One of the main things I discuss in both my Guide to Marketing Mojo and the Big Book of Marketing Spells (which you can pick up for free right here) is how to make the most of cheap or downright free marketing opportunities.
One of those opportunities travels with every e-mail you send out … your e-mail signature.
It used to be you’d just add your name and perhaps the name of your business at the end of your email. If you were diligent, you might include your snail mail address and a phone number, too. As time passed, it became commonplace to include your name, business name, website URLs, and additional e-mail addresses if you chose.
It was, in a sense, the early electronic version of a business card. And it made it much easier for clients and prospects to connect with you … at no additional cost to your marketing bottom line.
And now … there’s the “HTML signature,” wherein you can not only add links to your social networking media profiles, you can show applications such as Amazon and Ebay, or add live RSS feeds or Tweets, for example -along with other pertinent information.
Email Apps enable you to easily customize your email signatures with your personal social profiles and allows you to add to each outgoing email dynamic content such as your latest eBay item, recent blog post, your latest tweet or a cause to promote.
Adding your HTML signature is a great way to get the word out about what you do and provide readers with immediate access to more information about you and your business. For instance, sites such as LinkedIn, Digg, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook each have their own fan base. By showing on which sites you’re a member, and by allowing access to your different profiles, you automatically open yourself up to a wider network of prospects.
It truly is a virtual – and interactive – business card.
One problem I’ve encountered is that Gmail, although known for having a simple interface, doesn’t make it easy to insert signatures with HTML tags using its “settings” panel. Most of the workarounds I’ve come across involve clever developers and userscript. You can find one example at GeekFG’s online editor.
Frankly, userscript is too much work for me. But, if userscript is your thing, just search “how to add HTML signature in Gmail.”
I found a much simpler way to add your sig to gmail in “WiseStamp”. A Firefox add-on, it allows you to easily enhance and customize your e-mail signatures. It also works with Google Apps, Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL.
You can download a free version of WiseStamp for a basic signature type -like this.
On the other hand, shell out $24 a year and you can get a little fancier. Like this.
Add $12 ($36 a year, total) if you want to ditch their little logo watermark. Hey, that’s only $3 a month -and if you’re a serious gmail user and rely a lot on email for your business concerns (and who doesn’t, these days?), I think it’s well worth it.
Creating an interactive HTML signature may take a little bit of time, but it will jazz up your e-mails and provide one more way to link up with your prospects and clients.
For more ways to market your business effectively and efficiently, pick up a free copy of my Big Book of Marketing Spells.
If you did, congratulations! Give yourself a pat on the back.
