Managing “Voice” in eNewsletters

So you have it in your head that you are going to write an enewsletter. Does this mean you are going to write a business letter? If you want these communications to succeed, you had better not. The most effective of these communications are not those that speak at people, as most business letters do. The most effective are those that speak with people.

You surely want to get on a level of communication that is more like a conversation. You know, personal in nature.

This take us to the subject of creating the right “voice” for your letters.

Perhaps, if your objective is to simply convey technical facts or financial data via an enewsletter, your voice can be formal, impersonal and personality neutral. But in most other cases you will do well to be conversational – to use the language and idiom of the audience to whom you are communicating.

Would you talk to a college student the same way you would talk to a prospect for a retirement home ? Would you talk to an entertainment events promoter the way you would a financial consultant? We would hope not. Your letters should project a personality that is compatible with those being addressed.

By using a voice that makes readers comfortable – a voice that is familiar to them, you become more than a vendor of products and services. You become a friendly connection. And that is the way to persuade.

Prescott “Pete” Lustig
Senior Marketing Strategist