Eight Ways to Use Your Company Email Signature as a Marketing Tool

Today's marketer has hundreds of choices to make around how best to market your business. Within digital alone, the number of opportunities can be daunting - from paid and organic posts on social media platforms (influencers, anyone?) to pay-per-click campaigns on Google, and everything in between. But are you using your company's email signatures to promote your business and brand? Think of all the emails your employees send each day. Each message presents a huge opportunity to get your targeted message in front of an interested audience in an unobtrusive way - and if you're not managing company email signatures, you're missing out.

If you are like most businesses, the emails you send probably include a pleasant, professional closing. Something like, "Sincerely, Bob Smith, Senior Vice President of Marketing." It is nice, sure - but let's be honest: it is boring and chances are good that your email recipients, whether they are vendors, customers or professional associates, barely notice it.  Simply put, it does not do much to promote your company.

Instead, you want an email signature that works for you by highlighting company information and/or by engaging recipients and eliciting a response, such as a click, a sign-up, or some other action you choose.  The signature's design is important, but its message is just as important.  

So how can you use your email signature as an effective marketing tool? Here are eight ways that you might not have considered.

Give Business Information

Not to state the obvious (but we will), people like to know who they are dealing with in business, and your email signature is a good place to give some basic information about your company. It does not need to include in-depth information, but it should be useful and helpful. Items such as your address, telephone number, and/or company slogan or motto are a great place to start. Recipients appreciate knowing where you are located, how long you have been there, and how to contact you.

Highlight Company Accomplishments

Has your business won any awards? Does it have great customer reviews on Yelp or G2 Crowd? Or an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau? If so, then your email signature is the perfect place to highlight these accomplishments. It helps build trust and credibility and can set you apart from the competition.

Link to Company Website

It is amazing how many businesses overlook this simple way to get more visits to their website. Maybe they think people already know the site and will navigate to it on their own - and they might. But generally speaking, people need to be told what to do and guided in that direction. Adding a simple link in your email signature that says, "Click here to visit our website" can have a significant impact on website traffic.

Increase Social Media Traffic

If your business has a social media presence - and most companies these days do - then adding network icons (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) to your email signature can increase the number of visitors who see your company updates, which might include a new product announcement, a special promotion, or other helpful information that could in turn become an opportunity to grow your business.

Showcase a Company Event

Maybe your company will be hosting an open house, attending a trade show, participating in a webinar, or running a Facebook Live chat. What better way to get people to attend your event than by highlighting it in your email signature. Use a call to action - such as "Register Now" - to get recipients to click through to a landing page with event information and a contact form so they can sign up at that moment.

Debut a New Offer

Your email signature is an excellent place for introducing readers to a new offer, product or service. Doing so costs you nothing and gives readers the inside scoop.  Link to a sales page so people can find out more about the offer. Include a small perk that makes trying the new offer directly from your signature even more enticing.

Highlight a Case Study

Most people want to know that they are spending their money with the right company. If you have case studies about how your business successfully solved someone's problem - for example, saved them money or increased their investment return - then let your readers know by linking to a case study page that shows how you have helped others. Case studies are the best way to validate your message.

Present a Promotional Video

Few things grab readers' attention like a well-produced video. As humans, we respond to video on an emotional level and studies prove that we engage more with video than with text. If your business has a promotional video, include it in your email signature. If you embed it rather than link to it, then recipients can watch the video without ever leaving your email.  

In short, your email signature is a simple but powerful marketing tool, one that many marketers overlook. You can use it to discuss company information, highlight business achievements, send traffic to your website, increase social media visits, showcase company events, debut new offers, highlight case studies, and present promotional videos, and more. The opportunities are endless. So as you're going through those hundreds of decisions around how best to market your business - consider email signature marketing. A more efficient and cost-effective marketing tool is hard to find.