<> Marketing: In an effort to "personalize" communications with customers and prospects alike, many firms overuse the recipient's name in communications. I'm seeing my name way too often in the subject head of solicitations. My self-talk says back, "That's my name, don't wear it out."

I know, nothing gets a person's attention like the sight of his or her own name. But people and companies alike are going overboard with this, and may wear a valuable DM practice right out of existence, the way the words "FREE" in the subject header often automatically route an email into spam folders at the server or PC end.

I can't stand it when they use my name over and over again in the copy. "Larry, just imagine..." or "Larry, I'm telling you..." or "Larry, you know as well as I do..."

I see sole proprietors doing this sort of thing using Outlook or ACT, etc. They'll send a message to a herd of email addresses (which are hopefully, but sadly not always, suppressed). Then they start talking to me like neighbors over a fence. Some of these are very well written. So well that upon first blush, it doesn't occur to me they are "botmails." Then something inevitably gives it away.

While it's insanely time-consuming, I am most impressed with bits of real, live human attention. That's really 1:1 Marketing and not Faux 1:1 Marketing. I see how much it means to me when a customer service rep has the power and goes above and beyond the call of duty. This has happened on numerous occasions with Verizon tech support, and believe me I'm not one to typically praise the virtues of the phone company. But when I get call backs to see if everything turned out OK, or if the DSL modem arrived OK, I'm impressed and feel compelled to share that experience, as I'm doing right here.

I see what an effect such attention has on me and practice it in my own business, since I see first hand its salutary effects. I'll give very frank feedback to the advertiser on ad copy for ad space they've bought in WDFM. So no longer is the advertiser just buying ad space. They buy into a relationship.

Long-term relationships are the key to most businesses. That's what builds a franchise and allows the proprietor at any level of business to not have to constantly acquire brand new relationships to replace burnt out ones, week in and week out.

Yes, there are times I will send a piece of information to more than one person at one time. But I make no pretense about it. My message/agenda is to communicate that I was thinking of you, the recipient, and a couple of other people who might be interested in the info I'm passing on.

I think it boils down to brain-space, on a micro or macro scale. The fact that someone in person, or by software proxy, has bird-dogged your interest and seeks to serve it is what people respond to. Sure, putting the recipient's name in there is great, but by no means is it the end-all, only the beginning.