OH, brother! I made a mistake.
Again.
Don’t you love it when a self-professed communications expert messes up with her own strategic communications? Gee, I sure do! NOT!
And what is even more embarrassing… I’ve made this mistake before. But let’s see if my mistake can be twisted to your advantage.
This morning, I sent out the October issue of Diva News — a monthly ezine that goes out to fans, friends and anyone who has an interest in my musical shenanigans. I love this ezine because I feel free to fill it with personal observations, recommendations, and of course, a musical performance calendar.
Well, in one article I referred to my friend… let’s call him Raul…in a loving but joking manner. I mentioned that while I thought Savona’s Trattoria was one of the best things in Kingston, NY, my friend Raul would be sure to argue with me… because he’s always arguing with me, or someone else, about something.
See, Raul and I enjoy a very playful, sister-and-brother banter with each other when we’re together, a way of communicating that includes sarcastic humor, earnest as well as just-for-the-fun-of-it arguments, and general teasing. We like it. It’s what we do. It’s how we say, “You’re great and I love being with you.”
Well, when Raul read that comment in Diva News, he didn’t like it. He thought I was dissing him. HE COULDN’T HEAR THE PLAYFUL ENERGY IN MY WORDS BECAUSE HE COULDN’T HEAR MY TONE OF VOICE! If he’d been standing in front of me and I’d said, “Oh, Raul, you’re always arguing about something with somebody,” he would have smiled and started arguing with me.
But when you write something, like an email, a blog post, a newsletter, you have to be careful that your words communicate your tone and your real meaning… the energy behind those words. And sometimes, like me, you assume your readers will automatically “hear” that energy and intention… but they may not.
Honestly, I thought Raul would be tickled that he was pointed out in my newsletter. Well, he wasn’t. And he told me so.
All of this only drove home the fact that if you’re communicating online in a world full of written communications, where your reader cannot hear your inflections and tone of voice, you need to be careful. Yes, it’s wise to be casual and conversational in your writing, in your copy, and let your personality shine through, but you also have to make sure that your true message doesn’t get lost along the way.
So, when you’re reading over your copy, editing your newsletter, enjoying the spunk and personal flavor you’ve infused into it, remember that while you can hear your inflection and tone of voice inside your own head, your reader is not inside your head with you!
Edit your copy with that in mind. How will your reader “hear” this? Are your words talking to them in a voice they can hear AND understand? Is your tone obvious not just to you, but to them?
And for heaven’s sake, whatever you do, don’t mention Raul..