The most overlooked marketing tool.... your e-mail signature

by Laurinda Shaver

How many e-mails do you send out in a day? 10, 20, 150? Each and every e-mail is an opportunity to market yourself through your e-mail signature.

What is an e-mail signature?

It is the standard lines of text that your e-mail program can automatically add at the end of every e-mail so that your recipient knows how to reach you and to find out more about you.

Here is my e-mail signature. It can state:

• your name
  
• your title/company
• your address
• your contact number
• your website
  
• all your social media touchpoints.

If each and every time someone is reading your e-mail, imagine the opportunity for them to learn more about you.

So, how do I set up my e-mail signature?

For MS Outlook:
1. Click on TOOLS on the top line navigation within Outlook
2. Select options
3. Go to mail format tab
4. Click on SIGNATURE button
5. Add link to your email signature and save (make sure you have added it as a hyperlink (blue) and not a text link so it will be linkable directly from your email signature)

For iMail on Macs:
1. Click on MAIL on the top menu.
2. Select PREFERENCES from the drop down menu.
3. Select SIGNATURES from the top tabs.
4. Click on the + button to add a signature.

For other e-mail programs, search for "E-mail signature" in the help function.

Don't miss out on a simple, but very effective way in marketing yourself smarter.

Ok, I'm on facebook, linkedin, twitter, foursquare, youtube...

by Laurinda Shaver

What is your social media strategy? Quantity or Quality?

So many people are in a rush to get there name out there. Have you done this? Sign up for every new service that appears. Play with it for a bit. Maybe even figure out how it could be useful for your purpose or business. You want your name, your business, and your services to be in as many places as possible. Quantity is key. To be seen. Everywhere.

But then you find that you have signed up for 20 things. And each one demands time, attention and maybe even a strategy as to how you want to present yourself. You find that you don't have the time. So, you abandon one. Then another and before you know it, there are over 15 places online where your presence is incomplete. Now these places are not current and certainly not a good representation of you.

What is more important? To be seen everywhere OR to be seen in less places, but have quality content.

So lets weigh the options. If online branding is about building relationships, what is more valuable?
1) You meet someone. Find something of value. Exchange info. Then never follow up.
OR
2) You meet someone. Find something of value. Exchange info. Then return again and again to nurture the relationship and actually get the value.

Who do you want to be?

Know anyone who is doing it right? I would love to hear about it. Please share it in the comments.