Small Business Marketing
Promote Your Business with E-Mail Signature
Written by Charles Mburugu for Gaebler Ventures
Creating an email signature file is an effective way of passively promoting your business. People don't normally think much of this powerful marketing tool and thus lose miss out on an opportunity to get more customers. So how can you create and effectively market your email signature?
An email signature is usually the text appearing at the bottom of an email message, newsgroup or forum that identifies you, your product or service, or your company.
Your email signature file should include your name, your website title or company, your website address, your email address, your phone number, and a short message promoting your business or website. Try to maintain your signature file at six lines or less.
Invest a lot of thought in the creation of the email signature file so that it matches the personality and theme of your website. Create a number of email signature files for different occasions, services and products which you can just copy and paste in your email messages.
You can market your email signature file in the following ways:
Outgoing email
Insert your email signature in every mail sent to customers. This will keep them reminded of what your business is about and will also help brand your business. Create several different email signature files and save them in an easily accessible location in your computer. Use a different one for each product you are promoting.
HTML email
Most clients nowadays can receive html email. Therefore, you can make your email messages lively by including graphics, interactive forms and live links in your html email. Use the complete website address for your images or they won't open well in the recipient's inbox.
Graphical signatures
You could also create graphical representation of your email signature using your favorite graphics software program. To do this, write your signature on paper using a thick black pen. Scan it using your graphics software then upload it to the server. When inserting the image in your html email, be sure to use an absolute URL.
Online forums
When creating a post, use an intriguing subject line that arouses the interest of your readers. Make sure it is informative and valuable. Avoid writing ads since they may not be opened, or worse still deleted from the forum. Insert your email signature at the end of your post. Ensure it has your full site address and insert the keywords in the link text. This will enhance your website's link popularity, which is a vital element for site ranking.
Articles
You can insert a signature file at the bottom of articles you write. Your article might be published by hundreds of publishers reaching thousands of potential readers. By having your site address in your article's resource box, you will get many backlinks which will increase your website's popularity.
Auto responders
When you set up auto responders with different messages, make sure you include your signature file after each message. You could include one or two advertisements for your products. The main aim is to remind people of your website. You could also insert your email signature in surveys, polls, newsgroups, guest books, feedback forms and ezine ads. Include it in confirmation emails which are sent to visitors who fill out your forms.
Charles Mburugu writes for us from his home in Nairobi. He has a graduate degree in Business Management from Kenya Institute of Management. He is interested in writing about branding, CSR and intellectual property.
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