3 Tips to Make Your Business Card Rock!

When individuals setup a small or home based business, one of the first items on the checklist to complete is the printing of business cards.

My personal view is that most people's cards are almost a complete waste of money, or at best, not an effective marketing tool.

In this article, we're going to examine business cards and the article will close with 3 Tips to Make Your Business Card Rock!

Let's go!

I want you to take out your business card right now as we're going to analyse it.

It sounds harsh, and I'm not writing this article with the intention of making your card designer feel bad, but I'd be willing to bet my house that the card in your hand is an ineffective marketing tool.

Now, before I go on further, it's very important at this stage to understand this golden nugget of sales and marketing...
A sale opportunity is only ever going to take place for you when:

    You reach the right person
    At the right time
    With the right product
    And the right offer

Your marketing material (e.g. your business card) needs to address points 3 and 4 above. Your marketing strategy needs to cater for points 1 and 2 above.

Consider this for a moment... each time you hand out a business card, the prospective customer is going to make one of three decisions:

    Buy from you right now, let's say sometime within 48 hours
    Buy from you later, could be anytime after 48 hours
    Decide not to buy from you. This decision could take place either immediately after they leave you/get off the phone from you, or a little while later, perhaps days, weeks or months later

You see, each time you hand out a business card, your intention is to have that prospective customer buy something from you either right now, or later.

Not everyone that makes a purchase does so "on the spot". So your card needs to "keep you in the game", to give you a shot at making a sale at some stage.

The moment your business card gets thrown away or placed with all the other cards that your prospect is hoarding, you're as good as dead in the water because that customer is not coming back.

Most cards are basically identical:

    Business name or a logo on the left
    Contact details on the right

What does the card in your hand look like? The same?

If I'm wrong about anything, maybe the layout is a little different. But I can sit here typing away right now with 99% certainty that the card you are holding will contain nothing of any value. It's Just. Another. Business. Card.

The last thing you want for your dear little business card is for your prospect to be deciding whether they're going to throw it out in the regular rubbish, or the recycle bin. That's the choice people are going to make that have cooled on the idea of buying from you...
It makes sense to have your business card assist in the sales process, as opposed to just giving out your name and number, right?

What if you could produce a card that actually triggered a purchasing decision?

What if it actually resulted in a paying client, because they held on to it long enough for the timing to be right?

Here's 3 ways to make your business card rock!

    Funk it up a little - Don't make your contact details the focus of the card. They need to be there, but they're worthless if your card gets thrown in the bin. And most business cards are boring anyway. Your business is not boring, right? Highlight your personality on your card.

    Include testimonials on the card - this gives instant credibility to your skills or product. Testimonials will do a far better job of building trust and credibility with your prospective customers than anything you can say.

    Make the card valuable - Put an offer on it - This is huge. Make your card a voucher by including an offer... "Present this card to receive $20 off your next purchase." Or "Present this card to receive a free consultation valued at $75... How likely am I to throw out your business card if it's worth $75 bucks to me? Nearly everyone that is remotely interested in your service will keep it. At the very least they'll think a little harder before they throw it in the recycle bin.

What do you think the impact would be of generating one extra customer per month just because your business card actually worked?

I hope the difference is profound for your business.