Effective E-mail Sigs
Make sure your "sig" gets your message and contact info across--it's your best shot.
(Shel Horowitz's Frugal Marketing Tip, August, 1997)
Outside the World Wide Web, blatant commercialism is a serious no-no in the
strange new culture of the Internet. Yet, millions of dollars changes hands
over (or because of) the Internet every single month—and much of this goes
not through the crassly commercial World Wide Web but through the
one-to-one contact of e-mail. In particular, Internet mailing lists. The
watchwords on most mailing lists, for example, are helping others, sharing
information, and maintaining a climate that feels more like a college
seminar than a shopping mall.
(If you're not using mailing lists or newsgroups in your marketing mix,
watch for next month's column—you're missing out on one of the best
low-cost marketing tools in the world!)
Yet there's way to put a strong selling message into every single e-mail
message—and even customize it each time to emphasize exactly what you
want. This opportunity exists even in the strictest, most carefully
monitored mailing lists.
But so many people, even experienced marketers, throw away this chance!
Either they don't use the tool at all, or they throw it away with something
that adds no value for them (or worse, alienates potential prospects).
I'm talking about "signatures", or "sigs" for short—the 'business card'
that goes at the end of an e-mail message. You can either use your software
to generate it automatically, or paste it in from a document you've
created. Either way, it's a tool you should use to your benefit.
Keep them short: for mailing lists and newsgroups, 4 lines is optimal. Much
more than six gets annoying. I've seen sigs that were almost a page long,
and they were merely irritating—like a telemarketer who keeps calling back
after you've hung up.
I use a number of different signatures, depending on context. But they all
have something in common: they are designed to motivate the reader to DO
something: visit a web site, call a phone number, drop me an e-mail. And
while the percentage of people who do these things is a tiny fraction of
the number who see my sig, it's enough to provide me with a steady stream
of clients, partnering arrangements, articles for my web-based magazines,
and other benefits. Since my software only supports up to two versions, I
keep them in a text document that stays open, and copy and paste as needed.
Here are the ones I use, with a brief description about how I use each one.
GENERAL
__________________________
Shel Horowitz - mailto: - 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388
News releases, brochures, newsletters, ad copy, resumes, etc.
Books to save you money on business (Marketing Without Megabucks)
and pleasure (The Penny-Pinching Hedonist) - preview them, get
free marketing advice, arts/travel zines & more: http://www.frugalfun.com
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SHORTENED SIG FOR I-SALES AND I-ADVERTISING DIGEST (they have a four-line
maximum)
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Shel Horowitz - mailto: - 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388
News releases, brochures, newsletters, ad copy, resumes, etc.
$ave on business and pleasure--visit http://www.frugalfun.com for
free marketing advice, book previews, arts/travel zines & more.
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MAGWRITE (a magazine writers discussion group
__________________
Shel Horowitz, Northampton, MA, USA -
Author, * Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring *
and * The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a
Peasant's Pocketbook * Editor, * Global Arts Review * / * Global Travel
Review *
Over 700 published articles http://www.frugalfun.com
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ACCURATE WRITING & MORE - GENERAL/MARKETING (for one-to-one posts where a
longer sig is acceptable
__________________________
Shel Horowitz - mailto: - 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388
Director, Accurate Writing & More
News releases, brochures, newsletters, direct mail, ad copy, resumes, etc.
Books to save you money on business (Marketing Without Megabucks: How to
Sell Anything on a Shoestring)
and pleasure (The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a
Peasant's Pocketbook) - preview them, get free marketing advice,
arts/travel zines & more: http://www.frugalfun.com
_____________________________
ACCURATE WRITING & MORE - EDITING/BOOK DOCTORING
__________________________
Shel Horowitz - mailto: - 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388
Director, Accurate Writing & More
Editing * Book Proposals * Ghostwriting * Publishing Consulting * Marketing
Serving writers and publishers since 1981
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ACCURATE WRITING & MORE - RESUMES/CAREERS
__________________________
Shel Horowitz - mailto: - http://www.frugalfun.com
Director, Accurate Writing & More ph. 800.683.WORD/413.586.2388 (since 1981)
Affordable Professional Resumes - in person (MA) or by fax/e-mail/phone
Resumes published in three national resume books
Assistance in starting, operating, and marketing a business
Author, Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring
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GLOBAL ARTS/TRAVEL
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Shel Horowitz - mailto:, 413-586-2388
Editor/Publisher
Global ARTS Review
Global TRAVEL Review
For information about our book on low-cost FUN, send a message to
, or visit our Web site,
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AWM BOOKS
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Shel Horowitz - mailto: - 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388
Publisher, AWM Books: Books that save you money on business and pleasure:
Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring
The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's
Pocketbook
Also affordable marketing services for publishers and other small businesses
Preview our books, get free marketing advice, arts/travel zines & more:
http://www.frugalfun.com
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FRUGALITY
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Shel Horowitz, "The King of Frugal Fun" mailto: -
800-683-WORD/413-586-2388 (Northampton, MA)
Author, The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a
Peasant's Pocketbook and three other books. Featured on radio stations from
Rhode Island to Hawaii...praised in Living Cheap News, So Young, Frugal
Bugle, others.
Book excerpts, monthly tip sheet, arts/travel zines: http://www.frugalfun.com
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Thank you reading this back issue of Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips, published every month since May, 1997; please click here to view the complete archives, grouped by subject. Shel is an internationally known copywriter and marketing consultant, author of Grassroots Marketing Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and several other books, and creator of the Frugal Marketing web site. Please click here to contact Shel.
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