The topic of personal branding has rapidly gained popularity. And that’s for a reason.
In 2021, people don’t trust companies and corporate advertising as much as they used to. They prefer doing business with other people they like and identify themselves with.
Personal branding is essential for teachers, coaches, freelancers, entrepreneurs, company CEOs, and technically everyone who wants to have a larger impact.
Personal brand benefits
A powerful personal brand can help you:
- Contribute to your digital marketing effort and increase sales;
- Elevate credibility;
- Expand your network;
- Find new job opportunities;
- Stand out from the competition.
According to statistics, employees can have ten times more social media followers than their company’s accounts. So, it’s no surprise that content shared by a personal account receives eight times more engagement than one shared by a brand channel.
That’s definitely worth a try!
Email signatures for personal branding
In addition to social media, most of us use email every day. So can we build a personal brand there? Absolutely!
While it’s easier for companies because they can use their brand colors, logos, and sophisticated email templates, individuals can also get noticed and memorized. One of the best ways to create and maintain a personal brand image in emails is by utilizing a branded email signature.
According to research performed by Newoldstamp, 41% of those who use email signatures in their day-to-day email communications do this for branding purposes.
What is an email signature?
Basically, it’s a footer part of an email. By default, we end emails by writing “Sincerely” or “Best regards” followed by a name. But there’s so much more we can do to make our emails look personal yet professional. For example, use an email signature.
The email signature is set up once and added to each of your emails automatically. So, do a quality job one time and reap the benefits later.
Let’s talk about what you need to add to your branded sign-off to promote your personal brand.
- Your name, position, and a company you work at
Your name is an essential thing that goes into your email footer, no matter how it looks. The main idea behind this is confirming you mean the words you’ve just written in an email. And if your goal is to add even more value to them, don’t forget to include your job title.
For instance, if you are talking about music trends in your email, stating that you are a music producer makes your message much more reliable. Also, recipients will be pleased to know someone important is reaching out to them.
- Personal website
You probably have a nice website with all the info about you, your achievements, projects, blog, etc. Why not promote it in every email you send? Mention your website in your email footer.
- Social media (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn)
If you have social accounts where you promote something or share some knowledge with people, consider adding them to your email signature as well.
By having clickable social media buttons in email signatures for personal brands, you are offering your readers another opportunity to continue building your relationship outside of traditional communication channels.
We recommend you limit the number of links to a maximum of five not to overload your email footer.
- The personal profile photo or personal brand logo
One of the easiest ways to personalize any email you send is by adding a recognizable portrait of yours to it. Of course, there’s no better place to put it in than your email footer.
We noticed that a good-lit headshot could dramatically increase the response rate of emails. But don’t make the typical mistake of using a classic professional photo with a too serious face expression. Look directly into the camera and smile. We’re talking about improving your personal brand image, after all.
Alternatively, you can use a recognizable logo or keep both elements.
- The visual style and brand voice
Your email footer is like your digital business card. That’s why it’s crucial to present it in a professional and unified manner, just as you would with your traditional business card.
The signature needs to look and sound like you. So have a visual identity system with a specific color palette, typography poster, and design elements.
- Branded colors
Businesses usually have a specific color palette they use in their branded materials. Personal brands also can have such a color scheme. Actually, it’s not that difficult to choose colors as you may think, but it’s essential to mix everything properly and achieve a colorful harmony.
If you have no specific colors in mind, just use email signature templates carefully created by professional designers.
- Call to action
Your branded email signature will be complete when you add a clear call to action (CTA). The latter one is the easiest way to make recipients check out the links you provided. You can use CTAs to:
- Offer recipients to book a meeting with you;
- Schedule a call;
- Invite people to read your blog;
- Ask them to follow you on social platforms;
- Invite them to attend events you are going to speak at;
- Show your portfolio, etc.
Who needs branded sign-offs?
As we already mentioned, you need an email signature to support your personal brand.
Now, let’s talk in more detail about who specifically and why might benefit from having a personal brand email footer.
- You run an online or offline business
If you’re an owner or founder of a business, you definitely need to brand your company and yourself. A well-designed email signature can not only let people know who you are and what you do but also invite them to take action. For example, if you are speaking at a conference, you can mention this in your signature and add a link to book a seat.
- You work at or lead a customer-facing department at a company
Talking with customers often? Of course, you need a professional email footer to make all your emails more human and share the important contacts to enable people to get in touch with you in the most convenient way.
- You sell products or services
Let’s say you have a new clothing collection drop in your store. The more people see your update, the more sales you make. You definitely need a branded email signature with a distinctive call to action button.
- You look for a job
Job seekers with branded email signatures get higher chances to be noticed and memorized. They need simply add a CV and portfolio to their email footers and send emails as they usually do. Who knows, maybe some of the recipients need a new website or a quality copy for a blog. Don’t miss even a single opportunity to promote your skills and talent.
How to create a branded email signature
There are a few most common ways to create a branded email signature. These include a text editor, Canva or Photoshop, or a professional email signature builder.
The first two methods are really basic. Text editors limit you in creativity. Canva and Photoshop won’t let you create an interactive email signature that will look uniform across various devices and platforms. Furthermore, recipients may disable images in their email clients. In this case, they won’t see your email footer at all.
The easiest way is to use online email signature generators like Newoldstamp and MySignature.
These tools have a very user-friendly online editor where you can organize and customize everything we discussed before. On top of that, both editors have great templates that work well for businesses, designers, bloggers, freelancers, teachers, and many more professionals. Newoldstamp even has a fantastic gallery of promotional banners you can link to any content you want.