Most of us are writers. We write emails to our members. We may write the association’s newsletter, webpages, articles, blog posts, or letters to the membership. Today is a scary time to be a writer because there is a lot of criticism from readers about organizations being tone-deaf.
Some organizations are getting feedback that they are sending too many COVID-related emails, or not enough. To readers, the association may seem too worried or not worried enough. Perhaps the tone of the messaging is too light-hearted, silly, severe, harsh, or demanding.
Do you have a blank page in front of you, but no words to populate the message? It is hard to strike the right tone in every single communication with every member. Perhaps the best we can do is dig into our hearts and write with empathy and emotion.
If you are feeling blocked, you can try this thought exercise.
- Pick an engaged member that you are friendly with.
- What does life look like for them right now?
- What worries them the most?
- What do you imagine their goals are for this week? This month?
- Start writing the email as if you were writing to this person.
One other thing, this is an excellent time to check all the emails that your systems automatically send. Do they need tweaking right now?
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