The Marketing Power of a Written Note

Profundity is a noun meaning deep insight, great depth of knowledge or thought.

I saw someone use this word in a birthday greeting the other day and loved it and swore that I would use it in some written piece soon.

I love the written word. I love to communicate in words and read words. I find myself worried that we are moving towards a 144-character world where words will lose their power to brevity and speed in the form of text.

In ages past before telephones and computers people managed their daily communication in written word delivered in the form of handwritten notes run back and forth by runners or servants. I hope that we do not lose the beauty of the written word as our technology advances. I still write hand written notes and love to receive them.

I read recently that no matter how hard we try to shape public policy and opinion, texting (reading and sending) while driving is epidemic and dangerous. People seem to believe that a text must be responded to once they hear that “bing” emanating from their device. It has become a matter of habit versus a conscious choice, which is why people have such a hard time ignoring texts even when they are driving.

During a recent marketing conversation the option of providing our systematic mortgage updates by text was discussed. After reading the texting article in the paper I decided to say no to texting our updates unless the consumer specifically requested that we text them for some reason.

The mortgage industry is complex and the messages we send require a thorough read and some concentration, and need to be taken seriously. However, not seriously enough that a consumer risks life and limb–or someone else’s life to read a text in a Pavlovian response to a bing from a black box.

Here’s to the written word–may full sentences continue to be in use for as long as I live!