How many emails do you think you send out in a year?
If you are like the average working person, it's a whopping 10,000.
So if you have a decent email signature you get to multiply your chances of magnetizing marvelous opportunities to yourselves via email by 10,000 times.
Not bad, right?
An email signature is that thingy at the bottom of your emails that tells people what you make, sell, write or do, and how to find it.
But its a thingy many creatives forget to add to their emails. And that's a shame because those thingies can be one of those rare forms of low pressure, low cost, meaningful marketing.
And on top of that, email signature thingies are fairly easy to set up and pour your unique creativity into, if you know the right free videos to watch. (I'll hook you up with those below.)
Here's Why Creatives Need Email Signatures: Angel Helpers
Email signatures help artists, actors, screenwriters, and authors boost our chances of making our dreams come true by quietly mentioning what our dream is at the bottom of every email.
It's like leaving a calling card to the universe that may get picked up by folks I call potential angel helpers; people like gallerists, collectors, writer's agents, clients, journalists, future readers, or colleagues.
And the harder we make it for our potential angel helpers to find our home base in our emails (or the less appealing that calling card is) the less chance any magic will happen.
Let me give you an example.
I'm at my desk, reading an email from a lovely creative who I think I might want to feature on my blog or The Charmed Studio Podcast. I quickly pan down to the bottom of their email to find the link to their website so I can click on over to it.
But they have nothing on the bottom of their email. Crickets.
Or the website might be there, but there is no hyperlink to it.
So, that means I have to get out of Gmail and go into the dangerous, distracting land of Google to find them.
Who knows if I'll ever make it to their site? A cute raccoon video may ambush me on the way.
So what's currently on the bottom of your emails?
If there is something there, brava!
But could that something use a makeover?
Do you just have a link to your website but no image of you or your work or links to your social media?
Let's look at three solid email signature makeover options that range from coach to first class.
3 Ways To Give Your Email Signature a Makeover
Free Email Signature Option 1:
Simple, handmade email signatures are like flying in Economy class on a plane; you don't get champagne, but you get taken where you need to go, at a great price - in this case for free.
What To Do:
Here's a super easy video byNorthern Viking Everydaythat will have you finished with your first email signature (complete with logo and hyperlinks to your website) in about 5 minutes.
But if you want a few more bells, buttons or tassels try option two. It's like flying business class.
Free Email Signature Option 2: Make a Fancy Pants One on Hubspot or Canva
1. You could head over to Hubspot and use their free software to make a template in about 20 minutes. Here's a how-to video. Getting your images on to a Hubspot email signature requires some work though. You have to grab the URL of your photo from your Dropbox account and paste it into your template. (Hubspot says you can also use Google Drive to upload URL photo links but users report it's glitchy.)
2. I chose to pass on Hubspot because I found it more intuitive and enjoyable to make an email signature inCanva.com
Daniela Cervanteswill show you how to make a free, fancy-pants email signature in Canva without having to deal with the image URL stress.
Her template also includes clickable social media icons. Nab Daniela's free email signature template here. It will open in Canva.
Just download your finished template from Canva as a JPEG file (not PNG) okay?
Daniela explains how to easily install it in Gmail and link it to your website in the video below.
If you're using Yahoo go here to see how to install your finished signature.
*(If you are using Outlook Explorer or something not named here, check out this article for more options: 15 of The Best Email Signature Generators.)
Now let's part those curtains and step on into first class.
Email Signature Option 3: $ Buy One
Email signature example from Wisestamp:
