The rolled-up t-shirt sleeves, the waaaaay-too-tight-jeans, the oh-please-god-make-it-stop Dad dancing. Let’s just say Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’ video has not aged well. At all.
But when it first came out, I remember watching it over and over until the VHS tape started skipping and my brother began yelling at me to put something else on.
I LOVED the bit at the end when he pulls a ‘random’ girl out of the audience to dance on stage with him. They side-step badly together (you could get away with a LOT in the Eighties), oblivious of the thousands of panting Springsteen fans in the background. Right then, she’s the only one for him. And she’s loving it.
The girl turns out to be none other than Courtney Cox, later to appear as uptight chef Monica in Friends. And the young me wanted soooo badly to be Courtney, to be the chosen one.
Because we all love to feel special, right? To be understood and valued. It may be a bit motivational-quote-poster, but it’s true. And we get a kick out of making others feel the same.
However, all too often these days we don’t have time to personalise. We have to communicate to the masses, not the individual. We use newsletters, blogs, events, emails and social media.
So how do we make it personal? Well, I’m going to let you in to a little secret of mine:
The Courtney Cox Technique To Make Your Clients Feel Loved
Step 1: Have a picture in mind of just ONE person that you’re writing to. This person is your Ideal Reader. It can be a real person or a persona that you’ve made up. Either way, imagine pulling them out of the crowd. Make them human.
Step 2: Write ‘Dear [insert name of Ideal Reader]’ at the top of whatever you’re writing, just as you would a letter (just delete it before you send).
This simple technique will make your writing more focussed and more personalised, I promise. Because if you aim at everyone, you’ll hit no-one.
So go channel Bruce and find your Courtney….
Featured image photo courtesy Celebrity ABC.