GMAIL vs. Branded Email – Which is the Best for Your Business?

Is using a Gmail account unprofessional? Welcome to another Tech Tuesday. Today I'm answering a question from one of my subscribers, love you guys, Matefo, who wrote in to say, "Hi Evan, today I had a very interesting discussion with a friend of mine. She wanted to know why I use a Gmail address. Her reason was that Gmail doesn't make a business person look professional and big business prefers professional email addresses to Gmail. I said to her whilst I have the other email address that she considers professional, I prefer Gmail for all its other benefits. One, I don't have to pay an annual fee. Two, I can use Gmail anywhere." 3. My documents are never lost. 4. I get to have a whole host of Google bouquet services. 5. Most people that I interact with are on Google and it's easier to connect with them, etc. I just wanted to know your thoughts on this matter. Regards, Matefo. This is a great question and here are my quick thoughts. Number 1, yes, Gmail is not as professional. All you have to do is a quick Google search for "Is a Gmail account unprofessional?" and you'll see how many people are asking this question. That alone, plus what your friend is telling you, means that there is a stigma against Gmail accounts. From my own experience, if somebody writes to me to join my mastermind group or my movement coaching program or ask me a question, and if they're writing from a Gmail account, I'm assuming they don't have a website and they're just starting out their business. Now you may want to take a stand against that. You may want to be the person that says, "No! Gmail is professional and I'm going to show the world!" But my question for you is, is that really a fight that you want to fight? Does it mean that much to you? So right now Gmail is not as professional. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Okay, so number 2: does it matter? Does it really matter for your business? Say you're a piano teacher and you get most of your business from word of mouth, and you're full up on students right now, and you don't really want to grow bigger than where you are. Why do you need a website? Why do you need a branded email address? It doesn't matter to you. Now let's say you're in marketing or branding. If you don't use a branded email address and show your website off, then people aren't going to take you seriously. They'll think, "How can she market and brand my business if she can't even do it for her own?" There's just a higher level of expectation depending on what kind of business you're in. Here's another example. Let's look at headshots. If you're in the junk hauling removal business, people won't really judge too much what your headshot looks like. You still want it to look good, but it doesn't matter so much. Now, if you're a photographer, people will have a much higher expectation for you to have a great headshot. If you don't, people will think that you're not that great a photographer. So even though Gmail is not as professional, does it really matter to your business? But my real answer is number 3. Do both. I have a Gmail address and a regular email address. You can set Gmail to accept all of your incoming emails from all your different email addresses. That way you still get all the benefits of using Gmail, but you can also have the professional look and feel from using your branded email address. If you're not sure how to do it, just Google how to add a POP3, P-O-P-3, email address into Gmail. And if you still can't figure it out, shoot me a message and I'll try to help you out. For those of you watching, let me know what you think. Do you use a Gmail address for business use or a brand branded email address, leave a comment below. And if you guys like this video, you want to see more, don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you soon. If you want more entrepreneur goodness, check out the link to my newsletter below. See you there.