Frankly, I’m embarrassed.

Not for myself, mind you, but for the person who wrote the e-newsletter I just read.

It came from a really well-respected acupuncturist I know and his goal was a perfectly good one – to stay “top of mind” with his clients and prospects. That’s one of the big strengths of e-newsletters… people get to read what you have to say every month or so. And when they need services – say, a good acupuncture session – they think of the acupuncturist whose name pops into their heads first… usually the one whose e-newsletter they’re so used to reading.

However not everyone in this life has the same skills. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But just because you can doodle, doesn’t mean you’re an artist… and just because you can converse, doesn’t mean you are a great public speaker… and just because you can write to your mother, doesn’t mean you’re a really good writer.

Me? I can sew. But I wouldn’t think of jabbing a needle into a friend in need of acupuncture services.

So what’s my point?

If you are going to create an e-newsletter, do it the right way. That means:

• Express yourself correctly.
• Eliminate misspellings – every single one.
• Avoid bad grammar.
• Proof, re-proof, and re-proof again
• And by all means, if you’re not a writer… if you don’t have a writer on your staff… hire someone who CAN write.

Writing isn’t brain surgery. But it IS work. People do it for a living; people get paid for it.

The acupuncturist who sent me his e-newsletter is a really skilled person. I’d let him stick needles in me any day of the week. But he surely isn’t a writer … and he ought to recognize that fact and find someone else who won’t hurt his image by creating an e-newsletter with poor grammar, misspellings, and worse.

Just a bit of advice to would-be e-newsletter authors.

Get the point?