Signature Line: An Overlooked, Virtually Free Marketing Tool

Veronika Noize, The Marketing Coach asked:


Once my clients truly understand that marketing is about relationships, we start talking about how those relationships are created and maintained to determine appropriate marketing tactics for their businesses and personal styles.  But no matter what kind of business my clients are in, they all have the same excellent relationship marketing tool at their fingertips: Their e-mail messages.

E-mail messages are the most frequently overlooked (and virtually free) marketing tools available to entrepreneurs.  No, I’m not talking about electronic mail campaigns, or spamming, but using the messages you send out every day to your clients and colleagues as a subtle marketing tool.  You can do this by adding more information to your signature line in all your e-mail.

How many times have you received a message from people who aren’t using a company domain name in their e-mail address, so you’re not sure who Bill or Sally @Hotmail.com is?  Or what if you’re in that position yourself? Many low cost Web hosts will forward e-mail received to you@yourdomain.com, but don’t provide an e-mail address from your domain name.  So how do you look professional when you’re dealing with a $35 a month Web site and free Internet e-mail?  You use an annotated signature line.

Most e-mail programs allow users to create an individual signature line that is appended to all outgoing messages.  If you’re not using one, you are missing an effective and virtually free way to market your business.  And as an added bonus, your marketing message can be seen where paid advertising is forbidden such as on electronic bulletin boards, giving you a competitive edge is such circumstances.

So why bother to annotate your signature line?  Here are some good reasons:

1. Annotating your signature line makes it easy for your clients to find your contact information when they want t o buy again.  Sure you may have given them a business card, but what if business cards are lost or misfiled?  Creating a situation in which your client has to look in the Yellow Pages for your phone number may be risky, especially if a competitor has a more compelling marketing message.

2. Annotating your signature line reminds and makes it easy for your clients to visit your web site.  Of course that’s assuming you want your customers to visit your Web site.  And why wouldn’t you?  Your Web site is a great visibility tool that builds your relationship with your customers.

3. Annotating your signature line identifies the origin of your messages so that if they get forwarded, people who are interested in what you have to say or offer can find you easily.  Evan if you know for sure that your customers have your address, your fax number or understand the full range of your products or services, that information does not forward with your e-mail unless you put it there.  So if one of your loyal customers forwards an e-mail from you to a colleague and your contact information is not included, you’ve just closed the door to a new business opportunity that your customer opened for you by forwarding your message.

4. Annotating your signature line can be a gentle way to remind customers of upcoming events (”Sale end Friday, Dec 27th” or “Don’t miss our open house on Jan 17″) to buy again (”Call today for a free quote”), to promote a new product or service (”Ask me how our new widget will save you money”), to encourage forwarding and referrals (”Forward this newsletter to anyone you thing will find it valuable”) or to call for feedback (”If you like working with us, tell your friends.  If you don’t, tell us and we’ll make it right”).

So what should you include in an annotated signature line?  At the very least, your e-mail signature should include you full name, title, company name, web site link, plus you phone and fax numbers.  Also consider a direct access phone line (if different than the company phone number), cell phone number, company tag line or motto, an offer, a reminder to buy, last call for a special deal, teaser for the future products or services, or even an inspirational quote, if it reinforces your marketing message.

It doesn’t have to be fancy to get read.  You can make simple borders around your key messages or information by using your title key (~), a dash (-), and underline (_) or even a series of asterisks (*).  Bottom line: Every professional needs a standard signature line in all business correspondence.  Because that is exactly what e-mail is professional correspondence.  Of course, we use it so casually and so frequently that it hardly seems like something professional at all.  But bear in mind that all correspondence between you and your customers is an opportunity to enhance you business relationship, even if that communication happens only in cyberspace.

Assassin Marketing asked:


Online marketing is no doubt the most effective way to reach people. Its capability to earn millions is unquestioned.

Perhaps, this is one of the most momentous discoveries of mankind. The internet has brought about a lot of changes in the world. It allowed us reach the unreachable; it permitted us to communicate with the people around the globe without spending much money.

These are also the reason why people nowadays are investing in online marketing for their businesses…because beyond a doubt, online marketing will work for them.

We do have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to advertising. In fact, we have the television, radios, print media and all. However, online marketing still belongs at the top of the list for many reasons.

First, people prefer online marketing because it reaches the whole world. Your supposedly very small business may become very large almost overnight because of the magic of using online marketing because everyone in this world can literally see what you offer.

Second, you reach the world and get millions without having to pay millions in return. The cost of online marketing compared to other forms of media is very efficient and cost effective. Let’s say you use print media. If you are going to make a flyer and advertise it over the world, how much would it cost you? If you were to pay for TV advertisement, you would definitely have to pay for every single second that your business is aired.

Third, online marketing creates a two-way communication process. We do not simply promote what we have. Hence, we get to know what our visitors or what our customers think through the ”Comments” box on our web pages. By doing so, we get to know what they want and we are able to improve our products and services.

Next, it is also very important that we build relationship with our customers. Yes, we may have benefited from them but we should always find ways to keep them coming back to our place of business or at least our website. With online marketing, we are able to do this because we can become interactive with them, thus, making our customers feel that they are valued.

Fifth, in business, we always have to budget our resources. Unlike in other forms of media, we save a lot of money with online marketing because we will no longer need to keep sending letters, flyers or postcards every time we want to contact our customers or offer a promotion. In fact, the current trend is to only mail your customer information if they need additional resources or information about your business. For advertisements in newspapers and magazines, you have to pay for every inch of space, and even every color used in the design your ad. With online marketing, it is always cost-effective.

The sixth reason why people have shifted to online marketing is its flexibility. For example, let’s say there has been a change in the benefits or features of your product or service, or even a change in your prices. Well, you’ll have to hire someone to redesign your ad, reprint it and send it out again…and that cost more money. But with online marketing, you can easily update your site and make the changes without removing money from your wallet. Does it sound great? Yes, it does.

Well, are you getting the picture on why there is a craze with online marketing? Here’s more.

Another reason a business should prefer online marketing is because you have a lot of media choices when promoting your business. You can opt to show videos, photo presentations, audio, blogs or even social media. There is nothing really hard about this type of strategy. It will definitely save you more time and of course, resources.

Moreover, you can monitor what is going on with your business. Through the use of tracking, you have the chance to see the traffic generated by your site. With this feature of online marketing, you get to know what else you can do to tweak and improve your site because you see what keywords prospects are choosing to find you and incorporate more of those into your website.

Online marketing is also an extremely effective type of advertising because you can design your website the way you want it. You have the power to add features in it, to create a web design that would attract visitors and make them stop on your web page and take a look at what you have. The best thing about it is that, you can do the changes anytime you want without worrying about your expenses. By controlling the design, more and more people will be attracted to your site and you will be able to create an amazing impression on them.

Lastly, people go crazy about online marketing is because it is beneficial not just for businesses but for the consumers as well. Why? Simply because it makes everything much more convenient. The consumers need not go out of their house anymore and search around the city to look for what they want. With just a click, they can have it. And another thing is that the communication between the buyer and consumer is immediate. Response is very fast and that is why transactions are almost immediate.

So there we have it. These ten reasons explain why online marketing has become the number one source of advertising today. You need not have a second thought anymore. All you have to do is close your eyes and dream of how money can be made when you invest your money in online marketing.



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