May 26, 2013

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Blog

Mindreading 101: An Interview With ToutApp Founder Tawheed Kader

April 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

546logo Mindreading 101: An Interview With ToutApp Founder Tawheed Kader

If you spend a lot of time writing email and wondering what happens after you hit send (“Did he get it?! Did he open it?! Did he click on anything?! OMG!”) then you’ll love ToutApp, which lets you see what happens to your email in real time. You can send 5 traceable emails a day for free, or pay as little as $12/month if that won’t do the trick.

Obviously, the benefits are clear from a sales perspective, but I’ve been using it as a freelancer and learning quite a bit about human psychology. Founder Tawheed Kader was nice enough to jump on the phone to provide some expert analysis on what it all MEANS. So without further ado, here’s a list of eight ways I’ve learned that people look at email differently than I’d expected, with insight from TK. We’ll follow that up with some discussion on privacy and ethics.

Secret #1: People lie constantly about whether or not they’ve received a particular email

They’ll tell me they haven’t looked at something or they didn’t receive it, but with ToutApp I can see that not only did they get it, but they opened it 17 times.

I didn’t realize that happened. I might be dense, but I always took people at their word when they said they didn’t get an email or hadn’t looked at it. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised [about that],” TK said. “I think ‘I didn’t look at it’ is a pretty commonly used excuse for ‘Oh, I haven’t responded to it yet.’”

This leads to an awkward situation where I know they looked at it, but THEY don’t know that I know they looked at it. This makes me feel like I’m cheating, but TK says, “Well, we like to think of it as more of a secret weapon.”

Secret #2:  People forward email around a lot.

I’ll send an email to San Francisco and it’ll get sent to West Virginia, where I know someone’s assistant is, and then get opened back in SF again. Are people having meetings to discuss my email? Is this something everybody else but me knew happened, and I need Tout to figure it out because I’m socially dense?

I don’t think it’s common knowledge by any means,” TK said. “Everyone has different email habits; they deal with email differently. Sometimes they’ll have their assistant look through their inbox. Sometimes they’ll loop someone else in. More and more communication is happening over email, so we want to add a level of transparency around it so that you can kind of be better at it, basically.”

Tout gets you out of what TK calls the ‘no clue zone,’ where you have no clue what’s happening to your communication. You can at least get some more clues about whether they just ignored it and they’re looking at it, or they never even got a chance to see it, so  you should probably remind them about whatever you sent before.

Secret #3: Editors act differently when they like a piece you sent them versus one they didn’t like.

One editor I have absolutely loves about 3/4 of the work I do, and about 1/4 of the time, will make me do extensive rewrites with no lead time. What I’ve learned using tout is that when I send him an email, and he clicks on it more than 5 times, he’ll click on it 15 or 20 times, and he’ll go back and forth between the email I just sent and the original assignment that he’d emailed me, then I know that I have to set aside two hours that evening for the rewrite.

It also made me aware of the fact that this particular editor wants my writing to stick very closely to the assignment letter, even though he’s told me to use it as a leading off point. Now I look at it very closely while I write.

Secret #4: Sometimes people click on the wrong links…or I forget to send them the right ones.

An editor wanted me to interview a startup she’d heard about at SXSW, and I emailed them and I noticed they were clicking on my link for my site and not clicking on the link for the site I write for. That was BAD because this site is pretty random and the site I write for is specific to their industry. I immediately emailed them again with the right link and got the interview right away.

(Not-So) Secret #5: People like emails that definitely don’t suck.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: marketing and PR, writing Tagged With: , ,

Yael’s Variety Hour: Medical Ethics, Superheroes With Winter Apparel & Ways To Annoy Your Ex

April 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Depositphotos 7996953 xs 271x300 Yaels Variety Hour: Medical Ethics, Superheroes With Winter Apparel & Ways To Annoy Your ExThis week’s variety hour is pretty short, considering there was a week-long hiatus. I blame Instapaper. However, I did manage to compile 13 interesting posts while scouring the interwebs. Enjoy!

