Sign of the Times Are you missing out on this simple, inexpensive marketing tool?

How many e-mail messages do you send every day: 10, 50 or more?Seize the opportunity to promote your business to a highly targetedaudience without spending a dime. Few words are more powerful thanthose in your e-mail signature line.

Marketers whose e-mail messages only contain their names andcontact information are missing out. E-mail recipients have alreadyopted for communication from you. Plus, they're key members ofyour unofficial marketing network: prospects, clients, employees,press contacts and colleagues. Your signature line is the perfectlyunobtrusive space for a customized promotional pitch. Try thesetactics to turn your "sign-offs" into sales:

• Highlight what your company offers.

• Offer an incentive for recipients to take a specifiedaction.

• Use the associated URL for the incentive, if it's also onyour site.

• Give better visual positioning to the promotional pitch ratherthan contact information.

• Play with eye-catching fonts and colors.

• Use less than 64 characters per line so the words don'twrap to a new line.

• Write a signature for different categories of recipients.

• Change your signature copy frequently.

Let's say you run a fitness-apparel company. Your companytag line could be "Company ABC Fitness Apparel: qualitycomfort for maximum performance." Especially critical foremerging brands, using a tag line explains how customers areserved, and it supports or furthers brand awareness. All companyemployees should include the company tag line in their signaturesfor these reasons.

The tag line might not evoke a response, however; that's thejob of the incentive. An announcement about a new catalog withdiscounts is an irresistible invitation to a fitness-apparelcompany's shoppers. This copy might do the trick:

Penny Hamilton,CEO
Company ABC Fitness Apparel: Quality Comfort for MaximumPerformance.
Surf our new spring catalog-save up to 25% today!

Let's try another market: employees. Why not use a signatureline to boost your team's performance? Remind them about areward program or a company event, or share a business affirmation.You could make your signature line fun as well as informative; theCEO of a fitness-apparel company could use this motivationalsignature in communication with her sales team:

Penny Hamilton, CEO& Happy Hiker; Hit our sales goal this month, and lunch is onme!

Although it's common to put a personal name first, followedby a company line and then an incentive line, see what works foryou. Mix up the sequence of lines for the optimal visual layout andresponse, and always include contact information. Modify yoursignature line periodically. E-mail is often passed along, and younever know which signature will attract new business from thepeople you've already been communicating with over numerouse-mails.

Speaker and freelance writer Catherine Seda owns an internetmarketing agency (www.sedacommunication.com) and is author of SearchEngine Advertising.