Working on Personalized First Lines

-





Working with Sagar for personalized first lines was a wonderful experience and a crucial lesson. 

Brief about the work

I received a list of leads that mentioned the name of the person, their job title, the company they work with, their social media handles, and their mail ids. 

My job was to write personalized first lines for cold emails that would be sent to the leads for potential collaboration. My content had to be engaging and, of course, personalized so that the lead would want to read the email and consider working with my client. 

The task was divided into three parts:
  1. verify the leads
  2. research on the leads
  3. write a personalized line for cold mailing. 

Verifying the leads

The first step was not mandatory as per the task outline. However, it was a part of my writing process to ensure quality outcomes from my work. In the first stage, I verified whether the lead provided for a specific company was valid or not. 

This means I checked whether the person still worked in the place mentioned or not, and more. In rare cases, I encountered leads for people who had long passed away but were still mentioned in the list. Some common mistakes were the leads no longer worked in the organization, or that the business was no more. 

This additional step reduced unnecessary efforts I would've put in. It also ensured that the leads I worked on had a high chance of converting. 

Researching the leads

The research part included combing through LinkedIn first, then Facebook, and then the website, in this particular order. LinkedIn is a good place to know more about a person that is relevant in a professional set-up. Details like events they participated in, recent accomplishments, or articles are a good starting point for the first lines. If LinkedIn proved ineffective, then we proceed to other channels. 

While working on this project, I also reviewed some pre-written first lines (some by AI, some by fellow writers). Some first lines had to change as they included lines like, "belated happy birthday" or "condolences on losing xyz". While these are personalized for sure, they are not going to help with the final goal, which is converting the leads to clients :)

Finally, start writing

After completing the first two steps, I started working on writing the first lines. The format that proved to be the most effective way, mentioning the personal detail in the first line. Express a personal opinion about it in the second sentence.


Takeaways from the project

  • Balancing the time required with the quality of the product is the key to effective submissions. 
  • Writing personalized first lines is not about using fancy words. It is about how effectively we can utilize the personal detail we have researched. 
  • Taking the extra effort to do things like verifying the leads helps in building long-lasting relations with your clients. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't write for yourself- Learning from Chak De India's Kabir

-
Image
Do you remember this iconic dialogue from Chak De India? Right at the beginning when the team reports for the first time, Coach Kabir asks everyone to introduce themselves. And that's when each player states their name and the state they are from. He makes each player who added the state name in their introduction stand away from the team. And that's when he delivers these iconic lines.  The crux of the chilling dialogue is that you first play for your country, then you play for your fellow teammates, and last and least you play for yourself.  While rewatching the movie for the 200th time, it made me think about it as a writer (probably because I was supposed to be working instead of watching a movie).  And it made perfect sense to paraphrase it and use it to become a better writer.  First, you write for your audience The readers who will be reading your content are your topmost priority. So, your first goal should be writing content that provides value. Furthermore, you presen
Read more

Do You Hate Your Old Writing? Me Too

-
Image
(Just to be clear about the title, I hate my old writing too, not your old writing)  So many times writers (me included) complain that we could have written something way better now. The unnecessary details, the tone, the words used, everything looks like it needs improvement. Or sometimes, there are even some POVs that you can't believe you missed the first time.  Well, to be honest, it is a wonderful sign. All it shows you is that you have grown as a writer and person. Now, you know a few things that the old you did not know. So, is that the end of today's post?  Of course, not! You have upgraded yourself. But, what about your content? Here is what you can do about it.  For Blogs If it is a blog post, you can edit it and make it more relevant for today. It will also be helpful from a search rankings point of view. If it is for yourself, you can quickly make the changes. If it is for your client, you can ask them once and tell them here are a few ways you can make it better. 
Read more

Writing- An Indispensable Lifeskill For Everyone

-
Image
 Writing is not only for content writers to get a job or for students to pass a test. The skill of writing develops far deeper habits in a person. But. before understanding why writing is beneficial for everyone, let us understand the process.  The Process Be it a book, an article, or a report, this is usually how writers work on it.  Think clearly about the idea, and note it down.  Work on the important points to mention in the content piece.  Make an outline based on the important points.  Write the content as per the layout.  Edit the content to ensure only relevant information stays,  Now, even if you are not a writer, let us see what this process of writing does to the way you think.  Structured Thinking Do you ever feel like your brain has million different thoughts and everything is muddled? Well, that is when jotting down your ideas helps.  All the confusion from your mind is transferred to a page. Now, you have a clear mind and a list of ideas. You can go through the list one
Read more