I sent an email to a colleague this morning. A few minutes later, his out of office message bounced back. Not a big deal, right? I ignored it at first. When I finally clicked over to see when he'd be back, I saw the following message:
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I am out of the office till Tuesday 25th August. If you are at GnomeDex or at #Tbash please say hello.
Hope you are registered for the GrowSmartBiz conference Sept 29th in Washington DC - more details http://tinyurl.com/gsbiz (use coupon FRIENDOFSHASHI to get a amazing discount on the conference fee.)
You can reach the Social Media team at Listen@networksolutions.com.
If you are a small Business or small business related expert please visit http://GrowSmartBusiness.com and read the Second wave of the Small Business Success Index.
Have a few minutes? Read our Blog http://blog.networksolutions.com. Check out http://growsmartbusiness.com, http://womengrowbusiness.com. We love feedback. Thanks.
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And I realized something... all this time, I've been wasting my out of office message with just details about when I'd be back and who to contact in my absence. Why hadn't I realized that my Out of Office Message was yet another marketing tool? It seems so obvious now.
Yup, just another reason I'm so pleased that I've met Shashi Bellamkonda, the genius behind this craft message. (He's always teaching me something... even when he isn't intending to do so.)
So you can bet that the next time I'm out of the office, my message will be promoting a CCG lunch, or my next socStardom event, or maybe just JHU's classes. Who knows. I just know it's time my Out of Office Message started working for me... that way, I'm working even when I'm not. (Hey, do you think if I do this, I can start taking vacation days and not counting them as vacation since I'll still be marketing and promoting the campus? Well, maybe that's taking it a little too far...)
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7 comments:
Hi Robin,
Thank for the post and i have to do a post on the expertise you have in making internal communication more interesting and let the cat out of the bag about "restroom flyers".
Sometimes especially for a good cause it may be worth considering a Out of the office message even while in your office - to say - Hi ! I am in the office but wanted you to be aware that Saturday is the Blood donation drive ......etc" . Only concern here is that if it becomes spammy them people will stop looking at Out of the office messages !
Cheers !
Shashi
Guess what I saw another good use of the out of office message from Andy Sernovitz:
Hey There -
I'm on vacation until September X. Won't be checking voicemail or email, so ...
If you need ...
• something urgent, please contact my office: 3XX-XXX-0000
• some BBQ, call Corky's in Memphis: http://www.corkysribsandbbq.com/
• some cheesecake, call Carnegie Deli in NYC: http://www.carnegiedeli.com
• some shiny shoes: http://www.zappos.com/mens-allen-edmonds-shoes
• to rent a mechanical bull: http://mechanicalbullchicago.com/
• to rent a real bull: http://www.movielivestock.com
• to rent a balloon: http://sky-view.com/balloon-rental.htm
• to rent a buffoon: http://www.clownsforhire.com/
• to put 25 smileys on a lawn: http://www.outdoorexpression.com/Smiley-Yard-Display.htm
• to see some awesome graffiti: http://www.flickr.com/groups/banksy/pool/
• to see some awesome packages: http://www.thedieline.com/
• to rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c05E6kyHu8E
• to groove: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7m_y3wBzF0
• to funk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fdesO8CdC8
• to blow your mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-E6FDf9GkA
its cool and I am glad I think like great minds :)
Shashi
Sheer professionalism and dedication, thanks for the share, this resolved my issue!@bose
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