I am reading Seth Godin’s book Little is the New Big. Essentially, he used his blog as a way to write his book.  What a novel idea. He says blogs should have:

Candor

Urgency

Timeliness

Pithiness

Controversy

(Utility, maybe if you want six)

I heard Seth speak at National Speakers Association annual meeting a few years ago. I liked what he had to say and I like his books (Purple Cow is a great one too).  If you are blogging, why not photocopy page 23 of his book to keep these things in mind as you write.  

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Yesterday, I received a call from a client who had heard me speak at an association meeting last week. She called to thank me for writing her a thank you note (okay she also wanted to discuss booking me as a keynote speaker too). Her call reminded me how important handwriting notes are and how passe they have become. People just don’t do much communication personalization.

She told me that she grew up in an area where it was long distance call to all her friends so she wrote (and received) letters from her friends. Do kids today write letters? For that matter do adults write very often?

Frankly, I think sending electronic birthday greetings (i.e. Blue Mountain) and Christmas cards is incredibly tacky. I even find Christmas cards with no personal note pointless. Why send a card without writing something! 

Perhaps Seth is right, small is the new big.  I think you can make a much bigger impact and connection by communicating with a smaller number of people and do it in a much bigger way. Believe it or not, personalization, like a simple handwritten note, is big today. Real big.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com