When I get an email from someone’s cell phone, I frequently see a signature line that reads something like, “Sent from my Sprint HTC Evo.” I bet you know what I am thinking when I see this, right? I am thinking, oh how nice, so-and-so has an HTC Evo.
Of course that isn’t what I am thinking. What I am thinking is wow, how nice of the person to advertise for HTC and Sprint, or for Apple and AT&T.
Other times I see something like, “please pardon any typos, sent from my cell phone.” Sometimes the person will mention the brand of the cell phone, sometimes not. The first time I saw this I mocked the person (you know who you are.) I asked him if he wanted to advertise his inability to type. He explained to me that with self correcting or the general issues with typing on cell phones he is worried people will think he has bad grammar or spelling. Valid point. But if you are going to modify your signature anyway, why not make it really useful so it works for you and your firm?
I have now offended many people. And I am not sorry. I absolutely hate when I see people using their electronic real estate to market for some big company. And I hate to see a wasted branding opportunity.
Here’s my signature line on my cell phone.
As you can see it has:
Name
Company Name
Phone
Website
A statement letting people know it came from my phone
Why apologize for typos ahead of time? People know it came from my phone, they get the idea. People also like that I respond from my cellphone. They appreciate the immediacy and the fact I took the time to type on that annoying little keyboard.
There you go. Simple, effective, and mine. Not the cell phone company’s or the cell phone brand.
It is easy to change your cell phone signature line. It is normally under mail settings somewhere.
Allow me to lead the charge! Follow me and reclaim your cell phone real estate.
Make your signature line work for you!