Industry Insights: How To Communicate More Effectively

Good morning and Happy Saturday!

I wanted to take a minute to shout out my friend Jill's post in her Substack newsletter this week, because she touched on one of my favorite topics -- effective media mailers.

I don't want to regurgitate what Jill always said so succinctly, but I just want to say, at a time when budgets are maybe a bit tighter and supply chain issues have made product availability more than an issue, it'd be so unfortunate to waste budget or product on mailers that will not be received or will be received damaged or spoiled.

My quick tips are:  Always check in with the journalist before sending anything that is perishable, breakable, or heavy/large. You may think they will be shocked and awed by something that weighs 100 pounds or contains 40 boxes of bacon, but trust me, you are better off asking first.  I live in a very small space in a walkup apartment and I quite simply don't have room for a lot of things (or the strength to carry something that heavy!). And as for perishables, I've told you all the story about the time I came home from Europe to find out someone had sent seafood and dairy in the interim that I didn't know was coming. Lets just say my building lobby had a very distinct odor for a bit because of it...and also, sometimes, people just don't eat bacon. So you'd probably be better off not sending it to them!  (I know, wild.)

But rather than jump on Jill's canoe and totally copy her topic from this week, the topic I actually want to cover in this week's industry insights edition is how to be a more effective communicator.

(Don't worry, we'll do a deep dive into mailers another time! Meanwhile, here's a newsletter I did a while back that covered some aspects of that topic.)

Anyway....time to get to today's topic!

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