June 16, 2006, Appleton Post Crescent
By Kathy Fredrickson
iMark Consulting - President
Get Marketing Message Across After Your E-mail Message
Some of the most powerful marketing is subtle, and when it’s obviously easy and can be implemented quickly that’s even better. At a recent meeting, the UW Oshkosh College of Business Internship Director, Nancy Hintz, suggested we utilize our e-mail signatures as a marketing tool.
If you already have a strategy in place that addresses e-mail signature use and it satisfies your needs, I hope you will find a nugget of information in this column to enhance your efforts. If you had an “ah-ah” moment like we did at the College of Business, I hope this column inspires you to take action.
We considered the potential of using e-mail signatures to reinforce our brand and update our constituents on upcoming events. The College of Business has about 60 faculty and staff, each of whom sends at least 30 emails daily outside UW Oshkosh. There are approximately 250 academic days where everyone is using e-mail. We figure that's a minimum of 450,000 possible marketing messages distributed annually, at no cost.
We have started our process by establishing a structure of e-mail signatures to keep everything consistent (line one: name; line two: title; line three: UW Oshkosh College of Business; line four: direct phone; line five: website).
After doing some online research on the subject, we discovered the recommended number of lines is no more than seven or eight. We decided to limit our message to two lines and provided tips and categories of options to inspire our team.
Two important tips included practicing basic email etiquette (stay away from witty quotes, quips and hot-button issues) and sending a test signature to yourself to proofread (we can’t have educators sending typos!).
Here are the categories we considered:
Market-specific opportunities: There are many programs at the College of Business designed to benefit our alumni and the business community. An example of a simple two-line messaging would be: Sign up for our free MBA Professional Development Workshops! For more information, visit w.
New initiatives: Every organization is either in the process of launching, promoting or finalizing initiatives. Two examples at the College include: The Wisconsin Financial Services Institute, offering CFP certification in 2007 and Coming in fall 2006 – The UW Oshkosh MBA and Graduate Education Center in Green Bay
Upcoming events: A great use of an e-mail signature is to remind specific audiences of events. Internal marketing opportunities definitely exist in this category (reminding employees to sign up for a company picnic, etc.) Our example: Join us at our College of Business Annual Dinner at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, February 17, 2007!
Branding and points of pride: Use of taglines and reinforcing notable achievements in an e-mail signature benefits the brand. The College of Business considers its student’s success as a reflection of our worth. While we don’t have the power brand necessary to show up in Business Week, we certainly have students who know as-much or more than the students who attend the nationally-ranked business schools. That’s why we are so proud to share the results of the MBA students who took the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Business Knowledge and Concepts Exam last fall. Our e-mail signature can reflect this achievement by stating: UW Oshkosh MBA: Our students scored in the Top 5% on the ETS Business Exam!
As with many things in business, an outsider’s perspective can make a difference. I’m thankful to be engaged in an environment at the College of Business where ideas like Nancy’s are shared on a regular basis.
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