4 Networking Email Templates That Will Get You Noticed

Networking is an artform. When you’re good at it, you become a Michelangelo, finely crafting relationships that will advance your career. But when your skills need work, you’re that guy on the street corner hawking pictures of Elvis painted on black velvet. Nobody responds to that guy’s email.

I’ve been writing and sending networking outreach for twenty years as a business owner, freelance writer, and media relations expert. With each carefully crafted email, I’ve increased my level of artistry. Networking does take work, but the results you’ll achieve by applying that effort are like the difference between a black velvet oil painting and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

First, We Research

Before you begin networking, you need to get a sense of the person you plan to reach out to. In order to not sound like the black velvet Elvis salesman, you need to be authentic. The key to authenticity lies in doing research and learning more about the person you’re hoping to connect with.

Find the person on social media.

The easiest way to research is to look for the person’s public social accounts. Check LinkedIn, for starters. Note the person’s background and professional experience and the recommendations and endorsements they’ve given. Their volunteer activities will help you understand their interests and passions.

Does your potential connection have a Twitter account? The things a person tweets can tell you a lot about her. Less obvious but equally valuable social sites like Quora and Instagram can also help you gain insight.

Lay some groundwork

Lay a little groundwork as you’re browsing public social accounts. Follow your potential contact. Have they shared something interesting and relevant? Like, reply, or retweet. Upvote or comment on Quora posts. Do they write a blog? Post a comment when a blog post speaks to you. We humans like to be noticed.

As you research, look for common ground. Maybe you share the same home state, or you attended the same college. Although it’s not related to professional pursuits, maybe you like the same hobbies, or you both love dogs. These are all things you can use to help break the ice and establish a relationship. You don’t have to be a creeper, just find a few relevant things you can build upon once you make a connection.

Doing some early reconnaissance will allow you to approach your contact in a way that shows genuine interest. We tend to like people who sincerely want to know more about who we are and what we do.

Email Networking Tips

We’ll get to the networking email templates in a moment, but first let’s cover some important tips for crafting an email. There are a few guidelines that email experts agree upon.

• Keep it short. Research by Boomerang (the email productivity app) showed that emails between seventy-five and a hundred words long yielded the best response rates. But the rate of return dropped off slowly after that, so don’t be too concerned if you need more words to get your point across.
• Personalize it. If the stakes are high and getting a response is important, take the time to customize your email so that it doesn’t look like a template. You’re more likely to get a response if your recipient feels that your email was meant for him and only him.
• Use emotion. Boomerang also discovered that emotional language nets better response rates. Instead of writing Would you be interested in meeting for lunch next Tuesday at noon?, write It would be wonderful to chat with you over lunch. Does noon next Tuesday work?
• Don’t ask for anything right away. It’s much better to start with a warm-up if you can. Send a hello and a sincere compliment. Wait until your second email to ask for anything.
• Ask for just one thing. When you do ask for something—whether it’s for feedback, advice, or a meeting—ask for it clearly and confidently. Don’t cloud your email by presenting multiple options or by asking for more than one thing at a time. If getting to your goal will involve multiple steps, ask for step one and wait for an answer before moving to step two and beyond.

Four Networking Email Templates

If you’ve read this far, you already know that you shouldn’t use stock templates for outreach—a personal touch can mean the difference between getting a response and having your email summarily sent to the recipient’s trash folder. But these examples will give you a good starting place so you can craft an email masterpiece of your own.

The Getting-to-Know-You

Hi Lucy,

I’ve been following your blog for a while. Your new post inspired me to finally get in touch. I loved how bold you were in stating that serious writers should look into traditional publishing before going the self-publishing route. The reader comments about this controversial topic were also fascinating to read. Quite the spectrum of opinions!

You communicate with your reader base masterfully. I aspire to do the same with my blog, The Unknown Author, someday. Thanks for showing us how great blogging is done!

All the best,

Charlie

Why It Works:

• It’s personal and offers sincere praise.
• It’s short (85 words.)
• It makes an introduction without asking for anything.
• It uses emotional language (inspired, loved, fascinating.)

