MONDAY MARKETING MINUTE
Some would tell you that a business card is a “mini-billboard”. Not so, people are not driving by your business card at speeds over 55 miles per hour, so you can state more on your card than the typical rule of 5 to 7 words for a successful billboard. (I’ll speak more about billboards elsewhere). But just because one can state more on a business card isn’t license to do so; more is not necessarily “better”. Also, I believe one should follow a checklist when creating a business card so you don’t miss anything (how many times have you seen a business card without a zip code or phone number for instance) but following a cookie cutter template for every business card is not the answer either. Of course, I’m not dismissing the fact that one would use the template approach for all cards within a business for consistency in format and design. I have a check list that I follow when constructing business cards and you can have it free by requesting: “Free Business Card Building Checklist” using my contact form at: www.terscott.com/contact.
Think of your business card as an advertisement because that
is what it is. Marketing this advertisement would be your distribution plan of
handing them out, posting them on bulletin boards, placing them in every
product shipment and more. It’s amazing just how many business people are “stingy”
in using business cards to promote their product and service and keep them in their
desk drawer! Get them out there working for you; hand them out. I like to keep
the back side blank on some of my cards and when having conversations or
writing notes and numbers for people and give them my card with the information
on it. When someone asks me for a phone number or a reference or directions,
out comes my card from my pocket, I write notes on it, and it goes in to their pocket;
marketing accomplished. I learned from Tom Hopkins, “The Sales Champion Guy”,
years ago about how he would give a business card to check out clerks when
buying his groceries, and place them in the envelopes when he would pay his
utility bills (these people need your product too). One day he got a call from
someone who either worked at the electric company or his grocery store (it’s
been so long that I don’t remember) and said I’ve got a drawer of your business
cards; now I’m ready to buy a house! So, the lesson here might be that it’s OK
to have your business cards in a drawer, but it should be your prospects
drawer!
When creating your business card “ad”, as with any
advertising, consider your audience, know your intent, and only “say” what
needs to be said. When I consider my audience, I sometimes go as far as to ask
myself things like “what is my prospect doing when he or she gets my card” and
you can also do the same by taking this a bit further than the usual
demographics, and psychographics of your audience. Then depending on your
intent, you can state on your “business card” only the content that is required. (I put “business card” in quotes
here because your business card could be a magnet, a pen, even an imprinted
baseball cap; and I’ll talk more about that later. You can get great pricing
and professional service on these “business cards” at my company: www.MyImprintRep.com). What I mean by
using only your “intentional content” (the phrase that I coined) is that, let’s
say you want to promote your website; then using “intentional content” you
would state your web address and nothing else- no phone number and no physical
address. Absurd you say, “I pay $100 for 1000 cards! I want all that I can
print on that little 2 by 3.5 inch piece of paper to get my money’s worth”. If you are not having people see your card and
take action in contacting you and buying something, you are not getting your
money’s worth. When someone sees your card, and is not distracted by “Hmmm,
should I call, fax, email, or walk in” and only sees your web site’s address,
and thinks, “Wow, haven’t seen a card like this”, visits your website where
they get more information and buys something then or later, that’s marketing,
and that’s “worth it”.
I wanted this to be a
3 Part article but I’m thinking it may become 4 or more. Pleae come back and
read about The Traditional Business Card, The Non Traditional Business Card and When a Business
Card is Not a Business Card (and maybe something else as my creative mind
directs me about this magnificent marketing piece for any business). Don’t
forget, the easiest way to never miss an article is to “become a follower by
email” on this page. You’ll sign up for an RSS feed to your email and get
articles as they are posted.
Make it a great day!
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