"So much information, so little time," laments today's Netizen.
We all have a bandwidth problem with the Net as we try to absorb
hundreds of information bits a day through what's usually a very
narrow pipeline. It's depressing enough trying to maintain legitimate
contacts and keep up with useful information without having to
spend some of our precious online time dealing with garbage. When
we want information, we want it now, and we form impressions about
new Net contacts based solely on information content and presentation.
Good information, presented logically and concisely, implies a
professional approach to business. Bad information implies just
the opposite. It behooves the astute guerrilla marketer to put
his or her best foot forward at all times. To wit:
- Watch that signature. Sure, you should include your name, company
name, and contact information in an e-mail or discussion group
signature, but skip the space-hogging (and frequently indecipherable)
graphics, quotations from notable people, long-winded mission
statements or expressions of personal philosophies. Most mailing
lists and discussion groups frown on any signature longer than
four lines; some lists now delete any signature longer than four
lines. And demonstrating your reverence for Ayn Rand or James
Madison probably won't help you win business.
- Don't rant. If you can't make your point in one or two screens,
then either your writing skills need work, you're overly enamored
of your own opinions, or you're not focusing properly on the topic.
I've gotten to the point in some discussion groups where I no
longer read posts by certain individuals--not because they don't
have something useful to say, but because they waste too much
of my reading time saying it.
- Don't post lengthy articles. If you find an information resource
that will be useful to a discussion group or mailing list, post
a short excerpt of it and tell people where to get the rest. Otherwise,
you're wasting a lot of time for people who aren't interested
in it: it takes time to download, time to scroll past, and even
time to ignore. If you're participating in a forum on an online
service, upload the article to a forum library and point people
to it in a message board posting.
- Use a good subject line. Describe each message you send or post
by using an effective subject line. Nothing ticks me off more
than opening a message with no subject or a vague subject only
to find out it's something I don't want to read. If you believe
your message or post is useful, then you shouldn't be afraid to
announce it with a good subject line.
- Skip the kid and dog photos. Personal Web pages are sprouting
like kudzu, but I am not impressed with the professionalism of
someone who includes a photo of the family pet or kids. Your regular
customers may come to know you well enough to care about your
personal life, but if you force everyone to endure a 50K GIF file
of Little Scratchy when they access your Web page, nine out of
ten of them will be so turned off that they'll never become your
customers at all.
Show respect for your customers' and potential customers' time,
and they'll reward you with respect in kind.
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