Reframing

  • Success dysmorphia. I’ve linked to this before, but it’s come up for me a bit recently. An oldie but goodie from the amazing Pam Slim about how we need to find new ways of defining success rather than chasing other people’s vision.
  • Don’t Believe The Hype. If you think there’s one formula for a successful business strategy, think again. In this post, Noah Kagan shares his click-through rate on twitter and email. Always important to keep evaluating what works and what doesn’t–it may not be what you expect!

Communication

Girl Power

Ugh. Skip This If You’re Squeamish

  • Lloyd Irvin Continues Purchasing Rape-Themed URLs, Turning Them Into Marketing Sites. If you’re tired of hearing about the messed up things “Master Lloyd” continues to do, realize that people who are working hard to make sure this DOESN’T get pushed under the rug are helping women in DC know what they’re getting into before they step foot into a new gym or attend a self-defense seminar they’d otherwise steer clear of (to put it mildly).

Medical Ethics

Miscellaneous

 

Filed Under: BJJ, health, tech, variety hour, wellness, writing

Stuff I Wrote: Medical Decision-Making, Fighter Interviews

April 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Depositphotos 2902188 xs 300x300 Stuff I Wrote: Medical Decision Making, Fighter InterviewsTwo weeks ago, I started listing articles I’d worked separately in this new column,  instead of embedding them into the weekly Variety Hour. It’s a quick and easy way for me to share what I’ve been working on publicly, without waiting for multiple pieces in the same theme to coalesce.

Much of the work I do is not public: ghostwritten blog posts and copywriting comprise a good chunk of my work week. If you’d love to hire someone to do this kind of work to help promote your business, but just can’t afford it, take heart. I’ll soon be offering a video course on doing your own PR. (To preorder, you’ll want to PayPal $25 to yael.grauer@gmail.com soon–because the price will go up once it’s released.) And if you’re in the Twin Cities, there’s still time to sign up for my April 15th course on the very same topic. Just go to the PR For Startups Eventbrite page for details.

Other than that, and the loooong list of pieces I’m wrapping up (or waiting to get posted or published), here’s what I’ve been doing:

Medical Decision-Making is a piece I wrote for the Performance Menu’s April issue, and is based on an amazing talk from the Health Care Journalism 2013 conference I attended in Boston. (FYI: This piece is behind a paywall.)

Two weeks ago, I wrote a little bit about the Overnight Website Challenge, where the Nerdery pairs teams of designers and developers (and the occassional copywriter, like me0 with non-profit organizations to redesign websites overnight. Although we didn’t win any awards (thanks to everyone who voted!), everyone participating in the OWC wins. New And Improved is a lovely blog post about the process, written by Susan Smith at Hospice of the Twin Cities, and complete with photos of our team.

Todd and I drove out to Kansas City, Missouri to cover 13 amazing female MMA fights at Invicta FC 5. I have an article that should be up shortly, but for now, I’ll embed some video interviews. I’m primarily a writer and don’t have any training in broadcast journalism, so hopefully me learning these skills on the fly doesn’t distract from what these fighters had to say.

 

 

 

‘Til next time!

Filed Under: stuff I wrote, writing

Poem of the Month: The Wasteland (Part 1) by T.S. Elliot

April 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Thomas Stearns Eliot by Lady Ottoline Morrell %281934%29 Poem of the Month: The Wasteland (Part 1) by T.S. ElliotPart One: The Burial of the Dead.

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for n hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
‘You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
They called me the hyacinth girl,’
-Yet when we came back, late, from the hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence,
Oed’und leer das Meer.

Madam Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

Unreal city,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sigh, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where St Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying” ‘Stetson!
‘You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
O keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!
You! Hypocrite lecteur!- mon semblable, -mon frere!’

