Marketing Your Business Through Your Email Address
When one thinks of marketing tools, the first things that usually come to mind are advertisements, web sites, mailers, and social media. However, your email address and signature line combined act as a fundamental way to promote your business. Your regular email correspondence is one of the easiest and most inexpensive marketing opportunities you can take advantage of.
Make your email address work for you by using your domain name (web address) as a way to constantly promote your business. A domain-driven email address is a lot like a bumper sticker—you never know who is going to see it. Just as you will read the bumper sticker on the car that is in front of you at the red light, many individuals will go to your web site out of curiosity once they receive your domain-driven email address. (Think of how many times you go to someone’s web site once you receive their email because you’re interested to learn more about the company they are with.)
It’s worth the few extra dollars to set up a personalized email address, and with today’s automatic forwarding, you don’t even have to use the email platforms provided (this means that you can forward your professional email address to your non-branded personal email address and the sender will never know.) Using a domain-driven email address also ensures that you will get the username you want, instead of incorporating unnecessary numbers and letters into your email address, i.e. bob12643246abc@yahoo.com. If you have an existing website, your hosting company should have an email option. If you’re starting from scratch, check out such sites as iweb.com or earthlink.com to get an idea on pricing and options.
So although you are proud of your personal email address, ilovethebeach@gmail.com, don’t miss out on the valuable marketing opportunity to come across as a professional and to promote your small business brand. Also be mindful of staying away from generic email addresses, such as info@email.com, as they are not as personal and senders will question if they’re reaching out to a “real” person.
In addition to using your company’s domain driven email address, remember to include an official, professional email signature in every email that also includes your logo. It’s a lot like handing out a business card with every email you send. Give information like your title, address, phone number, web site address and Facebook page address.
So the next time you get overwhelmed by the amount of emails in your inbox awaiting your response, get excited! Every reply or new email you send from your domain-driven email address will be a new, free marketing opportunity to get your name and business “out there.”
