Have you been getting emails wishing you happy holidays? Of course you have. We all get them this time of the year. How many are sent by people you know and who know you? One thing I've noticed this year is an increase in the number of "Holiday Greetings" emails I'm getting from organisations I've never done business with before. I don't like it.

Is Christmas an opportunity to boost your email marketing? Are you legitimately sending holiday greetings to valued clients or are you trying to run conversions with your holiday card program? If you're viewing the tradition of sending holiday cards as a convenient sales opportunity, I think it's a really bad idea.

BAH-HUMBUG
Here's why:

• Despite what you say, I don't feel like you're sending me best wishes. It feels like you're wishing I would do business with you. Have a look at the image above if you don't understand what I'm saying.
• When I only hear from you at the end of the year, it makes me wonder where you've been the previous 11 months.
• Ulterior motives aside, you come off sounding insincere when you send a mass mailing out and don't bother to personalise the note in any way.
• Limited "special offers" requiring me to purchase something from you are not a gift. They're a sales promotion for your company. Don't insult my intelligence.
• If I've done business with you, registered my details on your website or subscribed to your newsletter, let me know about your holiday sale. Otherwise, consider yourself a spammer.

Think relationship, not sales opportunity
Think twice before you blast the names on your database with holiday emails. A personalised note conveys a sense of appreciation to your customers and prospects. It shows you've taken the time to recognise an important relationship. A random email does the opposite. At best, it's an annoying reminder that your company could improve its internal processes. At worst, you're perceived as a spammer. If you're viewing the holiday season as an opportunity to connect with your mailing list, make sure you impart glad tidings or don't bother at all.

DO YOU HAVE A HOLIDAY RANT? WHAT IS IT?

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Image credit: Corporate Christmas Tree by placdarms, on Flickr

While it's not exactly brown paper packages tied up in string, I do want to share some of my favourite blogs. I'll forgo the "Best of 2010" and "Predictions for 2011" posts in lieu of what I consider to be the best content around. Some of them are well known, some only have small followings. In all cases, these are my "go to" places for inspiration, information and advice.

Content Marketing Institute
The crowd-sourced blog at CMI is a treasure trove of practical advice and "how to" information on every aspect of content marketing imaginable. While I contribute to the blog from time to time, I show up every day to see what I can learn from the front lines of the global content marketing community.

Small Business Owner
Copywriter Paul Hassing is the man behind MYOB's Small Business Owner blog. While the writing is excellent, Paul has an uncanny ability to expand every post with a rocking comments section. Have a look to see what engaging content is all about.

Copywrite
Truly objective analysis is increasingly difficult to find. Jonathan Crossfield's Copywrite blog examines a wide range of writing topics, never failing to pierce the heart of an issue. At times irreverent and other times dead serious, Crossfield's opinion is always worth reading.

M4B Marketing Newsletter
Week after week, Susan Oakes delivers more useful content than seems humanly possible. The M4B Marketing Newsletter provides weekly actions to keep your marketing on track. It's a quick read leaving you plenty of time for Susan's excellent blog.

GlobalReach Copywriting
I know a thing or two about localisation but can't hold a candle to Ann-Christin Lindstedt. The blog at GlobalReach is loaded with tips, advice, examples and warnings on how to ensure your global message is being heard and understood. If you're working in more than one market, you should be reading this blog.

Savvy B2B Marketing
The Savvy Sisters dish out more wisdom every week about B2B marketing than lesser blogs manage in a year. The blogging powerhouse team of Kate Headen Waddell, Michele Linn, Heather Rubesch, Wendy Thomas, Stephanie Tilton, and Jamie Wallace ensures the Savvy B2B Marketing blog always offers something new and interesting.

Divine Write
Glenn Murray's blog at Divine Write combines insight and advice on copywriting in beautifully written posts. Making it look far too easy, Murray imparts a conversational but intelligent tone while delivering extremely useful information for copywriters.

Men with Pens
Skimming just won't do for the Men with Pens blog. I wait for a Saturday morning when I can grab a cup of coffee and really absorb the content. James Chartrand, or the woman behind the pen name, has an enviable ability to draw you in and make you feel like she's speaking directly to you. She's got an irresistable Pied Piper quality; just try not to follow her advice.