Filed Under: musings, poem of the month

What If Money Was No Object (Video)

March 30, 2013 By 1 Comment

Our video of the month is brought to you by the late, great Alan Watts. Audio courtesy of alanwatts.org.

Filed Under: musings

Why Medical Experts Disagree

March 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I wrote an article on medical decision-making for the July issue of the Performance Menu. Here’s a short excerpt:coverIssue 99 231x300 Why Medical Experts Disagree

Have you ever wondered why it is that two different doctors, presented with the exact same information, would come to two entirely different conclusions? Whether they’re evaluating a medical study or determining the safest option for treatment, medicine is rife with disagreement. And hearing differing expert opinions can make a decision even more difficult for a patient considering whether or not to undergo a procedure, take a medication or decide between competing options to treat a disease (or the risk of one). We know that the science is uncertain, but why can’t experts make up their minds?

I’ve assumed in the past that this had to do with people’s respective medical backgrounds, or perhaps one expert isn’t as up-to-date on the latest research or as experienced as the other. But while attending the Health Journalism 2013 conference in Boston last month, I heard endocrinologist Pamela Hartzband and oncologist Jerome Groopman present a different case while speaking to a packed auditorium of conference attendees. Even though they both attended Ivy League medical schools, completed their residencies at Massachusetts General and eventually got married, their opinions on medical treatments are as different as night and day.

Why is that? Groopman and Hartband actually discussed their different temperaments in a book they co-wrote, Your Medical Mind: How To Decide What’s Right For You. In the book, and the talk they gave, they define four different temperaments that affect the way decisions are made and information is interpreted— both in a patient and in a healthcare worker. While these temperaments can change situationally and over time, being aware of the fact that people view medical decisions through these frameworks was eye opening.

You can read the rest of this article for $2.75 at www.cathletics.com/pm/, or pick up the issue for $6.99 (or, better yet, an annual subscription for $29.95.)

Filed Under: book review, health, physical fitness, stuff I wrote, wellness

Beyond Informed Consent: What We Can Learn From Medical Professionals

March 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Depositphotos 2402018 xs 300x221 Beyond Informed Consent: What We Can Learn From Medical ProfessionalsInformed consent is a big topic in medicine. It allows patients to determine which prescription to fill and which treatment to receive, even if their wishes go against the recommendations of their doctor, who may wish to do things a little differently. Informed consent laws require doctors to inform patients of significant risks in medical procedures, as well as specific risks which may be important to that particular patient. They have to explain alternative treatments and risks.

Consent because you’ve agreed to whatever action is taking place or is about to take place, and informed, because you know what you’re agreeing to.

It wasn’t always this way. In fact, there is a very sordid history which brought these laws into being. Delving into the horrors of medical experimentation is beyond the scope of this post, but the idea of informed consent is something I’ve been thinking about a lot in other contexts–and I think there’s a lot we can take away from it in how we treat people in our personal and professional lives.

The history of informed consent, and ways its been imbued into consciousness, means that I can go to the dentist, refuse nitrous oxide, change my mind and decide I want nitrous, and then, after about ten minutes, decide I’m sufficiently sedated and no longer want the mask on my face. This is exactly what happened to me yesterday–with medical professionals accomodating my requests, even as they changed on the fly. Following my dental work yesterday, I went to an acupuncturist for tuina (yes, I had quite the day), and after he worked on a nagging injury and was about to put in some needles, I told him I couldn’t deal with any more needles that day–even though I respond quite favorably to needles and have gotten a lot of acupuncture in the past. I didn’t get the hard sell or a list of why I was making the wrong decision. Not all medical professionals do informed consent well, but the ones who do are appreciated more than they might realize. And I think the rest of the world could take note.

In an excellent blog post, Seth Godin talks about de-escalation in a business context. “What if we don’t try to turn shopping desire into a fever pitch? What if later is just as good, or better, than now?” he asks. “What if we back off occasionally instead of pressing forward? What if playing the game starts to become at least as important as winning it?” Godin points out that de-escalation creates connection, trading a one-time benefit for a long-term relationship. If your goal is running a business, for example, your best bet is to build trust for the long haul. (I wrote about this on Copyblogger years ago: Build your business by walking away from the sale.)

