If you are a man who means business everywhere you go, business cards might just be one of the things that you never leave home without. The insatiable minds of businessmen have the tendency to discuss various kinds of business wherever they go, and if a possible customer were met, they might just hand him or her a business card to advertise their business, leaving that sense of intrigue to the customer that might grow a curiosity over what is promoted.
Surely, in this era that relies heavily on digital platforms, it is no surprise to wonder about business card’s worth. With just a click, the Internet gives you all the information that you are in dire need of, including various types of business they encountered in advertising banners.
Despite the high-tech methods that curtail some of the tediousness of the business of advertising businesses, a business card remains effective—which explains why it is still used in today’s marketing techniques. Handing cards like business cards, wedding cards, and birthday cards manage to be both a formal way and a welcoming way of inviting people to take action.
A business card is an important tool for an entrepreneur in advertising his business, so there is a great need in crafting it rigorously. You might consider it laughable to create a business card with demanding exhaustion when most people would just throw contact information on plain card stock. But there is just so much in business cards than meets the eye.
To know the weight of business cards, for both a business and a businessman, this article will highlight the ways you can use business cards in advertising your business and, also, why it’s an asset to business. Perhaps then, you might just reconsider a business card’s worth.
Why Business Cards Are Still Used
A business card is a master key that opens the doors of opportunity.
As a matter of fact, company brochures, business brochures, and advertising flyers are also effective in advertising your business, but the thing is they are not very personal compared to a business card.
Yes, you heard it right—being personal is an advantage in this age of the faceless megacorporation. And the good news is you can even design a personal business card of your own, instead of looking for business card templates on the Internet.
Besides advertising your business to prospective customers, a business card also helps you acquire a new job, establish a partnership with established firms, or increase the popularity of your business.
The digital platforms that continue to develop through time are our means of communicating with people via chat or video call. Nevertheless, this convenience is not as effective as meeting your business partners or prospective customers in person. Through personal acquaintance, you get the chance to tell them all about yourself, what you do, why your products are a good investment, or why you will be an asset to a company because of your skills and capabilities.
In-person gestures that make all the difference in how you are later perceived by prospective clients are particularly difficult, if not impossible, to convey over email.
Before you part ways with those people, it’s important you have a business card with you to display professionalism. Groping for a pen and paper is never a good impression because they would assume that you are unprepared and disorganized, and therefore maybe not the most fitting person for a job position as you have persuaded them, or your products or services might just be products of unfinished experiments.
Handing your business card after a business talk leaves a very good impression, that each time they look at it, they will remember the short informal business engagement.
Of course, it is not very polite to just hand it over to the person you are conversing with so it’s important to ask him politely if it’s okay you hand him your business card. Merely assuming that the person is interested in your business or your capabilities is a big no-no. You can also ask for his business card for purposes of contact should you be interested in a partnership with him.
Preferably, a business card should have an empty space on its back, leaving a space for notes. Putting your photo in a business card also helps them remember you and your company.
Although they are not needing any of your services, products, or capabilities in the current, the time may come when they need you or your products and services.
Having this stated, they can simply pull out your business card in their wallet to contact you, rather than forcing their minds to make a clear recollection of you or your business from a still fading memory. Sure enough, they can search your company via the Web, but that would absolutely be a waste of time and, in the world of business, time is everything.
In spite of the growing technologies around, business cards are very accessible, any place, any time, in comparison with the Internet. There are situations where Internet downtime occurs when it is urgently needed and some areas with signal blockers which voids your access to the Internet, not to mention simple battery problems on your gadget of choice.
There are also downsides when it comes to communicating via chat, for there are tones that might be misinterpreted through the pixels. Do you still remember a time where you and your friends were chatting and a joke was misinterpreted? That is exactly the case is in hard advertising via the Internet.
Of course, you can still provide all of your contact information via chat, but instead of connecting with them properly, there are times where both of you just seem to disconnect. Ironic, isn’t it?
Business cards force you to invite people for short business talk, thus mesmerizing them in your capabilities or business is a lot easier and engaging. Chances for a disconnect are highly unlikely, as room for clarifications is always available.
Creative Ways for Advertising Your Business
You may not have noticed it, but business cards not only give your contact information to your target or established entrepreneur. In fact, its efficiency in actually pulling its weight in the field of direct marketing has been deemed effective.
If you still are dubious about it, here’s a list of creative ways in advertising your business using a business card that might make you rethink business cards:
- Aside from being just a business card, grant it another purpose. A business card is usually kept in a wallet after it is handed to your clients and targeted audience. Let your imagination be limitless and think how your business popularity will it increase. Well, how will a business’ name gain the fame it ought to have? Exposure. Give your business card another purpose aside from just being a business card. Turn it into a bookmark, or a folding fan, which is commonly used by most established firms today. It will then be difficult to forget about your business talk with your clients and targeted audience, since your business card can be used anytime, instead of rotting in their wallet.
- Explain what you do. A business card has to do a lot of talking. It can create surprise, but it must never create confusion in the minds of a target. Each statement or word in your business card must be written clearly to prevent ambiguity. The rise of ambiguity lessens your credibility, which leaves a tremendously negative impact on your business. Rather than just being general, be very specific about your offers for this is also one way of enticing prospective customers.
- Highlight the cause of your business. You can always win the heart of your prospective customers if your business creates a pleasant social impact. Not only does this increase public awareness for your business. In fact, these prospective customers are more likely to become interested in your business since this affects the welfare of a society instead of serving personal interests. This is also for your recipients to better understand what your business is and how a community can benefit from its services and products, or what drives you to build an empire of your own to help others build theirs.
- Put your face on it. It is important for a business to stand out from its competition. That said, putting your business logo in it or your face will make targets remember you and your business. Since you are advertising your business using a business card, this has to be memorable to the people you are giving the card to. Make sure you are smiling in the photo because this emanates confidence in attaining success, which makes consumers lead to an assumption that the effects of your services and products are a guarantee.
- Add reviews from other customers or client testimonials. You can write this on the back of your business card. Aside from marketing advertisement, one way of making a business profitable and increase its popularity is the customers themselves. Customers can persuade other customers to try engaging themselves with your business. And they will only do this if the level of satisfaction they have been granted exceeded their expectations. Testimonials or reviews are the perfect bait to charm prospective customers to take full participation in your business. You can print these testimonials on the back of your business card. This also increases the credibility of your business, company, or even yourself.