One of the things that I've learned from watching marketing all of my life, taking a couple of classes on marketing in college, listening to gurus online and in podcasts, is that when you are sending something to a group of people address the individual and not the group.
If I were to send this to you and I was addressing this post to the world I have a choice: I can say hey all y'all out there! Or hello you chose to read my post, this is for you.
I see this in multiple emails very often. Hello group! Dear friends,. And that sort of thing.
I guess I appreciate the personable approach. I like it when somebody is talking to me and not the general group that I'm supposed to belong to but refused to accept being pigeonholed.
Maybe it's a symptom of the times where we are being divided into subgroups by entities looking to dominate all of us through rules and regulations. It's hard to dominate me one-on-one, and when you address me as a member of a group I automatically reject you and whatever your message is.
That's my rant for today. As a US citizen I like to think of myself as a rugged individualist, even though I don't roam the wilds of Montana or Alaska or brave the unexplored territory that remains in Idaho and Utah.
But if we divide things into groups, I really prefer being the member of the smallest minority. There is nobody else like me, and so address me as an individual and you've reached me in my box. If you address me as a member of a group you've usually missed.