Clearly, a doctor-patient relationship is important, and building trust with clients and potential clients is crucial for business. But this goes beyond doing the minimum to avoid lawsuits or poor rapport. It’s about respecting people as autonomous individuals, not means to an end. And this has implications in our personal lives as well as our professional lives.

Recently, I linked to Amanda Hess’ amazing article on ‘gray rape’ and the limits of verbal communication in establishing consent, though her piece was obviously not about medicine. (This somewhat controversial term was described in the New York Times back in 2007.) Hess points out that ‘gray rape’ may help people discuss sexual assault outside of the context of the legal system, but that it “shouldn’t be used to excuse the aggressor” but rather “help raise the standard of what we all consider acceptable sexual behavior, whether or not the cops are called.” What if we spent less time arguing about legal nuances of specific incidents and more time focusing on how we can create a world where people made the decision to treat others with respect?

When we truly care about people we interact with instead of seeing them as a means to an end, no matter what the context, “gray” areas become much clearer. Here’s for a world with more informed consent and less manipulation, where we focus on the spirit, rather than the letter, of the law.

Filed Under: BJJ, musings, rants, spiritual

Does Your PR Strategy Suck? Here’s How To Fix It (Without Hiring A Firm)

March 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Depositphotos 1639293 xs 300x199 Does Your PR Strategy Suck? Heres How To Fix It (Without Hiring A Firm)Do you ever wonder why some businesses get tons of media attention, while others can’t generate enough buzz to even get a measly calendar listing on a local website?

If you think it’s because those companies with the most exposure hired expensive PR firms, and have decided to mimic their tactics by emailing every single writer/magazine/website you can think of…you might want to save yourself some time.

Fact is, most media types get dozens (if not hundreds) of emails, and if you’re not doing a few key things right, they’ll go straight to the trash.

You have about fifteen seconds to make yourself stand out and get someone’s attention–and the sales pitch you’d use with a client isn’t going to cut it.

Here’s an email I got a few weeks ago:

Hi Yael. We just had a site redesign and have gotten 500 facebook likes for our consulting services. I thought you would want to write about us now, if you know anywhere high profile. We can pay for this service, if you get us in somewhere good. We really just want exposure.

Um, no.

  • They’re sending me an email to cover their consulting services…something I’ve never covered. #FAIL
  • They might be excited about their new website or facebook fan count–but strangers don’t really care.
  • They’re sending me a pitch that’s not timely or relevant. It’s not a story idea; it’s a plug for their business.
  • They’re asking me to double-dip, or get payment both from them and from a publication for the same article. That’s considered unethical by most writers—and the type of article they’re likely looking for is advertorial—something I couldn’t sneak by an editor worth her salt even if I wanted to.

So how can this consulting firm actually make me want to write about them?

Here’s the type of email I would have loved to receive instead.

Hi, Yael! I really liked your post last week on making difficult topics accessible, especially the part on weaving plot and character into somewhat dry topics to keep readers interested.

I was actually writing because, as you probably know, Pew Research Report just put out the State of the News Media, their annual report on the state of American journalism. If you were planning on covering this for (NAME OF WEBSITE), we’d love to help you put some context to the report and are available for interviews all week. I’ve attached some other relevant research and would be happy to explain the changes we’ve noticed in our consulting business that reflect some of the key findings in this report—and ones that don’t.

This email is a win.

  • The person who wrote it actually knows who I am and what I cover.
  • They know which reports have come out and where I’d write about them for, so clearly have their finger on the pulse.
  • The story isn’t about their consulting firm, but would allow them to demonstrate their expertise, so everyone wins.
  • They just made it incredibly easy for me to pitch a story to an editor by doing some background research for me.