Junta42
Joe Pulizzi, the co-founder the of the Content Marketing movement and founder of the Content Marketing Institute still manages to find time to keep his own blog. The Junta42 blog always provokes me to answer a call to action.

With more quality content available than ever, I could spend all day reading. While I visit many more than the blogs listed here, these are my regular haunts in the blogosphere.

WHAT ARE YOUR 'GO TO' PLACES AROUND THE INTERNET?
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Image credit: My gifts were the prettiest, as always by vsmoothe, on Flickr

What makes you pull a book off the shelf and look inside? The publishing industry spends a fortune on jacket designs because a good cover will increase revenue. But with book sales, the cover only takes you so far. A cover design that doesn't appeal to the target audience affects sales. To make money in publishing, you need good reviews and word of mouth recommendations. Of course, you only get those results with great content.

Designing a Marketing Asset
An October 2010 conference at the Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study and Harvard University, Why Books?, featured a session dedicated to design. Led by Timothy Jones, Art Director of the Harvard University Press, Why (Design) Books? discussed the many ways design influences the success of a book and not always in the intended way. Book covers are often redesigned for different countries. Titles also change. Have you ever noticed a paperback version of a book with a jacket different from the hard cover? Chances are the original design didn't work the way the publisher expected.

Judging a Book
It's not all about the cover. More and more people are looking for their content online and publishers are doing everything they can to keep people reading print editions. The first business book I noticed using design as a reading aid was Body And Soul: Profits with Principles — The Amazing Success Story of Anita Roddick and The Body Shop . Published in 1991, the reviews mention the way illustrations, photographs, images and pull quotes are used to enhance the text. Roddick was a pioneer in business and, as it turns out, blazed a few trails with content, too.

The convenient truth of An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore's book on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, relied heavily on design to attract the masses to a scientific argument. Gore gives credit to his wife, Tipper, for understanding his topic matter needed to be presented in a visual, easy-to-read format. Personally, the book disappointed me because I wanted substance. However, the book was a publishing success and Gore achieved global recognition for his views on climate change.

The Brand Gap solution for time poor people
Substance comes with a price and you pay the bill with your time. When a friend recommend Marty Neumeier's, The Brand Gap I told her I would hold it until my holiday when I had more time. She assured me it was an easy read and she was right. The Brand Gap uses bold type, images, and lots of hooks to keep you turning pages. I got through the 208 pages in just over a day and was glad I did. The book was full of great ideas and the design made it easy to read.

Designing Your Long Content
An attractive cover will encourage people to take a further look. For blog posts, newsletters and other short forms of content, a good design is usually enough. What about books, eBooks and long presentations? Can you get by with an attractive cover and let the content stand on its own? Probably not. Design is a critical factor in getting and keeping readers. When every part of your content has a design element applied, your readers will stick with you right to the end. Investing in design enhances the chances your content will become an asset to your business.

Do you judge a book by its cover?

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Those people that form the collective `they', as in the `they say', would have us believe confession is a cleansing process and leaves you in a state of relief and satisfaction. After writing my last post, Confessions of a Content Marketer, I find I'm still bubbling over with little secrets and haven't found much release. Maybe I didn't do it right. Or maybe I just haven't finished the job. Either way, I'm going to continue with the confessional theme and let you in on a few more truths from a content marketing professional. Here goes.

I don't keep track of my analytics
Here's the problem with analytics. They're habit forming. They make promises and give you hope. Analytics make you think you can make a few tweaks and pretty soon you'll be getting rock star traffic. But analytics can't do anything a lot of passion, consistency and good writing can do for you. I find when I focus on the statistics I lose site of the goal producing quality content people want to read. I spend more time trying to game the system. Interestingly, when I immerse myself in the planning and writing required for a good content marketing strategy, I get results.

I make up quotes
There's a big difference between marketing and reporting. A media release has a specific purpose and is always well-defined within the scope of the project. It's easy for me to put words in the mouth of the client. It guarantees their message is presented exactly as the audience should hear it. It also means my writing job is easier because the manufactured quote flows with the story. Of course, the client always signs off on the content for distribution so there's no liability of misrepresentation on my part. You know what? I almost always get the same comment back, "You said that much better than I would have." I've yet to meet a client that wasn't appreciative.