The Ask

Hi Lucy,

It’s been awesome to have an email conversation about blogging and your experience on both sides of the publishing industry. I feel like I’ve learned many useful things from you already.

I’m hard at work revamping my blog strategy to boost my pageviews and reader engagement. You’re clearly doing all the right things with Lucy’s Five-cent Blog—I’m so impressed by its popularity and influence! I’d love to meet you for lunch and dig into some serious shop talk. You mentioned that you live downtown. Would you like to meet at Ivar’s at noon on Tuesday?

Of course, I understand if you’re busy. In that case, we can make it another time or just continue the conversation in email.

All the best, Charlie

Why It Works

• It builds on the existing relationship.
• It includes one clear call-to-action (CTA).
• It gives the recipient an option to say no, making her twice as likely to say yes. (A classic copywriting technique supported by forty-two studies.)

The Follow-Up

Hi Lucy,

I got in touch last week to see if you’d like to grab lunch with me to talk about blogging. I didn’t hear from you, but I headed down to Ivar’s anyhow and had some jumbo prawns in your honor!

I’d still love to connect. Is there a time or place that works better for you? Of course, if you’d rather stick to email, that’s fine, too.

All the best, Charlie

Why It Works

• It’s very brief.
• It uses a touch of humor.
• It maintains the “out clause.”

The Thank-You

Hi Lucy,

Thanks again for a great lunch. The food was tasty, but the conversation was even better. I left feeling energized. I’m already mapping out my next steps to revitalize my blog.

Let’s keep the channel open! I sent you an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Maybe, once I get the new content strategy you helped inspire in place, we can collaborate on a guest post exchange or some other project.

Talk to you soon, Charlie

Why It Works

• Everybody likes to feel appreciated. (Thanks for lunch.)
• Everybody likes to know that their contributions have had an impact. (“I left feeling energized.”)
• It lays the foundation for future collaboration. Networking goals achieved!

What Are Proper Nouns, and How Do I Use Them?

A proper noun is a specific (i.e., not generic) name for a particular person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized in English, no matter where they fall in a sentence. Because they endow nouns with a specific name, they are also sometimes called proper names.

Every noun can be classified as either common or proper. A common noun is the generic name for one item in a class or group.

palace

girl

book

A proper noun, on the other hand, names a noun precisely.

Buckingham Palace

Cynthia

War and Peace

The distinction between common and proper nouns is usually quite easy to make, but it can occasionally be more difficult to intuit. When we speak, it makes no difference whether a noun is proper or common because it does not impact syntax. When we write, however, we need to know which nouns are proper because we need to know where to place capital letters.

You Too Can Prevent Capital Abuse

Capitalization overuse is the most prevalent type of spelling error there is. Psychologically, it is difficult to resist using capitals to emphasize what we think is important in a sentence. Marketing professionals capitalize liberally to Grab Your Attention And Sell You Things, but this is a bad habit you should avoid in your writing.

Carefully capitalizing only proper nouns will enhance the readability of your writing—after all, your readers have spent years of their lives being educated in English conventions. Extra capital letters seem like “speed bumps” on their course through your paragraphs.

Here are a few examples of common and proper nouns that are often capitalized incorrectly.

Mom or mom? Nouns Indicating a Family Relationship

The nouns we use to talk about our families cause a lot of trouble. The rule of thumb is, when you use a word like mom, dad, or aunt, capitalize it only if the word is being used exactly as you would a name, as if you were addressing the person directly. If the word is not being used as a name, it is not capitalized—although that has nothing to do with the word’s importance.

Please ask Mom if she would like steak for dinner.

Is your mom coming over for dinner?

Even if the speaker of the last sentence is acquainted with your mom and is thinking of that mom specifically, mom is not being used as a proper name, so it is not capitalized.

Adam asked his Uncle if he could stay for dinner.

Adam asked his uncle if he could stay for dinner.

Are Directions Capitalized?

The directions of the compass are not capitalized unless they are used as part of the proper name of a region.

The trail continued west all the way to the coastline.

What time is it on the West Coast?

Capitalizing Seasons

Because we capitalize the days of the week and the months of the year, people sometimes capitalize the seasons spring, summer, fall (or autumn), and winter by extension. However, they should only be capitalized when they are used as a part of a proper name.

