The other day, I received the Christmas newsletter that my friend in Oregon sends out every year. It came in the snail mail. Even though I had received it a couple of months ago via email, I had never read it. But when it came in an envelope, I opened it and sat down immediately to see what my friends have been up to.
Reflecting on it today, I realized that this is a similar situation to that of my Sunday Salons. Since mid-January, I've been inviting like-minded people to my living room to see the photographs from last year's trip around the world, taking it country by country. I have a set of email addresses over at gmail, and I set the event up on my Google calendar. I invite folks from there.
I know, however, that Paul and Jackie rarely open their email, and that both of them are plugged directly into their cell phones wherever they are. So I call. Now that I'm thinking about it, hmmm...I wonder if I could do a wholesale text message reminder to the people with cell phones? That might reinforce the event in their minds.
Now, I've got a small living room, so I don't really WANT a surge of salon attendees, but the point, both for me with newsletters and for Paul and Jackie, is that our contacts, our networks can very easily operate on several channels at once. Super computer saavy folks like me might still want to read that newsletter from a piece of paper held in their non-virtual hands. Some people might need a couple of emails to get my point, while others would simply feel spammed.
What may be coming is that in addition to asking for your name, address, phone fax and email, we'll be asking people which is their preferred channel. Some people really don't want a phone call, while some, it's the only way to make connections. It may be true that the key to reaching out and touching someone is knowing which of their stations to tune in to.
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