Sunday, October 14, 2007

A Little Sugar Helps The Medicine Go Down!

Greetings Friends!

Sorry for the unusual absence...time is a precious commodity and that being said, let's call the meeting of the Order of The Sleepless Knights to order, please! (With apologies to Mr. Buffett!)

There's something to be said about rattling cages, and my article on FuneralWire provoked an interesting reponse from one of the readers.

This nice lady took me to task for the article I wrote about Holiday Marketing Plans...not about my theorys or observations, but my writing style. She found such things like my referring to our client families with the generic "Joe and Jane Jones" (a variation of the technique called Seussing, for all you copywriting folk out there) and my using vile words, like "crap."

Oh, crap.

As I typed a response to this reader (by the way, I'm ALWAYS read and respond to feedback from my readers, so if you want to weigh in, fire away!) I found myself befuddled and amused by her concerns, for this reason:

Due to years of our own selfishness and ineptitude, the crystal ball is murky at best. Don't we have more important things to address, like the future of our firms and our industry?

There are a number of us working to recharge and renew funeral service as we know it. My knowledge base is funeral service marketing/advertising, public relations, and customer service excellence. I write how I talk, which is one of the first rules they teach you in any successful writing course. Dutifully sit through your English classes, and if you choose to write as a vocation, bid Mr. Warriner goodbye and write how you speak.

So here's what my thoughts are:

Normal marketing article *snore*
Classroom style lecture *ditto*
Adhering to the Queen's English *major snore*

Can you imagine if Stephen King wrote his tomes in the style of a textbook?

My goal is for YOU to feel as if we were sitting down together on a Friday at a tavern in our neighborhood...sipping a frosty one and talking about our week. This week's blog entry is all about you...how do you want me to present these morsels to you? Harvard Grammarian or Guerrilla Director? I want to do it the way YOU want me to!

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to your comments!

Best,

Dan Heaman, CFSP
The Guerrilla Director
http://www.guerrilladirector.com/


PS - Do I dare risk ruffling a few more feathers?...I'll give a free coaching session to the first person who emails me with the name of the person who said this:

"I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not."

Have a great week!

D








2 comments:

Anonymous said...

so who won?

Dan said...

The "ayes" have it! No one spoke up against my current writing style, so let the good times roll!