Did
I get your attention with that headline?
Well, that is exactly the approach you must take when promoting your
book, whether the email is going to the news media, a potential consumer, or a
collaborator. Get their attention and
make things happen!
A
subject line of an email is trickier than sending a tweet. It’s short – maybe 6 to 10 words will
fit. Some people may use word-filters
and will place into spam any email with certain words. What those words are is anyone’s guess,
especially if it’s a customized program.
Some media, to avoid sales pitches avoid emails that mention buy, sell,
free, special offers, etc. Others avoid
curse words or things relating to sex.
So keep that in mind. You don’t
want an email to go unread because your subject line was suffocated by a spam
filter.
Keep
your subject line:
- Short and snappy.
- Newsy, timely, and relevant.
- Free of language that offends.
- Void of techie speak or industry jargon.
- Filled with active verbs.
You
can begin your subject line with one word, such as: News! or Exclusive! or
Expose! That gets one’s attention.
The
subject line should do at least one of these things:
- Raise an ethical, legal, financial, or entertaining question.
- Make a bold or brash statement that affirms or denies something of importance.
- Reveal a secret.
- Announce actual news.
- Assert a trend.
- Boldly predict something.
- Make a contrarian claim.
- Make a funny joke.
- Issue a challenge or dare.
- Be personality driven about a known expert or famous person.
- Make a surprise confession.
- Announce the launch of a big project.
- Demand justice, propose reforms, threaten a lawsuit.
The
subject line can’t say everything that you’d want to say in the body of the
email or phone call, but it needs to inspire a dialogue or further review by
the recipient. Figure out what will get
one’s attention without lying, doing a bait-and-switch ploy or distorting your
real message. But take a chance and go
out on a limb. Be aggressive, creative,
and confident.
I
wanted my subject or headline for this post to be even more provocative but I
don’t need to curse or resort to risky tactics.
If your subject line is powerful and inviting you’ll be halfway to
winning the battle to get media coverage.
Good luck.
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Society
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