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A 1-2-3 Guide to Joint Venture Marketing Success
Fact: Two Horses Can Pull About 9,000 Pounds Question: How many pounds can FOUR horses pull? If you are like me, your initial response was to say that four horses can pull 18,000 pounds. Sounds reasonable--but its wrong! Four horses can actually...
A Tip to the Beginning Internet Entrepreneur: Know What Marketing Means
Internet Marketing has been a buzzword for over a decade now, a short time by ordinary measure. And yet in terms of Internet reckoning, this is a very long time. Whatever, we always go back to the origin of the word marketing. Marketing, as we know...
Postcard direct mail marketing tips and ideas
Postcards are perhaps the least expensive way of reaching a large number of people with your sales message. Although they have their drawbacks, they are cost-effective at attracting new customers. But only if you follow some simple rules that...
Ten Reasons Why Online Surveys are the Future Of Marketing
Customers are tough cookies. They're extremely media aware and increasingly cynical – it's a clever marketeer who can get under their skin. Online surveys reinvent the traditional format and offer a unique way of interaction – all the benefits...
The Importance of a Marketing Plan
There aren’t many things in life that you would get into with out a plan. Marketing is no different. Your overall marketing plan should cover about a six month period, and should be made up of weekly and monthly marketing schedules. This is how...
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Your Business Card--Executive Pacifier or Marketing Tool?
Your Business Card—Executive Pacifier or Marketing Tool?
Do you remember when you started your business or you got a new job? The excitement you felt when you the business cards arrived to match your new business or new position? The cards became your rite of passage.
Now you realize business cards are part of every business boiler plate, one of the many adult pacifiers we all have.
This article show you how to use marketing principles to re-do your business cards. You can turn your cards into a powerful marketing tool. If you want to avoid the dreaded “They dropped my card in the bottom of their drawer syndrome”, use the following marketing principles to redo your business cards into an effective marketing tool.
getting the attention of your prospects showing them benefits making it easy to contact you giving them a specific call to action testing your ideas
Getting your prospects attention
You need to grab the attention of your prospects. Your business cards can accomplish in a number of ways.
1. Color gets attention. Your photo gets attention. Experts still undecided on whether the added expense of color and photo’s increase prospect attention or retention.
2. You can get your prospects attention by using different forms of business cards. Today, you can print your name on anything. Pens, mouse pads, jackets, letter openers, coasters, calendars, CD versions of your business card, musical business cards are only a few of the possibilities. You limited your options only by your imagination.
With these attention getting methods, ask yourself this question, “Do I want to be cute? Or do I want to be effective?” If you want to be known as cute, then pick out something cutie and make that your novelty business card.
If you want to be effective, pick out something that is different but meaningful to your business. For example, a person in the furniture business has their information on a piece of wood for their business card. It relates directly to their business rather than just being cute.
3. The heart of getting the attention of your prospect must be your heading or tag line. No matter what form of business card or what color, your heading or tag line should command your central focus.
Show me the benefits!
The heart of marketing is letting the customer know what benefits they will receive from using your business. It’s not your company logo. It’s not your company’s business name that is most important to them. It’s what they will receive.
Make sure your business card in one sentence, in one phrase tells the reader the biggest benefit they will receive from your business. This is your chance. If you don’t catch their attention with the headline, you card will probably go into the drawer with all the other cards. Give them a powerful one line reason to stop, to read and to keep your card.
Make is easy to contact you
Imagine, receiving a business card without the person’s
name on it. At a recent networking meeting that happened to me. I actually became embarrassed to call the company because I couldn’t remember the person’s name.
Make it easy for recipient to contact you. If you prefer email than focus on your email. If cell phone, then cell phone. Have all of the appropriate information on the card. If you are store front business, they will need your address. Rather than putting tons of information on your card, ask yourself, “How do I want these people to contact me?” And then make it very easy for them to do this on your card.
Call to action
What do you want them to do? Effective marketing always tell the prospect exactly want they want them to do. “Pick up the phone” “Go to my website.” Tell people on your business card what you want them to do.
Testing Experiment with different messages and formats. Today, you can go online (Vistaprint.com) to choose from standards design cards. You can get 250 cards for $10.00. Use this as testing models until you find the right combination that works for you. Once you find something that works, text, layout and style, you can explore more expensive and better looking options.
Using your business card in a marketing process
Here are just a few creative ways you can use your redesigned card to make your marketing more effective.
1. Have some fun, especially if your cards are the low cost items. Send them out with every piece of mail, including your bill payments and other correspondence. You will stop people in their tract.
2. Give two cards at once with the simple explanation. “I’m giving you a couple of cards. You may know someone who can use (share with them your benefit).” Now you have the recipient thinking about making an extra step.
3. Print a special offering or a coupon on the back of your business card. It gives the person it another reason to keep your card visible. This is what you want.
4. Enclose your business card as part of the thank you notes you send. You can print thank you cards, with appropriate business information on them. The inside can be blank for your personalized thank you and also include a place for your business card. Now you are combining two marketing strategies, the thank you process and the business card.
Conclusion
You have a way of turning your executive pacifier into an effective marketing tool. This is not a high expense item. It also makes your business card more consistent with other forms of marketing, giving you greater marketing power.
If you want more detail information about how to actually craft your next business card, click here for a free report “My Business Card” and I will send you an article which walks you through the business card making process.
Copyright Al Hanzal, 2004. All Rights Reserved
Hanzal Enterprises, Inc. 4191 Granite Court Eagan, Minnesota 55123 651-485-3340
About the Author
Small business owners have been using Al'smarketing materials to increase their profits.
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KnowThis: For Marketing, Market Research, Internet Marketing ... |
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Marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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Welcome - American Marketing Association - www.marketingpower.com |
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Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR News - Brand Republic |
Find the latest Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR news from Brand Republic, the online resource for up to the minute advertising and marketing news and ... |
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Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic. |
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BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
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Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
Promote your business with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
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Sales Jobs / Marketing Jobs / Advertising Jobs - MarketingJobs.com |
Employment site for marketing and sales professionals. |
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The Chartered Institute of Marketing |
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Marketing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
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Guerrilla Marketing Online is anonline magazine for small business, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers of all kinds. |
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Business Marketing - Small Business Marketing |
Business marketing - Read everything your need to know about small business marketing. |
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All About Marketing |
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation ... Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out: ... |
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Pages tagged with "marketing" on del.icio.us |
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ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
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Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
Trade association for users and suppliers in the direct, database and interactive marketing fields, offering seminars and resources, and lobbying for ... |
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