Your Best Tool - Your Business Card


By Aldene Fredenburg

Instant communication? Palm Pilots, laptops, cell phones, instant messaging devices - of all the communications tools out there, the single best one is still the business card. With it, you instantly communicate your name, your business, your contact information and, with a little design capability, your personal style.

A well designed business card marks you as a professional, so make sure you choose a design that reflects the products you represent. Selling high tech computer equipment or software? A sleek, modern, minimalist design is perfect. Selling Victorian clothing or home décor accessories? A more elegant design with a floral or lacy theme may be more suitable. And while basic white is still popular, choosing a card design with dynamic colors will make your business card stand out from the crowd.

Make sure you include all the information you need to make it easy for prospective customers to contact you. Your name and business address, landline and cell phone numbers, and email address will direct your customers to you. If you have a website, including the URL on your business card will also let you provide substantial sales and background information to prospective buyers before they even contact you. Not only does this make your sales job easier, since you've already educated prospective customers to some extent about your product, the people who contact you after seeing your website are more likely to be serious customers.

Once you receive your business cards, get creative about how you distribute them. If you're at a restaurant, dry cleaners, or other business that offers you a chance to win something for depositing your business card in a bowl, take them up on it. Just make sure, if you're supposed to put your card into a clear container, that you deposit the card facing right side up, out at the customers; that way everyone who comes to that business's counter can read your card.

Still paying bills the old fashioned way, through the mail? Drop a business card in with every check, every month. Join the local Chamber of Commerce, and pass your business card around at their after hours get-togethers. Need to hand someone connected to your personal life your home phone? Write it on the back of your business card.

You never know where your next sale is coming from. If you've got well designed, information-rich business cards on you at all times, you'll be prepared to make contact whenever a prospective customer appears. In addition, a sales training workshop can help you close the deal after that prospective coustomer makes contact.

More Resources

Marketing Tips - Advertising
Typical methods of advertising-newspapers, radio and television are effective if used properly, but there are other, less expensive ways to get your company's name out. Local or cable television is an inexpensive alternative to the traditional forms of advertising.
How Well Do Postcards Work?
The humble little postcard has been getting a lot of attention in the marketing world. Along with this heightened interest comes some very good questions, such as.
Advertising For The Long Haul and Not the Short Term Gains
New Age Media Concepts issues its first article of many that will focus on the advertising and marketing industry. "If a young man tells his date she's intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he's saying the right things to the right person and that's marketing.
The Secrets To Successful Radio Advertising
Ask some businesses about radio advertising and they'll tell you it's the greatest investment they ever made while others will tell you it was a complete waste of time and money. So why does radio work for some and not for others? What's the secret to successful radio advertising?Know this: Radio can be a major player in your advertising mix if you know how to do it and I'm about to give you the secrets to successful radio advertising so read on.
3 Things Every Yellow Pages Advertiser Needs to Know
Too many business owners and marketers know that Yellow Pages advertising has an incredible amount of potential? but they don't quite know how to take advantage of it.Fortunately, it's a mystery that's solved pretty easily once an advertiser knows where to turn for advice.
Marketing Advertising, While Advertising Your Market!
Today in the Business world whether online or off, it seems that everyone is vying for position, yet few are able to leap to the forefront of their competition.On the Internet there are thousands of programs and Business Opportunities being created every month or so it seems! Everyone is trying to find his or her niche in the Business world.
Should Your Small Business Hire an Advertising Agency?
So, you own a small business, sales are down and you've come to the conclusion you need to start advertising. Questions: Where do I advertise, how much do I spend and do I need the help of an advertising agency?The answer to this question is really very simple.
Do Your Business Cards Say Who You REALLY Are?
Here are a couple of tips for creating an eye catching card:Use some color - not too much - just enough to grab someone's attention and make them want to read the card.
A $40 Million Dollar Little Known Referral Strategy
Would you like to know how a car wash chain with only 12 locations has cleaned over 33,373,975 cars and has an annual revenue of over $40 Million (that is not a misprint) using little to no paid advertising?Well, sit forward because I'm about to tell you. The company name is "Car Spa" and here's how I discovered their brutally effective referral strategy.
Consider These Pressing Facts Before You Renew Your Yellow Page Ad
Your Yellow Page Ad Deserves More than 10 Minutes of Thought a YearBefore long, your Yellow Page directory rep will be paying you a visit. It's an annual event that happens several months before next year's directory goes to press.
Printing - How Do I Buy It?
Why should I care where I get my printed material from, I'll just go for tenders and go with the low bidder. If you do this probably you won't be in business for long or you'll never really run a successful business.
Do I Need Raised Letter or Full Color Business Cards?
If you've been searching around for business cards that will best represent the image you want to portray for your business, then you've no doubt encountered many options. The Big Two, as I like to think of them, are "Raised Letter" and "Full Color.
Electronic Score Boards
Wide range of electronic Key venues around the globe has turned to Electronic score boards that not only look breathtaking from every angle and distance, but provide consistently reliable performance year in and year out.Different type of sports including athletics, track cycling, running events, street cycling and mountain bike, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving as well as inline skating, water polo, ball spots, motor sports, alpine skiing, cross country and biathlon are some of the areas where Electronic score boards perfect fits solutions for.
Free Publicity With Dogs, Cats, and Rats
Here's a fascinating idea..
For All Those People Who Struggle With Benefits and Features
For Everyone Who Has Ever Struggled Sorting Out Benefits From Features - "SWAT Them!"SWAT is not actually an acronym. It is a compaction of the question "so what?"You see, one of the biggest problems that even experienced copywriters and marketers fall into is being clear on what benefits their product or service actually delivers to their customers.
How You Measure Yourself Is How You Motivate Yourself
One of the keys to strong positive mental attitude is what you compare your personal performance to. Do you compare your sales results to the top producer in your industry? Do you compare your basketball playing ability to Michael Jordan? Do you compare your last presentation to a speech delivered by Ronald Reagan or JFK? Or do you compare your results today, to those you had yesterday? Sports, sales, and the media teach us to compare our success against that of others, living or dead.
Moving Message Display
Moving message display are designed to be installed into environments where vast amounts of information need to be conveyed to large audiences both quickly and efficiently, also in the world of indoor and outdoor displays. This gives you enormous flexibility for creating interesting text message on Moving message display.
Nine Power Words To Punch Up Your Ads
As every professional politician and public relations man knows words have the power to entice, persuade and motivate people into a specific course of action.There are certain words that I refer to as "Power Words" that I learned, back in the dawn of time, when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
Reach vs. Frequency: Touch 100 Once or 25 Four Times?
Reach and frequency are terms generally used when planning advertising campaigns. However, the concept of reach and frequency applies to any promotional activity you undertake: direct mail, direct selling, and even networking.
What Happened? Troubleshooting Poor Response from Ad Campaigns
Too many small business owners today run ad campaigns that get little to no results, and they have no idea why. When you have the knowledge to troubleshoot the poor responses, you also have the knowledge to make the needed changes so that - next time - your sales improve! Let's take a look at the breakdown of an ad campaign, and how to determine what went wrong.

