3 Tips to Getting your E-mails Read

1. Keep it short and sweet. People don't want to read a dissertation. If you need to have a discussion, set a meeting, or make a phone call. It helps to read over the e-mail and see if there are parts you can remove. If in doubt, keep it brief. People are busy.

2. Make the subject line compelling. We get A TON of e-mail these days. People have very short attention spans and you need to really grab their attention to keep them focused. Whether it's an e-mail to a friend, colleague, boss, or prospective client, use language that would give them a compelling hint at why they should invest the time in YOUR e-mail, not the other hundreds that they have waiting in their in-box.

You receive an e-mail from your boss after a team meeting. Which e-mail are you more likely to open based on the subject line?
Good: The most important thing I learned in the meeting was….
Bad: Regarding the meeting we had last week….

3. Make it easy for them to take the next step. What are you trying to accomplish with your e-mail? Are you selling something? Are you informing a friend about golf round, movie night, or party? Venting to a co-worker?

Consider your end goal in mind with each e-mail you send. If you are pushing the recipient to click a link, then make that link the most visually-important element on the page. If you want your boss to consider a project idea for an upcoming meeting, convincingly set the stage for the meeting in the e-mail and then get out of your own way.

Good luck.

Until next time,

Dan Naden

A U2 Concert Video You'll Never Forget

“All is quiet on New Year’s Day.”
“A world in white gets underway.”

These two phrases are immediately recognized by a large portion of this population. These are lyrics from U2’s classic song, “New Year’s Day”. Don’t they have like 15 songs that could be considered classics?

I had a chance to see and experience U2’s Concert Video at Austin’s Bob Bullock Museum; I highly recommend that you see this show.

Bono’s singing and audience interactions were a thing of legend; you truly felt him reach into your seat with the 3d effects. (Don’t be embarrassed about the overly large glasses.) Bono knows how to engage an audience and is certainly one of the leading music frontmen of all-time. Edge’s guitar playing rang, jangled and jammed throughout the packed Buenos Aires soccer stadium.

The Argentinean crowd throbbed and pulsed their way through the 80-minute set; U2 was visibly floored by the commitment and vocal harmonies of the thousands who saw this event live.

Austinites - Listen up!!
Here’s a link to the ‘colorful’ concert schedule from the museum’s site: http://www.localendar.com/public/tshm (You better hurry; this weekend looks like the last one for the show.) This is definitely a ‘can’t miss’ event.

U2 believes in what they do.
U2 is a true group (not a bunch of individuals).
U2 works hard each night to give its audience the very best.
We can learn from this in our personal and professional lives.

Until next time..

Dan Naden

Naden's Corner

The Future of Advertising: Baseball Style

Last weekend, under the surprisingly cool Central Texas summer night, I attended the Round Rock Express baseball night. The game was incredibly one-sided with Round Rock smashing the ball all around the beautiful surroundings. The cheers from the Express faithful were frequent throughout the 10-2 victory.

Nyle Maxwell, a local Central Texas car dealer, was a big advertiser on this night. They didn’t just throw their name on the outfield wall and expect results. Instead, they took a chance.

Walking into the stadium, you’ve were surrounded by some finely-shined vehicles from Maxwell’s inventory. You couldn’t miss the vehicles. They were strategically placed right near the fan entrance. SUVs, pickups, mid-size cars all got some prime-time exposure from the passers-by. I saw quite a few glances at the ‘sticker’ and more than a few comments like: “Honey, what do you think about this one?”

As the game progressed, Maxwell continued into strategy to get its name/brand on your mind; Maxwell raffled away 4 cars during the course of the game despite the fact that these cars weren’t ‘gems’. Between innings, the cars (old beat-up conversion vans and pick-ups from the 80s) were driven on the field complete with characters from ‘Saved by the Bell ’ and ‘the Breakfast Club’. Great storytelling -- not just blatant product placement.

The crowd laughed, cheered and had a blast as Maxwell received great exposure and established goodwill by giving away free stuff. And think: they could have just placed a newspaper or TV ad.

Until next time,
Dan Naden

Naden's Corner