HIDDEN MARKETING GEM: WHAT YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE CAN DO FOR YOU

Unless you operate out of a cave, you have email. In fact, more than 50% of your business is likely conducted over email. So if you have email, you even more likely have an email signature. (If you don't, create one pronto!)

Now take a look at your email signature. What's in it? Hopefully you're seeing your name, title, phone number and web address that links to your web site. Yes? Good. Now what else do you see? ... Keep looking...Nothing? Then you've missed one of the simplest (not to mention FREE) marketing tools out there!

By simply adding a short sentence to your signature that references a special promotion you're holding, shares some exciting news about your product or service, links to a subscription to your newsletter or blog or heck, just reminding your email recipient about a special service you offer and linking to a specific page on your web site, you are marketing yourself.

And in the most subtle of ways. There's no spamming prospective clients. No money spent on flashy ads that just may not work. No double issue commitments. No sales calls. Just a simple one liner at the end of an email.

Simple. Effective. FREE.

A NOTE ABOUT CREATIVE RISK

There are three different kinds of marketing professionals out there. There are those who went to school and follow the "rules" in marketing to the letter. There are those who abandon all rules and theories about marketing and just do their own thing, taking a risk with both their time and money. And then there are those who apply the "rules" and theories of marketing when necessary but that aren't afraid to take a creative risk now and then and see where it leads them.

According to a study from The Creative Group, nearly two-thirds of marketing executives feel that their company or agency doesn't take enough risks or plays it way too safe.

Now I know what you're thinking. I'm not a marketing executive. I'm a wedding professional. What does this have to do with me?

As a wedding professional you are in a unique position. You aren't a major brand relying on ad agencies and marketing firms to get you results. You likely have either a very fixed and concentrated or very modest marketing budget. That said, rather than focus merely on "tried and true" marketing methods, you have an opportunity to be more open to taking a creative risk and trying a method that is not only unorthodox but less costly as well.

Sit down with your team, clear your head of all the marketing opportunities you have seen in the industry and brainstorm ways to promote your company, it's services or its products in an entirely different way. Walk that narrow path into uncharted territory.  You'll never know when one seemingly "absolutely crazy" idea just may become the smartest promotional tactic you've ever used. Even better, it'll be a marketing idea that not one of your competitors will be utilizing and will likely cost much less that traditional ad space.

On the flip side, your creative idea could bomb. But a "tried and true" method could bomb as well.

Anything with the word "risk" attached to it can be a scary thing. Especially for a company looking to establish their brand in crowded industry. Rather than focus on the word "risk", focus on the word "creative" and let it inspire you to new ideas, new marketing tactics and new success.