May 20, 2007

Don't Forget: Signatures in Your Email

One of the basic tenants of marketing 101 is to have your email signature in all of your emails. The second tenant is to use a proper domain name - not aol.com, hotmail.com, gmail.com or yahoo.com.

An email signature is a way for those who don't know (and those who do) to know who you are. Even for those who do know you, after your first email to them or real life introduction, your email signature reminds them of who you are and what you do. Repetition is an important part of advertising isn't it?

Most signatures are pretty plain, like mine but some email signatures are like mini-web sites - with full interactivity.

The WSJ writes Brian Lord of Franklin, Tenn., views his ever-changing email signature as a helpful marketing tool. An agent for speakers and entertainers, Mr. Lord regularly rotates company-supplied email signatures that include the firm's logo and photographs of individual agents. There are also links to his bio, talent list and personal blog.

While it might look "fun" to have an email signature with something like "I so rock" (see left), it's probably better to have a more business like email that includes links to your web site , blog and/or bio. Feedburner in fact can give you a script to put in your email that rotates through your recent blog posts.

About the domain issue: A domain name of your company gives you more credibility than having an email with janesbakery@aol.com. Your web host can get you a domain name in a few minutes. Homestead.com, Microsoft Office Live or Hypermart - are all good places to start.

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