Everyone likes to feel special.
You can’t deny that fact. I’ve known it for a very long time now and I know that I enjoy making people feel special – especially my friends.
It’s also a very good marketing tactic. Back when I used to run JoshHartnett.net, I tapped into the reality that a lot of people like to see their name up in the “spotlight”. So, in order to get people to help me out and find content for the site, I had to figure out a way to make people feel special. I needed to find a way to make them really see how much I appreciated their work and I had to give them something in return. It worked out like this: whenever people sent me something, after confirming with the agent that the news was legit, I would post it on the news page. And beneath every news entry I would include a “special thanks to” followed by the names and links of the wonderful people who helped me out. This worked like a charm and I had some very loyal contributors. Ultimately, it helped build my “a site for the fans, by the fans” credibility.
We are hosting a huge dinner party during the conference next week and have invited 300+ people. Over the past little while, I have been going through various lists and sending out reminders asking people to reply by a certain date so that we can finalize our seating arrangements. I explained to a co-worker (another student) that while it’s tediuous and time-consuming, I am going through and sending individual e-mails. I personalize the salutation of every e-mail but send the same generic body text, and have done this for about a hundred or so people. I explained to her that people like to feel special and by doing this I was sure to make people think: “wow, they really want me to come. I should really reply and let them know since they actually remember who I am…”
She just gave me an odd look and didn’t understand.
Then today, I got an e-mail back from someone and it made my day. The text was as follows (with a few edits for privacy reasons):
Hi Uma,
I’ve been ignoring [my boss]’s emails about the dinner because I assumed that she was using a generic, rather than targetted, mailing list. From your mail, it would appear that’s not the case.
I regret that I will not be able to attend the dinner. But please pass on my best wishes to [my boss] and the rest of the attendees, and I hope the dinner is a rousing success.
Cheers
It’s kind of like how people say you should take the time to write to that author who touched you with their book, especially if they aren’t really famous. Or if someone drew a really funny comic in a newspaper – let them know that you fell off your chair laughing.
People like to be acknowledged. Try it some time. You’ll make someone’s day.
Edit: I realized after writing this that I could have just used a script, or some built-in Word features, to automate the process. Too late now…