Some of the most creative ways you can brand yourself are obvious ones and sometimes they get overlooked because of that. Many of us are forgetting them (including me) because we’re constantly looking for and thinking of other ways to brand however sometimes the tactics that are right in front of us are the best ones.
One of these dead simple methods of personal branding comes from Noah Kagan’s playbook where he emails every single person that leaves a comment on his blog. It’s not an easy thing to do which is why you probably don’t do it, but the benefits of it are tremendous:
- You create a personal relationship with your readers.
- Your readers will be pleased that you took the time to thank them so the chances are they will be coming back.
- Emailing each commenter will create more buzz about you, which means more people will know your name and what you do.
If you want to take it one step further when emailing these individuals or anyone for that matter, you should take a page out of Guy Kawasaki’s playbook by creating a snazzy email signature such as this one:
Neil Patel (Internet marketing consultant)
acsseo.com (my boss)
quicksprout.com (my blog)
(562) 292-3834 home (best way to reach me)
neil@pronetadvertising.com (I get way too many emails)
(888) 227-3913 office (you’ll never reach me here)
(714) 516-8286 fax (what’s a fax?)
Email signatures are pretty common which is why most people end up ignoring them. However, if you can make your signature a bit humorous as well as represent what you do then you can make it stand out. All you have to do is come up with a creative signature that represents you well and if you can’t come up with one, just steal mine.
If you have a blog and some spare time you may want to consider emailing every person that leaves a comment on your blog. It’s simple, easy, obvious, and it will help you build your personal brand one straw at a time.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Noah = flattered
Don’t forget commenting any/every post that says nice things about you:)
Great advice Neil. I would even dare to take it a step further and e-mail everyone who says something about me period.
For anyone who’s interested in finding out what people are saying, try Serph, a project Neil’s company runs that allows you to find the latest “buzz” about something on the web.
Thanks for the plug.
I have been emailing commentators somewhat sporadically, so the idea of emailing ALL of them is a great kick in the pants to boost contact. As you say, simple. Great idea, I’m off to write some emails…
Theres a plugin to do this for wordpress
Do you mind sharing the plugin…
I don’t mind… it’s the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin:
http://www.richardkmiller.com/blog/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do/
This plugin will send an email to the first time commentator of your blog. you can customize the message.
sorry forgot to add the link
http://www.justinshattuck.com/comment-relish/
Comment Relish is an excellent plugin that is certainly part of my “must use” folder when setting up new blogs.
Great idea and great post!
It is always the little things that matter most and that people remember. I like the tactic of emailing your commentors, but as your site scales it’s quite hard to manage.
That’s why I love the idea of a plugin that can email each first time commenter. The only problem is, I would want each email to be personal and not a generic.
A valid point indeed. The idea of emailing a commenter or reader is great! What a way to increase participation and encourage future visits back to the site and future commenting.
It could, of course be overwhelming for someone to email every commenter, especially sites with much traffic. A system could be devised, such as emailing randomly to various commenters. If a post has 25 comments, consider emailing 5 people. (Assuming the 25 comments come from at least 5 different people).
Nice post!!! Check out this plugin also:
http://www.u-g-h.com/?page_id=320
I have picked up this habit from others e-mailing me based on my comments!
~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com
I use Comment Relish plugin by Justin Shattuck. Seems to be the best plugin for e-mailing first time commentors that I have ever used. Loads of variables that cover everything you can imagine.
– Scot
Yes! It feels great when you receive a email from the blogger. Generally, i visit him often.
I am also a fan of the Comment Relish plugin – you can include variables such as the author’s name to make it a little more personal.
Of course, nothing beats a hand-written email but this is just so much easier!
- Martin Reed
fantastic and well written post. I agree branding is key to having a successful blog.
If you want to hear a reader’s feedback
, I rate this article for 4/5. Decent info, but I have to go to that damn yahoo to find the missed parts. Thanks, anyway!
Thanks for the feedback. I agree, the article could have been much more detailed.
Hi Neil
Thanks for this article! I was trying to figure out a good way on how to leverage a wordpress plugin that sends emails to all those who comment on my blog – now i can use your witty email signature ideas.
ZQ