More Advertising Information:

Related Articles

Boost Headline Believability With Specifics
Don't use vague generalities in your headlines. Be as specific as possible.
More Cheap Tricks for Promoting Your Business
In a recent article, I shared five of my top 10 favorite tricks for promoting your business without spending much (or any) money. Several readers wrote and said they enjoyed the first five tips, so I'm hoping the next five will be just as helpful.
Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools
If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number.
Secrets of Getting Free Advertising
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.
The Shrinking Ad Dollar
CPR CPA CTR..
LED Score Boards
LED scoreboards can be utilized in most of the sporting event for eye-catching effects replace traditional scoreboards. This high- tech lighting system is both energy - efficient and able to produce a very bright light.
Moving Message Board
Moving message boards are used in the areas where continuous announcements, or other information are need to be displayed in to either indoor or outdoor. Used most widely in churches, schools, airports, other transport stations, banks, production and administration department of organization as marquee information billboards.
Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?
We're surrounded by advertisements that desperately compete for our attention. Everywhere we look, we find ourselves inevitably drawn to images of scantily clad attractive men and women that are supposed to somehow inspire us to purchase products they endorse.
3 Inside Secrets To Making You Richer Using Direct Mail!
Making money using direct mail isn't easy. And anyone who tells you it is, is lying.
The Future of Voiceovers: Hold Your Tongue...Possibly Forever
"Do we need to cast a voice-over talent for this project?"That's a valid question any producer might ask when creating an advertisement, corporate audio-video presentation, video game, etc. Of course, the answer depends on what elements the producer and client feel will best communicate with the audience.
Do You Really Need a Brochure?
Traditional brochures typically tell the story of your company, i.e.
The SKINNY on Newspaper Advertising
The SKINNY on NewspapersUsing the paper is considered gospel by manypeople in business. Use it wisely and it can be agood tool.
Developing a Formal Brand Messaging Document
Ensure everyone in your company sings from the same sheet of music when it comes to communicating a consistent brand message.Imagine one of your customers calling six different people in your company.
Print Your Marketing Postcards For A Penny, Address Them For Free, and Automate the Whole Process
This article will show you how to cut your printing costs to a penny and have your postcards addressed for free without doing it all yourself, reducing the time you invest in your mailing to almost nothing.So, you have a list of hot prospects in hand; you need a way to get your marketing message in front of them with the hope that a reasonable percentage will call you.
Books, Bibles and Fast-Talkers
Every community has 'em. Fast talkers who rollinto town with a clever idea to sell to people inbusiness.
How To Write Ads That Get Response
Your print ads should do more than just get noticed. Their job is to bring you business, and if all they do is lay around and attract attention, they're no different from the lazy employee who does nothing all day but look busy.
Brand Young and You Brand for Life; Why Cinema Advertising is an Effective Tools for Marketers
In the world of advertising there are many forms of media that can be utilized to get an advertisers message to its intended audience. Newspapers, television, radio, Internet and billboards are effective tools in this effort but one form of advertising that is often overlooked is Cinema Advertising.
The Not-So-Hidden Persuaders: The Power of The Media Upon Us All
In 1957, a perspicacious young journalist from Pennsylvania named Vance Packard wrote a book called The Hidden Persuaders. It was meant to explain to the public at large why they buy the products they do and to warn them about the psychological aspects of consumer appeal that lie beneath the levels of consciousness.
5 Reasons Why Headlines Are Crucial To Your Website's Success
Without a powerful headline, your message stands little chance of being noticed in an increasingly competitive marketplace. If your headline doesn't capture attention and pull prospects into your sales copy, than your marketing effort is a total waste of energy and resources.
10 Tips to Use Giveaways Effectively
Walk around any trade or consumer show and you will be able to collect a bag full of advertising specialties, or giveaway items all designed to promote. But look a little more closely.