This is one of several strategies I’ll be covering at the PR for Startups workshop I’ll be teaching in Minneapolis on April 15th. We’ll spend two hours This is one of several strategies I’ll be covering in an online video course, where I’ll be helping startups, consultants, marketers and entrepreneurs like you figure out how you can compete with businesses who have the budget to hire PR firms–and generate the media buzz you crave, all in just around 15-30 minutes a day.

We’ll also discuss:

  • The top five ways to get your name in print–they’re not what you think
  • what PR firms screw up all the time–and how you can do better
  • why building relationships is far more important than one-hit wonders
  • what you can realistically expect as a result of media coverage
  • why your media strategy is completely wrong–and how to fix it
  • what’s better than a press release, and more effective
  • how to build a media list all of your own
  • and last but not least, the talented Holden Page will spill all about getting into TechCrunch–which he did when he was a lot younger than you

The workshop will take place on April 15, 2:30-4:30 at CoCo Minneapolis.

You don’t want to miss this, so make sure to sign up at http://prforstartups2013.eventbrite.com/

If you don’t live in the Twin Cities and wish you did, please leave a comment or zap me an email. I’m considering making this material available online–but only if there’s sufficient interest.

But if you’re anywhere near Minneapolis, make sure to join us. Sign up at http://prforstartups2013.eventbrite.com/.

If you’re interested in the video course, please send $25 to me via Paypal at yael.grauer@gmail.com for more.

Filed Under: writing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Twin Cities Folks: PR For Startups Workshop on April 15

March 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment

url 300x127 Twin Cities Folks: PR For Startups Workshop on April 15Ever wanted to generate media buzz for your business without having to dole out tons of cash to an expensive PR firm?

If you live in the Twin Cities, you’re in luck–I’ll be teaching a workshop on just that on April 15th, from 2:30 to 4:30, at CoCo coworking and collaborative space (400 S. 4th St., Suite 401, Minneapolis, MN 55415). The cost is $25.

We’ll discuss

  • unconventional ways to get your name in print
  • how to build relationships with writers and editors
  • ways to create an individualized media strategy
  • the 5 easiest ways to generate buzz
  • what you can really expect as a result of media coverage

I’ll also delve into what I look for as a writer and editor when deciding what to cover–and what immediately turns me off.  We’ll have a special guest! Holden Page, a former community manager and 21-year-old social media addict, who will detail how he got positive coverage on TechCrunch and other major blogs–without a PR firm.

Sign up at http://prforstartups2013.eventbrite.com/

Filed Under: tech, writing Tagged With:

Yael’s Variety Hour: Workout Music, Sketchy Publishers, the R Word & More

March 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Rough diamond 300x225 Yaels Variety Hour: Workout Music, Sketchy Publishers, the R Word & MoreWelcome to the Variety Hour, where you will find random posts about things I think about regularly, along with things I don’t ever think about. Variety is the spice of life!

If you’re looking for stuff I wrote, just go to http://yaelwrites.com/2013/03/24/stuff-i-wrote-cool-trophies-social-media-tips-making-complex-topics-accessible/.

Love and Marriage…

  • Diamonds Are Bullshit. I love my conflict-free diamond from Brilliant Earth, but I agree with the sentiment behind this piece. Hat tip to the amazing Leo Babauta.

The R Word

  • My Inappropriate Relationship. On Salon, Jillian Lauren discusses her fling with a camp counselor–she was 12, and he was 20. Great writing about a complex and nuanced situation.
  • Life After Steubenville. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker explains why she thinks juvie was the right punishment for the crime in this instance.

 

Fitness

 

 

  • Becoming the All-Terrain Human. Times writer Christopher Solomon writes about Kilian Jornet Burgada, “who has won dozens of mountain footraces up to 100 miles in length and six world titles in Skyrunning.”

 

Sketchy

Video of the Week

 

Filed Under: variety hour
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»