Will you be visiting New York in the Spring?

Will you be visiting New York in the spring?

I am thinking of attending the Spring Social this year.

Jobs and Other Titles

It is just plain hard to resist capitalizing job titles, but once again, unless they are used in the act of naming someone, do not capitalize them.

Please allow me to introduce you to our managing director, Bob Smith.

Today Julie had an interview with Managing Director Bob Smith.

No matter how important you deem the job a person does, resist the urge to capitalize his or her title if it does not name him or her.

The next time I visit Rome, I’m going to drop in on the pope.

I can’t wait to meet Pope Francis when I am in Rome.

Should Brand Names Be Capitalized?

When brand names come into common use to describe a whole class of items, it is easy to forget to capitalize them. Brand names, however, are proper names.

He asked his mother to hand him a tissue.

Could you pass me the Kleenex?

Should Eponyms Be Capitalized?

That said, some nouns that are named for a person or region—eponyms—become so commonly used that it is no longer considered necessary to capitalize them. The sandwich, for example, was named for John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich.

The professor always packed a sandwich for office hours.

There are many more instances when you may have to decide whether a noun is common or proper to determine whether it is capitalized. (You may wish to read our articles on countries, nationalities, and languages or periods and events, for example.) When in doubt, do what all the best writers do: look it up.

10 Ways to Save Time Every Day That Most People Ignore

Would you like more time for family, recreation, and rest? It’s easier than you think to find time to do the things you enjoy most. Let’s talk about ten oft-ignored ways to save time every single day.

1 Keep track of your time.

“What gets measured gets done.” Though experts debate who wrote this old adage, few disagree with its wisdom. By measuring your time, you can evaluate whether you’re spending it wisely. Otherwise, how could you identify areas that need adjustment? Focus on your time-wasters one by one. Once you get over the shock of how many minutes you waste, you can reappropriate where it will do more good. As you check your progress regularly, your steady improvement will motivate you to eliminate even more time-wasting practices. According to bestselling author Kevin Daum, you will benefit from measuring your time for as short a period as a week or a day.

2 Amp up your downtime.

Do you commute on a form of public transportation? Do you find waiting rooms boring? If you have a smartphone, you can use this unoccupied time to your advantage. Think of your shortest daily tasks. When you have a long wait ahead of you, such as a doctor’s appointment, come prepared. Take what you need to work while you wait, and you will be free for other activities later.

3 Dedicate a distraction-free zone.

One super-productive overseas plane ride inspired Bryan Guido Hassin, CEO of a global technology startup, to incorporate “plane days” into his schedule. He puts his phone and laptop on airplane mode, disabling the network connections. He lets his coworkers know that he will be as unavailable as if he were out of the office. Then, he tackles his highest priority work. You may not have the luxury to make each day a “plane day,” but surely you can turn off your phone and shut your office door to gain a few uninterrupted moments.

4 Do one thing at a time.

Multitasking will cost you 40 percent of your productivity, according to behavioral psychologist Susan Weinschenk. The problem is, you think you’re doing two activities simultaneously, but you’re actually switching rapidly from one activity to another. Switches last a fraction of a second, but over the course of a day, those seconds add up to a significant loss of time. You also make more errors and inhibit your creativity when you multitask. Instead, block off an hour or two to concentrate on your most important task. Can’t sit still for an hour? Set a timer for fifteen minutes, then force yourself to focus until it sounds.

5 Learn from the best (and the worst).

Experience is a great teacher, but you can learn from other people’s successes and failures as well as our own. Rather than lose hours in research, ask friends for the pros and cons of services or products that they’ve bought. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel or the flying saucer camera. It’s simple; copy the methods of successful people and avoid the ways of the unsuccessful.

6 Avoid unnecessary meetings.

Meetings are responsible for a lot of wasted hours. First, let’s address the meeting setters. Is a conference necessary? Would an email serve the same purpose? Does the entire team need to attend (because they play significant roles) or only certain members? If you are an employee, it might be difficult to avoid meetings, but your boss might understand if you point out a potential conflict of priorities. You might say something like, “The meeting today about the dress code falls during the time I scheduled for Project Urgent. Since we are on a tight deadline, would you prefer me to work through the meeting and review the notes later?”

