If you’re like most people, you’re constantly sending emails to all kinds of people. In executive job search, you’re probably sending more emails than usual. How do you sign them? With just your name and maybe a phone number?
Your email signature is one more great opportunity to leverage your personal brand and market your unique promise of value.
Why not take the time to put together an email signature that will leave a lasting impression and also lead people to all the on-brand information they’ll need to know about you?
It’s easy enough to set up an automatic signature for all outgoing emails, or once you’ve created one, you can easily insert it or not, depending upon the recipient.
When creating your email signature, assume that the reader will know nothing about you. Keep it uncluttered and concise, but brand-evident and compelling.
Here’s what you need in your signature:
♦ Your full name, not a nickname. Even if you know the recipient well, your email may be forwarded to someone else who has no idea who “Bobby” is.
♦ Your current title and company name. If you’re not with a company now, include your professional title, such as “Global Business Operations Leader” or “Senior Turnaround Management Executive”.
♦ Your best phone number to reach you anytime. Cell phone is probably best so you don’t risk someone at work or someone you’d rather not intercepting the call.
♦ Send a clear message with your abbreviated personal brand statement of one to two lines. Haven’t worked on your brand statement? Then invest some thought in a short brand tagline that showcases your strengths while differentiating the value you offer from your peers. Make your tagline, and therefore you, memorable.
♦ Your personal email address. Probably not a good idea to use your email at work.
♦ Your LinkedIn badge or URL, linking to your on-brand profile, and/or your VisualCV badge or URL, linking to your multi-media rich executive portfolio, and/or a link to your personal website, if you have one.
An expanded email signature with the above components will mark you as a professional who is savvy to today’s Internet-driven world of work and help decision makers vetting candidates learn what makes you stand out from the competition.
Related posts:
Being Authentic in Your Executive Personal Brand Statement
10 Steps to Uncovering and Building Your Authentic Personal Brand
Thanks for your own great suggestion, Walt. Pulling up an online picture of someone you’re talking with brings them right into the room with you. Brilliant idea!
Indeed, including an abbreviated version of your brand statement in your email sig can have a powerful impact. It’s certainly worth the minor effort to include it, especially if you’ve already done the branding work.
-Meg
Great suggestions Meg. I also like to put my picture in my sig – but I make sure not to use the picture after the first email exchange. It’s much easier to remember faces than names. the down side of this is that having a picture in the email can sometimes trigger spam filters.
A variation of that idea: when I’m talking to someone I’ve never met, if I can find a picture of them on the Internet, I’ll put it somewhere on my screen. Then I look at the picture while I’m talking to the other person.
BTW, even though I preach personal branding, your post reminded me that I don’t have my personal branding statement in my sig. Oh, if we only followed our own advice!
-walt
Johanne,
Thanks for commenting. I’m glad you found my tip useful. We should think of any social media activity as an opportunity to build and extend our personal brands.
-Meg
Very practical suggestions. Email signatures with personal branding are very sensible. But it’s not something you’d automatically think about.