NOTE: This post How to Avoid the Top Email Errors Made by Artists is a guest post by Ellie Coverdale. You can learn more about Ellie at the end of her article.
If your email is poorly written it may negatively affect your professionalism or simply be ignored without being read. As an artist, when you’re writing to businesses or other individuals, take the time to properly write your content.
How to Avoid the Top Email Errors Made by Artists
Here, we go over many email mistakes made by artists so you can avoid them in your next email communications.
1. Not choosing the right subject.
Your subject line should be treated like the headline of an article. If you don’t choose the right subject, your email will either be left in someone’s inbox for later (forgotten) or put right into the trash email box. Instead, think of a subject line where you’re directly addressing the recipient, indicating exactly what the email is about. Be sure that the recipient’s name is properly spelled because any mistakes point to rudeness, laziness, or lack of respect.
2. Not being direct or brief.
When you write a long, rambling email, you’re immediately going to lose the attention of the reader. When you add too much information you’ll only fail at your goal. Get to the point right away or anyone that’s too busy to keep reading will disregard it. Reread your email many times and think about how it will be read by the recipient. Remove anything that’s extra and not necessary. While you’re rereading, check for grammar and spelling, because there’s absolutely no reason to have spelling mistakes. In today’s age, we have so many tools to check the content. Here are the top online tools to use:
- My Writing Way and Study demic are copywriting guides to help you draft the email from start to finish.
- Australian Help and Ox Essays are the go-to editing tools to make sure your email flows and is consistent in tone and style.
- Academ advisor and Via Writing are some excellent grammar checkers to double check there are no typos or spelling mistakes.
- Big Assignments and State of Writing are some proofreading tools to get a good second opinion on your writing.
- Simple Grad and Elite Assignment Help are necessary at the end to help you format your email.
3. Sending bulk emails.
Recipients can tell if you’re sending a BCC email to a lot of different recipients. The only thing you’ll get from that is disinterested people. It shows a failure of research, personalization, and common courtesy. That’s the same reason you shouldn’t start your email with ‘to whom it may concern’. Find out who you’re emailing and personalize the message.
4. Lack of professional touches.
There are a couple things you must do to appear professional. The first is to use a professional email address tied to your website. This is not the place for an AOL or Hotmail email address. You also shouldn’t be including attachments unsolicited because this is considered very inappropriate. Unless the recipient has indicated they want to receive files, don’t include any. Finally, be sure to add a link to your website to make it easier for them to view your art.
5. Focusing on yourself.
The last thing people want is a self-serving email all about you. Don’t brag about your accomplishments and don’t start every sentence with ‘I’ or ‘my.’ According to Nail Thornton, a marketer at Academized and Paper Fellows, “this comes off as very self-absorbed and no one wants to work with an artist like that. Instead, turn it around so the focus is on the recipient and what you can do for them.”
6. Including the wrong information.
If you send your email too quickly, you may not be including the right information. This includes if you’ve been referred to them by a mutual contact, or an award that you’ve received. Be sure to include content that’s relevant, offers value, and encourages them to take action based on your email. You also don’t want to ask too many questions. You should just be opening a channel of communication and establishing a rapport.
7. Making easy mistakes.
There are certain mistakes that are very easy to avoid. Mistaking the identity of the recipient is one such mistake. Get information about the recipient before you press send so there are no misunderstandings about their role (gallery owner, curator, etc.). Find out who the recipient is and write your email accordingly. You also shouldn’t be boosting your signature with too much content like a list of links, images, or quotes. These take up a lot of space in the email on the screen and is often considered irritating or annoying. This could also cause your email to end up in their spam box. Instead, be restrained and only include what’s necessary.
Send your email by putting yourself in the recipient’s shoes and consider what they would like to receive. This will increase your results when sending emails about your art.
Writer Ellie Coverdale works for both UK Writings and Essayroo. There, she shares her marketing and sales strategies with her readers. She enjoys helping entrepreneurs and artists focus on the more business parts of their work. Ellie also works for Boom Essays as a tutor and writer.
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