PR Blog

The email signature debate: when is PR too much?

We have an on-going email dilemma so we thought it best to put it out to our community to solve.

Terry’s point of view

I love our fabulous PR goddess, Deirdre Campbell. But, I dislike her email signature.

Well, maybe dislike is too strong a word. It’s better to say I find it annoying and particularly so on my mobile phone or when I have to scroll down on replies to find the information she wants me to read.

Her email signature weighs in at a whopping 135 words and 1,149 characters. I have included it below because I didn’t want to use up so much room in the body of this post!

I am, without a doubt, an email signature purist. I believe they should all look the same and be clean, lovely and give the facts: how to contact the person in various methods and maybe a call to action statement. Too many images, words and you lose me.

As for the email signatures that contain the legal gobbledygook, well, I don’t like those either, but for a different reason. I doubt that they carry any legal weight whatsoever. How can you ask someone to accept legal responsibility for not forwarding an email or for destroying it AFTER they have opened it? It’s poppycock and a waste of precious space.  I digress. But, you can see why I get hung up on the 135 words.

So I admit that I am *maybe* a tad strident on this point and *maybe* could live with a diverse set of email signatures. While I understand how the email signature is a form of marketing, I believe short and simple is more effective.

Deirdre’s counter point

I love our fabulous digital goddess, Terry Rachwalski, but disagree wholeheartedly with her dismissal of my email address. Well, maybe dismissal is too strong a word.

Clients have received media attention as a direct result of my email signature! Honestly!

I have had several journalists call me up when they realized we represented certain clients and properties, solely because of the client list in my email signature! So while I know it is *maybe* a bit long and  I reduce it to one line in all  replies, I use every opportunity I can to market our clients, so am perfectly happy with a little bit of ribbing to take advantage of a great marketing tool.

The Ask

What do you think? Is Deirdre’s email signature over the top or clever use of marketing? What could be done to improve it or should we just ignore it and get on with public relations and communications work?

The Signature

Deirdre Campbell | President & Chief Development Officer | MBA, APR
Tartan Group
T: 250.592.3838 | C: 250.882.9199 | deirdre@tartangroup.ca
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google+ | Mailing Address
Victoria • Vancouver • New York
GET INVOLVED IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM TODAY!
Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC) | www.ecotourismconference.org
The ESTC brings together innovative minds from across the industry to discuss practical ideas and solutions that inspire positive changes. Sept 17-19, 2012, Monterey, California, USA

The International Ecotourism Society www.ecotourism.org
Global Sustainable Tourism Council www.gstcouncil.org 
Rainforest Adventures www.rainforestadventure.com
Patagonia Sur  Reserves, Chile www.patagoniasurreserves.com
Sustainable  travel in Central America www.cayugaonline.com
Nimmo Bay Resort www.nimmobay.com
Nature Air, Costa Rica www.natureair.com
Wildland Adventures www.wildland.com
Maple Leaf Adventures  www.mapleleafadventures.com
Inn at Laurel Point ( BC’s first carbon neutral hotel!) www.laurelpoint.com
Clayoquot Wilderness Resort www.wildretreat.com
Offsetters www.offsetters.ca

TRAVEL FOREVER

Deirdre Campbell and Terry Rachwalski run the Tartan Group, a Victoria BC based public relations and communications firm specializing in tourism and hospitality. They love to be in constant improvement mode so a bit of PR soul searching is not out of the ordinary.

At the Tartan Group, we’ve had the pleasure of introducing a number of young professionals to the world of marketing and communications. Many of our past interns still keep in touch, informing us about their careers, moves and triumphs in the world of public relations.

Well, this summer is no different. On Wednesday, July 4, our latest victim intern joined the Tartan Group. We’re really excited to welcome James Anderson to our team for the next few months. James brings a background in sustainability, tourism and communications. He also speaks Spanish! Sheesh! Show off, much?!

We couldn’t let James start without having a little fun. Inspired by other interns, like our friend Danny the Intern from KOOL FM or Whitney from The Hills, we want to ensure James is able AND willing to do whatever the Tartan Group needs. But, we’re going to need a little inspiration.

We invite you to leave a comment below highlighting the worst possible thing you’ve had to do at a job (please keep it clean!).

Some of our examples are:

§  Telling the story of King Henry VIII and his wives more than 20 times a day, five days a week.

§  Serving drinks as a ‘Bar Wench’. Actual job title.

§  Being required to wear a skirt and heels and buy birthday presents for a supervisor’s family.

§  Having to hand make a garter belt, complete with introductory ‘how-to’ for groom.

On, Thursday, July 12, the Tartan Group world headquarters in Victoria, BC will determine our favourite example from you, our friends.

The winner will receive up to five coffees that will be hand-delivered to your office by our intern, James! Obviously, we can’t bring coffee anywhere in the world. So, we’ll have to reserve the right to keep it local!

Don’t feel too badly for James. He won’t just be getting coffee this summer. Stay tuned for an introduction from the man himself, as well as updates throughout the summer about his time with us.