What An Early 20th Century Poet Has to Say About Your Email Signature
Sometimes some of the most powerful marketing and brand tools are the most everyday, mundane things that are easy to overlook. Are you creating and managing a consistent email signature as part of your organization’s brand? And are you able to sell or influence others using it strategically?
Do you remember the famous William Carlos Williams’ poem many of us recited in grade school:
so much depends
upon
a red wheelbarrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
Those 16 words are the entire poem. Famous. Well-known and simple. So, what does it have to do with email signatures? For starters, it’s short and sweet, just like your email signature should be.
As a marketing strategist working with many high-growth enterprises, they are often led and managed by highly talented people. I have been amazed when it comes to email signatures to see how little many pay attention to corporate hygiene.
Ironic that Williams was a physician too.
Signature Dish
Employees of the same company will have different signatures, formats, and even different calls to action.
Sometimes C-levels corporate email will look like their HotMail account (age alert).
You would expect that a 40-year-old technology like email and signatures is an easy thing to check off of your brand management to-do list.
I have witnessed prospective buyers, especially those in high-dollar, more complex technology solutions, pause at the sight of a faulty or inconsistent email signature as companies try to sell them things. Like wearing mismatched socks, a sophisticated buyer notices details like cluttered and inconsistent messages at the end of emails.
The concern is, “If you can’t get organized and aligned on this, how am I supposed to trust you or your technology to run one or more of my critical business processes?”
It’s a little thing. But it says a lot.
Once a brand leader is mindful of the importance of addressing email signatures, it’s not that hard to execute it flawlessly.
As one email signature platform provider CapSumo notes,
“Your email signature is far more powerful than you think.”
There are best practices for building and managing them across your enterprise, making signatures web and mobile-friendly, and ensuring everyone within the company uses the same icons, messages, and links. And, visually – you want a consistent image with the right amount of white space, the same font, and a sharp image or icon.
CapSumo has a helpful list of do’s, and dont’s on their website.
Services like these and others are readily available – e.g., Exclaimer is another popular product built for the brand sheriffs who pay attention to the consistency of brand messaging.
A recent survey I read said that on average, businesses using consistent and controlled email signatures, messages and links had 22% more clicks, 32% more email replies, 10% growth in their social media reach, and 15% more leads. Most emails with signatures are often going to people you or your colleagues know – so informing them of a new product or service can bring strong interest.
Part of the poet Williams’ artistic approach and philosophy was that everyday items or scenes could mean a lot and hold more import than they might seem to at first blush.
Your email signature is one such item in the context of your overall brand and stakeholders.
Guest Blogger: Kepler Knott is the founder of TeamSolo, a group of senior marketing professionals with different backgrounds and focus areas, who work to help innovative, growth organizations acquire capital, customers, and partners. In his particular role, Kepler provides specialized market and business development services – research, strategy, and communications – to clients ranging from founders of investor-backed start up’s to F1000 CEOs, typically revolving around technology-driven products or services.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
