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How to Market Your Business with Business Cards

Business cards represent an important means by which you can advertise and promote your business's products and services – business cards can help you market your products and services effectively.

First, if your business card is to properly represent your business, then they must possess relevant information that will advise your customers about the services you can provide. The corollary of that is: if there is no relevant information, then the potential client will have no idea about what you can provide.

Second, you need to inform people about your services, and business cards can provide a way of getting your message out to potential customers. Alternately, if you do not distribute your business cards, then why have them printed in the first place?

Third, potential customers need to keep your card for future reference — a person might not want your products or services today, but they might want them at some future time.

What follows are some ideas on effective ways of promoting your business via the use of your business cards.

 

Produce an Effective Business Card

OK. So what is an ‘effective business card’? Well, yes, it must advertise your business, but it should also be worthwhile for the recipient to keep it for later reference; that is, there must be one or more compelling things contained on the card so that the potential client stores your business card, rather than have a quick read of it and throw it away.

The more effective your business card, the greater response you will receive from its distribution — there is more on this issue below.

 

Provide Important Information

The information you supply on your business cards has manifold effects. First, important information placed upon your business card can encourage the potential client to trust your firm. For example, many start-up businesses operate from home and do not provide an address. The rational is: an address in a residential suburb looks cheap and amateurish, so no address will look better. We suggest this is incorrect; a business card with an address (even in a residential street) is proof that the business actually exists, whereas a business card without an address leaves unanswered questions.

Second, your business card must inform the reader what it is that your firm provides. If your firm has specialties, then state those specialties. If your firm is a ‘generalist’, then declare it on the card. For example: a card stating your firm to be ‘Lawyers’ does not provide the reader with much information, whereas a card with ‘Lawyers – Income Tax Specialists’ gives the reader more information about what the firm does, and a person wanting advice on 'Wills' would not come to you. Alternately, a card declaring the company to be ‘Lawyers – General Practitioners’ conveys that the firm could attend to most people’s needs (including 'Wills'), and can advise on whether you might need to see a specialist.

We mentioned earlier that your business card needs to be ‘effective’ if people are to keep it for later reference. Well, your business has a greater chance of being kept for later use if the card is ‘trusted (i.e.: have vital details on it, such as an address), and informs the card holder of what your firm provides (e.g.: a potential customer might not need Income Tax advice now, but he or she might keep the card in case they need that advice later in life).

 

Give Your Business Cards to the Right People

Most business either:

1. Give their business cards to ‘all and sundry’ and the cards are just thrown away; or
2. Treat their business cards as ‘precious treasure’, hoard them in desks, stationery cupboards and wallets, and never get around to giving their business cards to anyone.

Both the above methods of distributing business cards are flawed as the message that they want to project is not getting to the right people (or not even getting to anyone).
Your business cards are only effective if you give them to the right people; for this to occur you must know your audience, and knowing whom your audience is should never be underestimated. For instance: if your firm provides financial advice to families, then you should determine whom in the family makes most of the financial decisions. You might be surprised that most family’s financial decisions are made by women; so, financial advisors should give business cards to the wife and not the husband (as a ‘rule of thumb’).

 

Give Your Business Cards Away

We stated above that “Most businesses … Give their business cards to ‘all and sundry’ and the cards are just thrown away”, and this is so true. Having written that, you should still consider giving your business cards away to some of the ‘all and sundry’. Specifically, enclose two or three of your business cards when you send a customer the product that he or she purchased, or do the same when you send an invoice to customers. You would not send your business cards to the same customer time and time again, as it would be wasteful, but you can send the ‘two or three’ business cards to the same customer ‘every once in a while’.

The rationale for this approach is that an existing customer is satisfied with what your business offers (they must be as the customer has purchased a good or service from your business) and if you provide that customer with a few business cards, then he or she might give that business card to some friends whom are after the same product or service. It is a type or ‘word of mouth’ recommendation, however, you are assisting your existing customer in giving his or her friend (a potential customer) solid details about what your firm does and how to contact you.

Good luck in promoting your business via the proper use of business cards; we hope you do well.