keep going.
"Maybe it's seeing the same guys week after week; the local dive bar."
Lake Wobegon effect. It's homey and cozy. It makes me seem like a nice
guy from a nice town (I'm not; it is).
"Maybe it's the wife-sanctioned beer drinking..."
Punch line. Not hysterical, but having the third item in a list of
three be a bit funny is a well-tested formula. It keeps things moving.
"... town's recreation department ... $35 ... a t-shirt, some balls and
use of the courts."
Specifics. You need to provide enough detail so that readers can
visualize whatever it is you're describing.
"Were I a statistician, however, I'd tell you that the mean, the mode
and the median..."
Side trip. I could have just said the average age is 45. But again,
this kind of humorous, irrelevant tidbit keeps things interesting.
"I, we, I, I, I, you, we, you, I, I"
Conversational words. I deliberately use first and second person
phrasing just as I would if we were eating lunch together and I was
telling you the same story. I'm trying to connect with the reader.
"... cue scary music ... emphasis on 'healthy'"
More humor.
"... wife-sanctioned ... love ... yikes ... less breakable."
Non-business words/phrases. These are words we might use every day in
e-mail or conversation, but they're not the kind of things you usually
see in "business writing." That's deliberate we want to make a human
connection with readers, not make them feel like they're being talked
at or sold to.
Here's the bottom line. Telling stories is a great way to engage your
readers, make a personal connection and convey a message; I highly
recommend using one at the start of any presentation, interview, white
paper, newsletter or resignation speech.
Keep in mind, however, that to get maximum effectiveness from your
stories, you need to pay a little bit of attention to the language that
you use. See you on the courts.
__________________________________________________________________

Email Marketing Content That Works! (A two-part webinar):
September 14th and 16th 2 p.m. EST
And speaking of better writing,
if you want to improve both the effectiveness and ease with which you
tell stories, write newsletters, craft web sites and send nasty notes
to former coworkers, sign up now for our next two-part, Email Marketing
Content That Works! webinar on September 14th and 16th.
We cap attendance at 25 to keep things interactive and human-ish, so
don't delay. Once your vacationing peers return from wherever it is
people go this time of year, this thing will sell out like hair dye at
a congressional subcommittee hearing.
Get your hair dye here.
__________________________________________________________________

The E-Newsletter Field Trip
This issue's E-Newsletter Field Trip - an astonishingly innovative
concept in which readers (like you) submit their E-Newsletter for
public viewing and (gentle) critique - takes us to New York City,
Manhattan, The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, The ...
Anyway, NYC and the offices of Deborah Brown & Associates, Inc. Debby's
a client (yes, as a matter of fact, I did move her to the front of the
line) and launched her newsletter - "Debby Brown's Hocus Focus" - this
past June.
As she explains...
"Im like an agent - I represent photographers and videographers. My
newsletter is intended for corporate communications professionals and
graphic designers (the people who hire those I represent), to help them
maximize the efficiency of photography and video shoots."
For a look at Debby's newsletter and to view my comments (and add some
of yours), visit the Blue Penguin Facebook page here and click the
"Discussions" tab up top.

Subscribe to this Free Newsletter!

Print this Newsletter

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__________________________________________________________________

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service clients
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