The best way to market yourself with every e-mail you send is to have your own e-mail address at your own domain name.  It helps build your brand and reinforce the products and services you offer your clients. However, even if you don’t have your own domain name, there are some innovative ways to market with every e-mail using signature files.
Signature Files
Signature files are a quick and easy way to send a
marketing message with every e-mail you send, even if you
don’t have your own domain name. A signature file is set
up within your e-mail package and is automatically attached
to every outgoing message. Even if people know you well and
call you often, they often go to a recent e-mail as the
easiest, and fastest, way to access your phone number,
street address, or even fax number.
The set-up window for signature files is usually in the
Tools section of the window bar at the top of the screen
when you’re in your e-mail software. By clicking on
Signature in the Tools window will open a new window and
allow you to create a new signature file or edit the
signature files you’ve already made.
Your standard signature file can include your name, company
name, phone number, e-mail address, and web site. You can
also include your street address, and a short, 10-15 word,
marketing message.
Your signature file will give your reader all of your
contact information and be reminded of the kind of services
or products you offer. Most e-mail programs let you have a
large number of signature files. Set up several to help
automate the little tasks you need to do regularly.
Use a signature file when you regularly need to send out
the same information to multiple people at different times.
Simply open your Signature Tools file, click on New and
write the information you want to relay.
Entourage and Outlook both allow very large signature
files. This means you can include detailed instructions
for a meeting announcement and arrangements, explain how to
use the product you’ve sold, or explain what people need to
do to get on your mailing list. Be sure to include your
contact information at the bottom of these “information
files.”
Signature File Marketing Messages
Use the short marketing message of a signature file to
encourage people to sign up for your ezine by offering a
sign-up bonus. In later chapters we’ll discuss how to use
your one-page web site to deliver bonus items, products,
audio files, client services, and even marketing packages.
Many Internet-savvy one-person business owners have found
combining your offer with a sign-up bonus can significantly
increase the size of your database.
I’ve found signature files to be very effective in
marketing my monthly complimentary teleseminars. Others
have used them to announce their latest book or other
products, direct readers to their blogs, and by using their
affiliate links, profit from marketing other people’s
products or services.
Because signature files are forwarded with their messages,
your marketing messages get forwarded when your recipients
pass on the messages you send. This puts your message in
front of people you would otherwise never reach, or even
know.
Signature files are crucial for those professionals who
haven’t yet installed their own domain names as part of
their e-mail system. When your e-mail comes through Yahoo,
and your address is some version of
yourfirstname732926@yahoo.com, you can clearly indicate who
you are, how to contact you, and what you offer with a
signature file.
The lesson is clear. Don’t send naked e-mail!
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Need to get your small business more strategic, organized,
automated? Click here => http://www.1PersonBusiness.com for
Pat Wiklund’s complimentary introductory course on How to
Run a One-Person Business Without It Running You.
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