It really doesn’t matter how pretty or “cool” your business card is if it doesn’t bring you more business. Think of your business card as a mini-business marketing tool. Put your business card to work for you.
Most people will have a “nice” card with their name, business name, perhaps a small blurb on the company like “We Sell the Best Cars”, and the address of the business if you are brick & mortar, a phone number, and probably the website and email.
Business cards are good to have even if your company is primarily digital. If you are going to go through the bother of designing and printing up business cards, then you need to make them more useful to your business AND to the prospective customers. Turn your business card into the marketing tool and lead generation machine it
Here is how you can do that…
1. Make Them Useful
Get a little innovative with them. Add a coupon (time sensitive). A QR code (perhaps not as effective in North America), link address to a special web page for a free gift – which is a great way for lead generation BTW.
The more useful the card, the more places you can hand them out ~ or ~ leave behind.
For example; let’s say you have a lunch counter and want to drum up the mid-morning coffee and donut crowd. You can turn your business card into a coupon or a loyalty punch card. Print them up, put an end date on them (ie: Free Apple Pie with Lunch – offer ends 23 October), leave them on bulletin boards at local shopping centres, laundries, etc.
Business cards are printed for the sole purpose of giving them away. They are cheap, quick to print and design. Make them go to work for your business and profit.
That is true. However, if that thought keeps you on the fence then ask yourself this:
A) Would you prefer to put your business card up on a bulletin board at the local laundry and have it
B) Would you like to have to keep replacing those cards daily because they work so well that people actually take it down off the wall, walk into your place of business with it, and buy something as a result?
Not only should you print them with end dates, but you should also print them for different special offers. Test them, and ( *this is important* ) don’t forget to record the customer information from the people who redeem them.
You can do more with your business card than just say, “I was here”
A business card represents you and your company. If your card feels cheap to the touch and poorly designed – that will communicate to your customer that you don’t have much to offer. Think about how you can be of service to your potential customer Why should they bother to come to you? Make sure that is clearly stated on your mini-billboard.
Use Headlines on Your Business Cards
Always keep a pocket full of fresh business cards and look for opportunities to seed them around. If your card had a headline like “Today is YOUR Lucky Day” – most people will at least stop and look at it. If it was laying on the ground, it has a better chance to get picked up with a compelling headline. Who doesn’t want to know why today is their lucky day?
You can try other types of direct response headlines too like:
– If you are a RMT try “When Doctors “Feel Rotten” This Is What They Do”
– An MLM’r try “How I Made A Fortune With A “Fool Idea””
– Behavioral Therapist try
Be sure to print the benefit to your customer of calling or visiting your business. A simple way of describing benefit is to first think of the “feature” answered with a “so that…” For example; if you sell off-grid water purifying kits and the main selling feature is they use a funky copper coil that never needs replacing – SO THAT – you will always have access to fresh water no matter where you go in the world! ⇠ print that on your card.
Add a promise on your card too. Something like:
“Fastest Lunch Guaranteed! – we will have you back to work in time, or lunch is FREE!”
Don’t be afraid to use up every piece of real estate available on that business card. Front AND back.
The business card is extremely versatile. Even the ones that are used for appointments. Add to those with CTA’s and coupons. It could be as simple as inviting them to join in on a giveaway contest on Facebook. Doing this moves them onto your social networking platforms for daily interactions. Now you have added one more way of contact and follow up.
The Business Card Marketing Game
The “Business Card Marketing Game” is played by doing things differently. For example: instead of printing and stocking up on the same old boring cards that you try to force into people’s hands, now you can make it a monthly game of how fast you can turn them into a boomerang marketing idea.
Just have useful direct marketing style cards on you at all times. It’s always good to offer your business card when you meet someone – even if they do throw it away later on.
If you make a habit of always leaving your cards behind no matter where you go. Whether it is after a business meeting or you missed someone in their office, or even leave them in the grocery cart or on the seat you were sitting in at the dentist. Use them freely and liberally.
You can also write a note on the back of it if it was left for a specific individual. Tell them you stopped by to say hi and wondered how they are doing. This one small gesture will let them know you are thinking about them. Yes, this may mean you need to carry more than one style of business card around with you.
Now you might be asking, “Gee, now that I have all these great ideas for new business cards, what do I do with the 50,000 I got printed up for $50 last year?”
Here’s an idea:
