Dear Person Who Used to Like Me
June 20, 2008
By Guest Blogger Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter
'tis the season. I recently got a letter from a political candidate. I made a small contribution to him in the last election (in another state) and he didn't win. But, he's making another run (he lost by only about 1000 votes) and so here comes his letter, which begins:
Dear Person who used to like me until I started asking for money. (Now, really, could you NOT read further?) The letter then goes on to jog my memory and tell me why he's the best candidate. Three things:
1. He made me laugh. He wasn't afraid of being too "cute" or "fun."
2. He got my attention and kept it. The letter is most definitely not written by the usual "political expert" It seems real. I read it all the way to the end.
3. He made it very easy to contribute - which is exactly what I did today, at his web site, which took about 2 minutes.
He also didn't pander to me as a "woman voter" - he wrote in a conversational tone to a fellow human being.
That's good great marketing.
Mary, I had the same reaction to a panhandler at a Nashville off ramp, who held a sign which read, "Why lie. I need a beer."
I gave him two bucks for honesty.
Posted by: Chuck McKay | June 29, 2008 at 09:10 PM
Humor is SO hard to pull off but when you do it well, it's golden!
Thanks for sharing a GREAT opening line!
Posted by: Kathy | June 27, 2008 at 07:02 AM