Email and Signature Lines

The telephone begins to ring, ring, ring.

You pick it up, say “hello” and hear a stranger’s voice.

“Mrs. Smith, you have an appointment at 3:30.”

You think for a minute and say, “What day and with whom is this appointment?”

The stranger says, “We will see you then…Thank you! Goodbye.”

Click.

The phone goes dead.

How effective was that communication?

I would venture to say that it really didn’t even rank on my scale as communication. It was missing the main elements of the message! You have no idea where, with whom or what day! Doesn’t the phone call become almost completely useless and a wasted effort? Clear concise phone calls with ALL the information would make a huge difference.

Keeping that overall concept in mind, let’s discuss email.

We send and receive emails constantly. The main reason for sending an email is to communicate something whether it is of a personal nature or to further your business.

There is one element of an email that a large majority of people neglect. Not only does it provide information, but it is also the easiest way to market your blog or site.

That one element is the closing signature lines.

Let me give you an example. I’ve asked Chaplain Donna for permission to use her as an example because she took my advice and totally turned her signature line into very effective marketing.

This is her initial signature line…

Lots of love,
Chaplain Donna

If her email was directed from one family member to another family member it would have been 100% appropriate, but that wasn’t the case. It was our first communication and I thought the closing was totally fine for an email to me, however, I was sure she did the same thing with other people too. I didn’t want her to miss out on an opportunity on her new blog, so I stuck my neck out and gave her advice even though she hadn’t ask for it.

This is the logic behind the signature lines:

If your email is forwarded, will there be any information on it to tie into your website or blog? Will the new recipient know where to find you? Is there any information that advertises your product or blog?

I’m pretty sure you might not ever find her by using the first email closing above. However, with a little tweaking, the email signature is now quite efficient.

Blessings and Peace,
Chaplain Donna
Empowered Peace
website * email * facebook * facebook fan page
Personal and Spiritual Healthcare Information for Quality Living Right Now!

Do you see a dramatic difference?

With just a simple change to the email closing, Chaplain Donna has provided low-key, non-pushy marketing information.

So if I were to forward her email to someone, the recipient might be intrigued by her tag line message and want to check out her blog. She could actually increase blog followers by having an efficient email signature line in a forwarded email.

Now you might be thinking, “Yeah, right, but my emails don’t get forwarded.”

Let me ask you a question or two….Do you ever:

• win a giveaway?
• find a great deal on the web?
• find a coupon online?
• receive a great posting from a blog?
• have a follower, reader or fan compliment you?
• need a little reminder of where you ran into the person emailing you?

If those kind of emails are sent to you, do you ever forward them to your best friend, parent, sibling or spouse with the intention of sharing the great news? Maybe you want to save it in a folder for later?

Ahah!

If you forward the email, is the signature line of the person that wrote you the note complete with their website, blog, facebook, twitter, etc.?

Maybe the person you send it to will forward the email too!!!

Do you see how that one email can have a marketing snowball effect?

All it takes is one initial effort to create a very efficient email signature closing.

You can set up any email to always populate your email signature lines so that you don’t have to retype them over and over.

The following lists the type of information that can be included in your signature lines:

1. a complimentary close such as “Thank You,” “Sincerely,” “Regards,” or “Yours Truly”
2. your name – the literal signature line
3. if your name is scribbled in hard to read text, print your name under it
4. your title if applicable
5. website(s)
6. store(s)/shop(s)
7. blog(s)
8. facebook friend
9. facebook fan
10. twitter
11. other applicable connections e.g. forum, community
12. a tag line, quote, motto

So let me challenge you to create new email signatures that will effectively market your sites. After you have completed them, send me an email with “New Signature Lines” as the subject and I will pick a few to brag about next week. (You should have just heard that little voice say, “Oh, another marketing opportunity to be in front of more people!”) If you want to send a “before” and “after” signature, that would be great too.

I will look forward to seeing your exciting progress.

The last “Woo Us To Your Blog” post explored all the different ways I can help.. Do you remember the message or are you already creating a new ending to your emails?

As always, attached is the weekly Linky to enter either the main URL to your site or add each post you publish throughout the week. You don’t have to do anything special, just drop your link in and get a little extra exposure to your site.

Until next week’s wooing post, communicate in well written emails and end them with a wealth of information as another means of silently marketing yourself!

Thinking I might offer a prize for the best signature lines,

Still reading all the emails from people who have volunteered to feed me grapes while fanning me. I don’t think George Clooney sent me an email.