Promoting your New Business Card
Just as certain card stocks, graphics and colors are more suitable than others when it comes to business card design, the way in which you distribute your business card should also reflect your company and its line of work.
Not every method of prospecting business cards will be appropriate to your target market. In fact, choosing the wrong approach can even hurt your business and turn off potential clients, regardless of how original and attractive your business card is.
If you just opened up a fast-food pizzeria or a cutting-edge telemarketing company, having your workers hand out business cards at busy intersections or even mailing out business cards to every last house in your neighbourhood might not be such a bad idea. But if you opened a health clinic or funeral home, that same distribution method could be disastrous to your company's name and reputation.
A more personalized approach will almost always be more effective. Of course, this requires a lot more effort on your part.
One good way to get your business card out there is to get into the habit of introducing yourself with your business card. Of course, this has to be done very tactfully in order to avoid having the person feel like you are solely interested in their potential business and not in him or her as a person. Often, handing a business card after introductions and pleasantries have been exchanged is more effective.
In some case, it might be better to mail a business card with your correspondence after an initial meeting. Sending business cards with first-time correspondence is also okay as long as it is accompanied with a personalized note. If not, you run the risk of having your client feel as if they are being spammed.
If both of these situations still feel a little contrived, then perhaps you are better off putting yourself in social situations where handing our business cards is expected and encouraged. Business networking events are probably the best places to hand out business cards and chat up potential clients. Again, one-on-one interaction is best.
In these situations, the manner in which you handle your client's business card will likely determine how your own business card is treated. If you don't even so much as glaze over it as you stuff it in your pocket, expect your business card to get a similar treatment. Keep in mind that these encounters are almost always a game of give and take. Nobody likes a self-centered promoter.
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