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As a marketing professional, I have to write constantly. And, the type of writing that I do usually consists of email message creation. Emails to current customers, emails to sales prospects, emails to friends of the company...emails, emails, emails. And, all of those messages involve a degree of selling. Only occasionally do I have the opportunity to step outside the world of business writing and when I do, it is uncomfortable.
I found "I Love to Write Day" while researching some blog topic ideas for this month. Since the inception of "ILTWD" in 2002, nine states have officially recognized the day and 22,000 schools celebrate it.
The 9th annual celebration, according to "I Love to Write Day" founder John Riddle, "is to have people of all ages spend time writing. They can write a poem, a love letter, a greeting card, an essay, a short story, start a novel, finish a novel…the possibilities are endless. But I want people to take the time to put their thoughts down on paper. When people become stronger writers, they become better communicators.”
As the daughter of a veteran newspaperman, I was taught the need for brevity, simplicity, and incorporating the basics of the "inverted pyramid" in story structure. My father writes poems, song lyrics, plays, movie scripts, and short stories. A more interesting writer than I, his rare email messages to me are brief, barely denting my inbox.
And, ILTWD made me realize the opportunities that we have to write more than email marketing messages about our products and services, to extend our capabilities beyond the mundane. Today's celebration of writing started me thinking about creating an email (yup, that's what I am going to do!) in verse - something that would be a bit different than the norm. And, it would help me to flex those creative brain cells. I'm hoping that my dad will be proud of my effort.
Marketing Takeaways:
1. Consider doing something a little outside the norm for your standard business writing.
2. Find some content that appeals to your creativity (or your funnybone) and try to use it in your marketing messaging.
3. Encourage feedback from your message recipients with a contest or survey.
What are you going to do for "I Love to Write Day"?
P.S. If you don't feel like writing, today is also "National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day".
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