I'm not attached to the words
Copywriting and creative writing are two separate things. While copywriting has elements of creativity involved (see the previous confession), my writing is for the benefit of a client. If they want a change, I'm not going to get upset. I'm not emotionally attached to any of this. I have reasons for constructing a piece of content in a specific way and I'll defend those reasons. Still, most of what I write is a product for a client and the client is entitled to have what they want. Ask for changes. My feelings won't be hurt.

I do my best to make your content sound `unofficial'
Unless you're working for the Politburo, you're content shouldn't sound 'official'. I would argue governments should work harder to make their content less official too. Why? Because you want your readers to keep reading. You want them to be interested in what you have to say. You don't need to pander to them or `dumb down' your writing; you just want it to be more readable.

It's nothing like Mad Men around here
I started this post at 4:00 am. I haven't looked in the mirror so far. I made a pot of coffee in the dark, not wanting to risk my morning solitude and possibly wake someone in the house. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. A lot of what gets done in this office is a long way from glamorous. None of that matters because copywriting and content marketing is not about me, it's about the client and their goals.

Maybe it's a bit unwise to be open about life as a content marketer. I'm not exactly exposing a soft underbelly here. My goal is to give people an idea about my experience in content marketing and, more generally, in copywriting. A certain amount of mystery surrounds the profession but, mostly, it's just a lot of solving problems for people that want to improve their business. As all businesses move towards a publishing strategy thanks to the internet I hope these confessions lend insight to others working with content.

What would surprise someone about the way you do your job?

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Image credit: brew precious drops by Muffet, on Flickr

I was speaking to a prospective client today about web copy he wanted refined for a new website. As I reeled off my recommendations, I hoped he hadn't looked at my own website too closely. Why? Because my website is in dire need of a good content scrubbing. It's scheduled in for a quiet day which, so far, hasn't arrived. Now that I'm in a confessional spirit, why not spill it all?

Nothing is ever perfect
I can't think of a single thing I've written, EVER, that I wouldn't change given the opportunity. Even articles I really liked when first published, don't stand up to my own scrutiny over time. I was heartened to read Joe Pulizzi's 13 Commandments of Content Marketing. His fifth commandment goes like this:

Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Leonardo could paint the Mona Lisa only once. If you wait for perfection, you'll never distribute content of any kind. Great content doesn't have to be perfect. Frankly, there is no perfect.

Great content isn't enough.
The hard truth about content is no one gives it a second look if it's not worth a second look. Like the brainy girl in high school the one with a great personality your content will be lonely unless you pretty it up. Enlist the help of a graphic designer if you want what you've written to be popular.

Procrastination trumps enthusiasm
For reasons unknown to me or legions of other writers, I often wait until the last minute to tackle a project. Even when it's something I'm excited about, for a client I love, I can still manage to arrange my schedule so I've got just enough time to make my deadline.

Writer's block is a lot of hooey
Writing is not rocket science. It's not even chemical engineering. Sitting down and staring at a blank screen isn't writer's block; it just means you haven't disciplined yourself to write. It's amazing how many writers find the best thing to cure writer's block is a deadline or an impending pay cheque.

You have to practice
The best writers I know write every day. Why? You have a writing muscle. Trust me on this. Neglect regular exercise of that muscle and it atrophies. Ask anybody. Better yet, take a two week break from writing and then try to knock out a 500 word article in an hour. Good luck on that.

Errors slip through
I'm the kind of reader who comes unhinged when I find a grammatical error in something I'm reading. Spelling errors, incorrect word usage – e.g. there, their, they're – and punctuation mistakes all make me stop dead in my tracks. I'm not kidding. Every week someone points out an error I've made no matter how stringently I try to avoid it happening. It used to bother me but now I view it as a gift. With digital media it's easy to fix a mistake.

Consistently developing and publishing good content is the key to an effective content marketing strategy. When you're spinning a lot of plates, one of them is bound to drop and break. The best content marketers focus on production and don't worry so much about the mechanics and technicalities of every word they put down. Getting your content into the hands of the people that want to read it is the goal. If that means my own website waits for a while longer, then so be it.
What would you confess?

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Image Credit: Stephen Weitzman's 1992 Sculpture "Whispers" In Sligo-Dennis Avenue Park (Silver Spring, MD) by takomabibelot, on Flickr