Signature Files: The Ugly Stepchild of Promotional Strategies

Updated June 23, 2008

You've registered with all the major search engines, put out your own online newsletter, swapped banners with a few prime sites. You've even held an online contest or two. And you can't help but smile as you reminisce about how well your last press release was received.

But before you decide to scrap your online store and hire yourself out as a one-person Web promotion service, go to your e-mail program and bring up the last message you sent out. Scroll down to the bottom. What do you see? If it's a descriptive signature file that provides all your vital information - plus a catchy little promotion for your business - pat yourself on the back. You deserve it.

But if there's nothing but an ocean of white space between your name and the bottom of the screen, pull up a chair and get comfortable; it sounds like you're neglecting to take advantage of one of the simplest promotional tools in the wired world.

Signature files (or simply sig files) are those little tags at the end of messages that supply information about the author. They nearly always contain the basic contact information: name, company, title, telephone, etc.

To be fair, most businesspeople have taken to including this form of signature file in their correspondences. But there is a persistent group of offenders that stubbornly refuse to tap a key after the last letter of their name has been typed. Masters of the sig file - and there are some masters out there - must just look at these as blocks of marble gone unchiseled, cathedral ceilings gone unpainted.

A signature file can be so much more than just the standard name, rank, and serial number bit; it's one of the last bastions of still-pristine advertising real estate.

Think about it. You've just provided your readers with valuable information in the text of your message. You've gained their trust and established your credibility as an expert in your field. It's only natural that they would want to know more about you and the organization you represent. Don't let them down - close the deal.

Unless your business is vastly different than any I'm familiar with, you'll probably want to keep a few sigs in your holster, ready to be fired off at will. If you're using one of the big-name e-mail programs, that should be no problem; they all have tools for creating multiple signature files.

Customization is the name of the game. Think of the people you communicate with most often by e-mail: customers, affiliates, partners, friends…. Tailor a sig for each of your main categories of correspondence. To do this, you'll need to walk a bit in their moccasins - mentally, at least. Try to find a unique angle that will appeal especially to that group.

Here's an example of one I might use for communications with prospective clients:

Your Full Name (e.g. Kevin Richardson)
You Full Job Title (Communications Director)
Name and Email of you company (Ecom Resource Center (ecomresourcecenter.com)
Telephone (000-000-0000), Fax:(000-000-0000), Email (etc.)

There are message boards for just about everything these days. Think of the most obscure, inane subject you can, and I'll bet I can find a discussion list where you can converse about it ad nauseum. The point? Odds are, there's a message board dedicated to your area of expertise. Why not jump in and share your wisdom with a pre-qualified audience?

And while you're at it, tell them whose masterpiece they're reading by putting your sig at the end of each and every post. Sigs aren't a magic elixir. They can't pump life into an ill-fated business venture, and they're not going to make your hit counter spin like a Vegas roulette wheel.

But they can help you make sales that would otherwise not occur. And they are one important piece of a larger promotional puzzle. A piece that few businesses can afford to neglect.