| February 1, 2021 -- Professional is not a label you give yourself - it’s a description you hope others will apply to you. -- David Maister
It’s a new year - and a perfect time for a refresher on email usage and how it affects Granges.
Everyone is interested in ways to enhance the success of their Grange, particularly in the eyes of the public. Particularly these days, when in-person meetings and interaction is at a minimum, email becomes a very important tool for Granges. Opportunities are around every corner, so why not make sure that your Grange is utilizing the re- sources available.
Did you know that every Com- munity Grange in Connecticut has their own @ctstategrange.org e-mail address? It’s true - and it’s a free service to all Community Granges! Also - every State Grange Officer and all Committees have unique email addresses as well.
Currently, nearly three-quarters of the Granges email addresses are being used in some form, either regularly or periodically. Instructions on how to access these accounts were given to all Granges in their Public Relations Packs, or were given to each person when an office turned over.
Why should Granges use their @ ctstategrange.org addresses?
According to a study by the Business Alliance Council, 60% of professionals feel that using a personal e-mail address for business looks unprofessional. And - and addition- al 31% are actually “put off” by use of personal e-mail for professional purposes. The bottom line is this - your Grange IS a business.
- Your e-mail address tells not only who you are and where you are from, but conveys inferred information as well. When a Grange member sends out a “Grange” e-mail, it will be taken more seriously coming from yourgrange@CTStateGrange.org than it does from hotlips@yahoo.com (I know the yahoo e-mail is an extreme example, but we actually know of some folks who have similar style e-mail addresses and use it for official Grange business.) Many of the media outlets will not give a second look to e-mails received from personal e-mail addresses. It’s best to give your Grange every chance to get the positive attention your Grange deserves, and using a professional email address is a great start.
- Ease of access -- the e-mail mailboxes are compatible with any computer and any browser, making it easy for Granges to assign multiple people to access and answer their mail. E-mails can be accessed through laptops and other mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones, regardless of whether you are at home or work, on the road visiting other Granges, or even away for the weekend.
- Privacy -- Using a Grange e-mail address looks more professional when conducting Grange business, and keeps Grange business separate from your personal e-mail account, thus protecting your personal e-mail address from junk mail and spam.
- Information sharing -- Allows Granges to stay in touch with their members quickly and easily, keeping their members up-to-date on the latest Grange happenings. Just remember, if you send an email out to more than 10-15 people, please use the BCC function. If you put all the addresses in the “To” field, or in the “CC” field, then the email is rated as spam, and may not be de- livered to everyone it is addressed to as other providers could refuse the message. When an email is sent out as a BCC message, each person gets a unique email, which are sent individually - thus it is not considered spamming. Note - this is not the rule of thumb for just the Grange email Post Office, it is best practice observed by all email services - from AOL to gMail to Hotmail to Yahoo and more.
- Marketing -- Grange e-mail addresses promote your Grange in every message you send. Every communication with your members, and potential members including the general public and the media, should project a consistent and coordinated image. The Grange is so much more than a logo!
- But what if I don’t want to check two e-mail mailboxes?
- Once you initially log into your Grange e-mail for the first time, you can set it to forward Grange e-mail messages to your personal (or any) e-mail address, or multiple addresses. But just know that if you answer a message forwarded to your personal email, that reply will come from your personal email, and not your Grange email address.
- The more Granges, Officers and Committees that use their e-mail addresses, the more efficient we can communicate as a group. Plus, ev- ery e-mail sent and received saves printing and mailing a letter - thus saving in postage alone.
If you are ready to move forward using your Grange e-mail address, or need a refresher course on us- ing your Grange email, contact the Public Relations department at information@ctstategrange.org or publicrelations@ctstategrange.org, and we can get you started!
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