Cleaning out the backlog.

I have a few items I have had pending, but never got around to a full write up on. Today's "needs to leave the list" entry is by Seth Godin. Seth Godin is an interesting pundit who talks a lot about marketing and professional development. He has written quite a few business books that I haven't read and quite a many blog posts which I have. I wholeheartedly recommend his blog if you are interested in business marketing topics.

how to send a personal e-mail has been in my bookmark list for a long time, because it isn't really a technology piece. Yes, this is something I find important as I have had many a bad marketing e-mail sent my way. In fact, I suspect I could pull an example of all 14 of his points from my archives.

One thing that companies often wish to do is "send out a massive marketing campaign" while as the same time "making it seem personal". Let's be honest for a moment: you can't do both and get away with it for any length of time. Oh, you might get one e-mail out that many of the recipients are fooled by, but whatever tricks you used will be noticed the second or third time.

People are really, really good at social pattern recognition, even via something as impersonal as an e-mail. If you really want to engage a reader, follow the link and understand why each point is important.