[Reposted due to database problem]

In case you think that the little things don't make a big difference in the way you communicate with your prospects, think again.

Here's the scenario:

A busy email list on a marketing-related topic. Lots of posts each day. Lots of helpful input each day. Lots and lots of opinionated folks on the list. Some bickering here and there, the occasional over-the-top sales pitch by a new member who quickly learns how not to make friends and the usual conversational banter as people catch up online on their fellow listmates' time.

In other words, a good, professional list that isn't too uptight, but does enough self-policing to keep the content relevant to its members.

Until disaster strikes. Not one, but two individuals on the list went on vacation and were diligent about setting up an Out-of-Office reply to let their customers know they weren't available. That doesn't sound like a big deal, right?

The problem was that every last email to the list automatically generated that Out-of-Office note from both listmates.

The quantity of useless messages would have been enough to frustrate most people, given the high traffic of the list.

But things didn't stop there.

One of the two listmates had set up a cutesy note about the "extracurricular activities" he would be participating in on his vacation that, while perhaps charming to those who know him, was unprofessional at best and had literally no relation to the list's topic.

Now, this didn't affect me personally because I don't require the services of either of the above-mentioned people, nor did I participate in the discussion about my listmates' poor email etiquette.

But a couple dozen other people did, and those messages got distributed to thousands and thousands of listmates who are potential customers, colleagues or employers. And that was just the discussion on a single list.

The moral of the story

Sometimes I think we forget that our businesses still exist while we're away from the office, whether that absence is for business or pleasure. People continue to form opinions of your business even when you're not around, and seemingly tiny things like email settings can cause you to send out negative messages to the people you need to impress most.

In this case, the list members could have easily set up their list subscriptions to go no-mail or at least chosen an option in their email software to send an Out-of-Office reply only once to each recipient. This isn't failsafe, but it's a start.

The lesson to glean from this situation has to do with far more than how you configure an email system, though. Rather, it's important to understand that even when you're not actively promoting your services, you are sending a message that has major marketing implications.

What kind of opinion do you want others to have about you? The choice is yours.