Laura’s Winning Ideas

What is your sig like?

Filed under: Business Development, Marketing, Strategy, Virtual Work — LRicci at 10:11 pm on Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Photo courtesy of Evan Earwicker of StockXchnge Some of you create and execute your firm’s marketing campaigns as well as write proposals. Or, you may provide input on marketing messages and branding campaigns.

A signature file required on all company email correspondence is more of a branding campaign than any logo design. However, some folks don’t see it this way, and one is now getting national attention with their signature file. If you want folks to think you are paranoid, engaged in nefarious activities or foolhardy, this image campaign should do the trick.

The latest edition of Fast Company Magazine has a signature file appended to a message that only an attorney could love. It is dense legalese, clocking in at over 400 words. Here’s an excerpt:

The information contained in this email may be privileged, confidential, and/or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are neither the intended recipient, nor an agent, employee, or independent contractor responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are prohibited from copying, disclosing, distributing, disseminating and/or using the information in this email in any manner. If you have received this message in error…and so on…for 6 more paragraphs…

Give me a break!

Does anyone actually believe this kind of threatening warning/disclosure/disclaimer will prevent or protect them from anything? I know that the legal profession thinks the issue of email confidentiality is still in play, but once it lands in a courtroom, no sane judge will back up this nonsense.

What should be in your sig?

Just like the pre-printed letterhead you use for letters, your contact information needs to be on every message. Include all your addresses (bricks and mortar, telephonic and electronic)

What might be added to your sig?

A comment or tagline that helps leave an impression of your firm. You may want that impression to be a positive one, or you may have paranoia running rampant in the hallways and make a different impression.

Below are some of my sig files as examples. Notice that even though I went to law school I don’t use restrictions on my messages. I know that once sent, everything electronic is in the wild and may come back to me someday. I write my email messages accordingly.