7 Hire someone to do it for you.

Are you the only one who can do this job well? If you’re in a leadership position, delegate some duties to other responsible employees. Even if your work is not managerial, you can still explore the possibility of hiring a virtual assistant or a freelancer. If the undertaking doesn’t require a personal touch, you can save time by hiring someone else to do it while you prioritize other duties. Or, you can always use the time to relax. Such a step might even make you feel happy. As a Harvard researcher reported to The New York Times, “People who spent money to buy themselves time, such as by outsourcing disliked tasks, reported greater overall life satisfaction.”

8 Finish what’s almost done.

To continue an ongoing project, you must review what you already accomplished, get out all your tools, and decide what you will do next. If a project is almost complete, why not finish immediately? Sure, you might stay a half-hour overtime, but you will complete it in less time than if you put everything away to start again tomorrow. Set aside time at the end of the day to wrap up short assignments. The more things you conclude, the less time you’ll spend worrying about them.

9 Buy helpful gadgets.

Some tools are time-wasters in disguise, but others will increase your productivity. Imagine life without cell phones, microwaves, or other modern conveniences. A vintage typewriter may look cool in your apartment, but would you write faster and more accurately with a laptop?

10 Say no.

It’s difficult to tell colleagues that you don’t have time to help them, but it’s necessary. Once they realize that you respectfully decline requests that cut into your personal or work time, they’ll soon stop asking.

Are you passionate about grammar? March forth with us on National Grammar Day!

March 4th is National Grammar Day in the United States. Each year we rally all the grammar-loving troops to raise awareness about the value of proper grammar and about good writing overall. This year we have some exciting initiatives to get everyone thinking about good grammar!

The Grammarly Grammar Nerd Personality Quiz

Every English language lover knows that not every grammar fiend is created equally. Starting from March 3rd, Grammarly will be actively promoting our fun personality quiz to help you find out if you are a pedant’s best friend or a grammatical non-conformist. You don’t have to wait until March 3rd, however; the quiz page is live now!

To share this quiz with your readers, embed this in your blog post by pasting the following HTML snippet into your web editor:

Please attribute this content to grammarly.com/grammar-check.

 

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Extra content to celebrate National Grammar Day

In addition to the quiz, we are encouraging our large, active social communities to talk about grammar more during this week. Starting on March 1st, we’ll be sharing a series of engaging examples of why #GrammarMatters. Along with each post, we’ll ask fans to share images or statuses that show exactly why grammar and proper writing are important. Our goal is to make #GrammarMatters a trending U.S. hashtag on March 4th!

Please attribute this content to grammarly.com/grammar-check.

To embed this image into a blog post, paste the following HTML snippet into your web editor:

Please attribute this content to grammarly.com/grammar-check.

To embed this image into a blog post, paste the following HTML snippet into your web editor:

Please attribute this content to grammarly.com/grammar-check.

To embed this image into a blog post, paste the following HTML snippet into your web editor:

Additional information To document our celebration of this fun, educational holiday, we will be tracking social response metrics and summarizing our findings in an infographic during the days following Grammar Day. If you would like to be notified of this infographic, please email your request to nbaron@grammarly.com.

National Grammar Day is a relatively new holiday, having been designated only seven years ago. The day was established by Martha Brockenbrough, founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar.

Why Grammar Still Matters in Today’s Digital Age

Guest post by Matt Banner

Today’s digital age has brought back the craft of writing, but at a cost. With the rising popularity of hashtags, tweets, emoticons, and shorthand phrases like the ever-present “LOL,” it seems like good grammar has gone out the window. At the end of the day, does grammar still matter in this digital age?

For the foreseeable future, the answer is yes. While you can’t take ten steps on the Internet these days without running into a typo-ridden blog post or a social media post that looks like Freddy Krueger took his clawed hands to the language, there’s still a place for those who hold grammar in high regard.

6 Reasons Every Writer Should Adhere to Proper Grammar

Let’s take a look at six compelling reasons for using proper grammar, despite the rising tide of haphazard content flooding the Internet. No perfect blog post is complete without a healthy dose of pristine writing, so keep these reasons in mind.

1 Credibility and Reputation

We all seek to create an online persona that is respected by the community. To find success in that endeavor, we must build a reputation for accuracy and credibility. Unfortunately, poor grammar and spelling errors are not trademarks of a credible writer.

These types of issues reflect ignorance and carelessness and suggest the writer didn’t truly care about the quality of the post. In short, mistakes reflect poorly on your brand. If you want the respect and adoration of your readers, provide them with high-quality and polished content free of grammatical errors.

2 Maintain Professionalism

Nowhere in the list of grammar rules is there one that prohibits having fun with your writing. That being said, lazy writing and sloppy grammar are detrimental to any sense of professionalism you’re seeking to establish.

It doesn’t matter if your content is being read by your mother or by a corporate CEO—it should always be professional and well written.

3 Respect For Your Readers

At the end of the day, quality grammar is a sign of respect. It allows your writing to clearly and concisely deliver your message. Without it, you’re not respecting the time or the intelligence of your readers. Besides, if you’re sending it to someone who intends to publish it, your errors will simply slow down the process.

4 Clear Understanding

Proper grammar ensures that your message is delivered properly to the reader. A host of typos and grammatical errors will do nothing but cloud the ultimate purpose of your writing.

5 Convenience for Everyone Involved

Great content will inspire people to share it. If you neglect proper grammar, many people will be less inclined to share what you have to offer. They will feel embarrassed to share it because it might reflect poorly on their own reputation.

People will be more inclined to share your content if it’s well written and free of errors.

6Long-Term Posterity

Unless you take it down yourself, your writing can theoretically appear anywhere on the Internet. Once published, it will stay there for all to see. Do you want people to remember your post for its excellent content, or should they use it as a warning to those who dare to ignore the power of grammar?

Final Thoughts

While it may seem like the English language is slowly devolving, there are still plenty of people who cherish the time and effort spent on a well-crafted article or post. Grammar may not be as popular as Twitter, but it still deserves a place in the digital age. How do you keep good grammar alive? Let us know in the comments below!

6 Unique Ways to Say “Sorry” When You Make a Mistake

What do you say when you make a mistake? If you use sorry often, the expression may lose a little of its power. Here are six other words for saying sorry.

1. My Apologies

My apologies is another word for “I’m sorry.” It’s rather formal, so it’s fine for business contexts. Commonly, people use it to decline an invitation or express regret at not being able to fulfill a request. However, it may be perceived as sarcastic in casual settings, so choose carefully when and with whom to use it.

My apologies, but your order will not arrive until Monday.

2. Pardon/Pardon Me/I Beg Your Pardon

Pardon is a verb which means to allow as a courtesy. Pardon me asks the offended or wronged person to excuse your mistake. Pardon used alone is a shortened form of “I beg your pardon.” In that instance, pardon is a noun that means forgiveness or tolerance.

Pardon me; I didn’t mean to offend you.

3. Excuse Me

Excuse me is used to politely interrupt a conversation. You might also say it if you commit a social no-no.

Excuse me; I didn’t realize that wearing shoes indoors was impolite in this country.

4. Mea Culpa

This Latin phrase derives from a Catholic prayer. Nowadays, people use mea culpa to apologize or take responsibility for wrongdoing. You might see this phrase in newspapers, for example, to apologize for misinformation or to retract a statement made in error.

The witness wrote a statement of mea culpa after he was caught lying in court.

5. Oops/Whoops

Oops (or whoops) is used for mild errors or social blunders. If you spill a glass of water, you might use this exclamation of chagrin for your mistake. On the other hand, if you break an invaluable heirloom vase, a stronger apology might be in order.

Whoops, I broke your coffee mug.

6. My Bad

My bad is a slang expression used to claim responsibility for a deed. If you bump someone on the street, you can say “my bad” to let them know you acknowledge your fault. My bad should only be used in casual speech or among friends.

I lost the book you lent me. My bad! I will buy you a replacement.

If you make a mistake, don’t worry. With so many new ways to say you’re sorry, you can apologize for your gaffes and goofs in style! What’s your favorite way to say you’re sorry?