On this blog I frequently discuss the importance of having empathy for your reader: knowing how your reader will probably react to what you write. In several posts I’ve shown detailed examples of reader reactions, such as Dale Carnegie’s reactions to an impudent sales letter.
Here’s another example. The reader, Peter Shankman, is an intelligent, creative thinker and a highly skilled writer. He was reacting to an especially stupid public-relations pitch. He was generous enough to respond with a detailed, helpful, educational blog post.
The Takeaway: I urge you to read Mr. Shankman’s post. Although you and I are (we hope) unlikely to ever be as churlish as the PR person who pitched Mr. Shankman, we should always welcome opportunities to learn more about empathy.
See disclaimer.
Monday, May 7, 2012
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Of course if he gives in to his audience's requests to describe the shirt(see for instance the first response to the post), he will indeed be sharing his audience with the tin-eared PR person. There's no bad publicity, as the saying goes.
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