Yes I know marketing is one of those icky words. It smacks of snake oil salesmen, hard sell merchants and spammers who interrupt without permission. You don’t want to be in any one of those categories and you don’t have to be.

Marketing and branding is about turning up the volume on your mission, so that the right people can hear your message. Often it’s about gently reminding the people who do want to hear from you how you can help them and that receptive audience is right under your nose in your email inbox.

Are you getting the word out about who you are, what you do and why you do it to those people in your email signature?

12 TIPS TO CREATE A GREAT EMAIL SIGNATURE

1. Keep it short, simple and memorable, usually no more than three to four lines.

2. Identify yourself by adding your full name, company and role if appropriate.

3. Use pipes to neatly separate information, (Branding | Website design | SEO |).

4. Add your best contact details, avoid using a string of different numbers unless you really need to.

5. Link to your website or blog. The accepted way to do this is to provide a written URL to insure the link goes through with your message.

6. Include links to your important professional profiles or business pages on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

7. If you include your logo don’t make your entire signature an image because most email clients store images as attachments and block them by default.

8. If you’ve got room, add your tagline or link to any significant recent achievements or awards.

9. Consider customising the default email signature on your mobile device too; iPhone, iPad or Blackberry.

10. If you want to use specific formatting or graphic links think about using an email signature service like
Wise Stamp.

11. Separate your signature from the email content. The standard break most email clients recognise is – – – –.

12. Don’t be afraid to be you and show some personality in your signature. You’re not just selling, you’re building trust and likeability too.

What ways have you found to promote yourself in your email signature?

Do you have any examples of great email signatures to share?

Image by zen sutherland.