Here at AHA, we’ve been taking a good, hard look at ourselves and identifying areas where we could improve. So often when you work in communications, you are so busy helping clients that a focus on your own public relations takes a back seat. I found an interesting article on Ragan.com that identifies the seven elements that the writer feels every professional should have in their email signature.

While I agree with many of the points, I also believe that email signatures provide an opportunity to highlight a newly launched initiative or campaign. We recently had a client ask us how they could let people know about a charity initiative that they were holding. This is a multinational organization with staff and stakeholders worldwide. One of the easiest ways was to add a call to action to their email signatures, driving people to a page on their website. It was a quick, no cost, straightforward way to let their community know what they were up to – and it worked. The website saw an increase in visitors once the call to action was added, which in turn helped to support the event and the charity.

I do agree that it is important to have your basic contact information on your email signature – and to use the signature. I can’t tell you how often I get emails with no signature on them at all!  And I do think that you can use your email signature to get the word out, when it’s appropriate. A quick call to action and a link can help spread the word about an event, campaign or initiative.