Business Cards: Tools for a Successful Personal Marketing Strategy

There's no other marketing tool as efficient and inexpensive as than business cards

Pocket marketing tools such as business cards require some thought. Color business cards makes it easy and convenient to adapt your message to the audience, since there's no need to print thousands of cards each time. There are many possible messages and objectives to achieve with them and the business cards should become a means to achieve them.

Did you know?

Business Cards are a Powerful Marketing Tool

Personal business cards can generate contacts long after the card has been handed during a business meeting or networking event.

What do people do with the business cards they get?

Have in mind that people usually do one of the following with the cards they get:

1. Keep them in card-holder books for future reference.
2. Scan the cards and store images of the cards while automatically creating a computerized database that can be used in your phone and your contact manager software (such as Cardscan).
3. Pile cards somewhere to go through them in the future (typically in shoe-box-type containers).
4. Some people, if unable to relate to the card at a latter time, will put them into their Recycle Bin for good.

Contact Information in a Business Card

Not all your contact information belongs to a business card. Just the one that will help be aligned with your strategy.

1. E-mail Addresses: E-mail is the most widely used communication tool. Therefore it should be standard on a modern business card. If your company has a website, your email address should coincide with the company's domain. As an example: Peter847@aol.com will not create the same impression as Peter@YourCompany.com
2. Website: The website's URL should be part of your card. The http://www.... is not necessary, and will save you room.
3. Phone Numbers: We all have a personal number (cell), office number, extension number, fax number, etc. Too many numbers take up your "real-estate" on your card and confuse people. Use just one contact number if possible, and make sure that the number will re-direct itself to as many places you decide. Services such as Google Voice will certainly do its job; you'll find an array of vendors for this type of service.
4. Physical Address: A must have. Even in the time of the Internet, you want to deal with people and companies that will not vanish. Many people will check in online maps your location before doing business with you.

What to say and how to say it in your business card

Say it elegantly and clearly (meaning that the design should help convey the message). Say it in a way that the reader of the card finds the information easily. Make it easy to identify the company, your name and make it very clear as of what you can do for that individual. I'm sure that you've stumbled upon cards with names you can't recall, company names that mean nothing to you and no other indication.

What to avoid in your offset printed business cards as well as on your digitally color copy business cards:

Copy too close to the edge: There are two problems related to this situation:

• You might end up with cards that have a few characters that have accidentally been trimmed by the printing company.
• It does not look good. It shows some degree of un preparedness and that will be reflected in the response level that you get.

Too Much Information can be negative:
Why? Attention span. Cluttered information in a business card results in minuscule font sizes which in turn are unreadable. Less is more in this case

What would I consider to be a good business card?

I personally think that a piece as shown below will do a good job for you at a networking event, which happens to be part of your personal marketing activity.

Why? It is clear, easy to identify by trade and specific are of involvement. Easy to scan, keep in digital format and retrieve at a later time.

Color Copies U.S.A. offers not only the printing of these type of pieces, but the design services as well.

Graphic design packages start at $60 and go up to $120 when 3 options are presented to the customer as a first draft.

Business Cards printed out of digital equipment such as the one used for color copies, give you the opportunity to test the concept and adjust it frequently without needing to through thousands of unused cards. Digital printing allows you to hold various types of cards as well, making emphasis on different areas of service that you cover, without the need to clutter the card and your prospect's attention.

Other marketing products recommended to make the most out of your campaign are displayed below: