Promoting Yourself -- E-mail Secrets For Self-Promotion & Communication

Do you sell? If you say no. . .

Anyone who answers no to that question can quickly discover that they may well be in sales and how to take advantage of that fact. If you are in sales and don't know it, your sales are down. Of course you may sleep well because you don't know it anyway.

You are in sales, no matter what you're doing. That's really good news, even for those who insist that they aren't in sales.

Okay, let's call it marketing, promotion, branding, strategy or even image enhancement. Anyone who's interested in advancing in a job, as an entrepreneur and of course, a salesperson, better be actively selling, promoting, branding, etc.

How do you and I take better advantage of this? That question stops a lot of people just as it slowed me down a few years ago. There are so many choices! What do you do first? How do you do it? How much will it cost?

I'd like to offer some basic tips here. Mostly what I'd like to encourage you to do is take it a step at a time and not be flustered as so many others and I have been throughout this process.

What's interesting is how many people, even those actively selling or promoting online, are missing some basic components that make a difference in their bottom line.

>>E-mail: There are two kinds. Regular that you send out singularly or in small personal groupings via your email program, and broadcasting via a service to your opt-in list. You're on the latter. You've agreed to receive emails from me even if we've never met. Of course, I hope what you receive is worthwhile as should you whenever your broadcast to your opt-in list.

When you're back and forth to friends and family you have your own informal style, just as if you were all sitting around talking.

However, when you're emailing to your market; that is, anyone who is a potential buyer of your services, you obviously should have a more professional style.

If you're an employee of a company, your email style is also important. Even to those whom you are sending informally as they might get forwarded or even intercepted up the corporate hierarchy. Within the corporate structure it's often best to remain professional.

You've no doubt heard that all caps in an email is equivalent to YELLING. So, don't do it: EVER. Please note; all caps herein were to make a point and create a smile. If neither just happened for you, please unsubscribe immediately. : )

I may attempt some humor or irreverence from time to time. I prefer to speak in my own voice. We have, for the most part, established a connection. I don't have to worry about some stuffy CEO looking over my shoulder as I write to you, or worse, after I've written. I'm the stuffy CEO. Well, not too stuffy, I hope. Let's continue:

Always insert a relevant subject line. If you're responding to something that is no longer the subject, remove the Re: and put a new subject line so that it can be quickly retrieved. The organized types will appreciate you all the more.

Use paragraphs and structure the same way you would in a business letter. Now, I always like you to know that I'm no grammarian and would love to have all my stuff checked before you see it. I don't. but, I will also use a proper format. Someone who writes in a constant stream, not bothering to separate into paragraphs is a pain, even in friend-to-friend emails.

Use proper capitalization and (hopefully for me) punctuation. At least do the best you can. All lower case is as much a bore as all UPPER case. It shows a lack of consideration too.

Always use your signature feature in business emails. I have several, depending to whom I'm sending. My branding site with a lot of links looks like this:

Tom Justin is president of Command Communications, Inc. A communications & Strategic marketing firm. Justin is also an author, personal coach and popular motivational/inspirational speaker who has spoken before hundreds of audiences throughout the World.

CCI, through Justin and his associates, has a background in TV production and consultation of programs ranging from talk shows to infomercials to corporate videos.

tjustin@mindspring.com - http://www.tomjustin.com

I have a brief signature that I use to promote my books. What you will want is to have people click on your site's link. I have friends who like to forward humor and motivational sites. I always forward such things to them with one of my signatures. If they leave it in when they forward it to their list, etc., I may get an unknown amount of new visitors to my sites.

Whether it's a free report or a link the sales page, there is always more exposure to the possibility of gaining a new visitor. Here's what I use for the book, *How to Take No For An Answer And Still Succeed*:

If You Haven't Been Rejected Recently, You Aren't Living Close Enough To Your Potential!

Here's Why> http://tinyurl.com/9wjx9

If you're a psychologist or other professional, use signatures for any number of ethical promotions. You can offer a genuine service by giving away a special report or even a link to a particular site that would interest many who get your email.

You might have signatures for written for segments of your email recipients. If you're a speaker, one for meeting planners. Your book, another or just a simple statement of your work followed by contact information.

Even if you don't have a website, signatures can be an additional promotional tool. However, if you do, you will want to create a site that can only be accessed if the visitor gives you at least their email address. This is ideally a site that is offereing something back such as a no charge newsletter or special report. We'll cover more on that later.

Your email is the lowest Internet tech for marketing and communication.

In the meantime, if you haven't already done so, set up some signatures and start using them. Send me your best signatures and I'll announce the best one to my entire list. You can tell a greater audience who you are.

For Tom's free report, "How To Use The Power Of No," visit tomjustin.com