3 Must Haves On Your Business Card – How To Stand Out Offline To Market Your Business Online

Wall of Business Cards

Believe it or not, online businesses can still use business card advertising and marketing to promote their business in a big way. Successful marketing will need you to stand out from the rest and capture attention at first glance.

Whenever you talk about marketing online business in an offline market you have to realize the numbers will be different. Online advertising will get you lots of traffic and a small percentage will take action and buy the service.  With offiline advertising you will see less traffic because there are so many distractions from the time they get your card to the time they get on your site.  But, because the process begins before they even get to your website you are sifting through the numbers and will have more qualified leads that convert more often.

I’d like to give a few tips on how things have changed when using business cards, what you should include on your card, and methods to generate results.  Before I get into the nuts and bolts the first thing I’d recommend is dare to be different.  Think outside the box.  You could possibly look into cards in different shapes and sizes and think how you can tie your business in with that. Get noticed before they even read your card.

If you look at a traditional business card you will generally see a name, company name, title, office number, cell number, address,  etc.  Frankly, people don’t care about any of that.  You want to have an advertising business card.  The purpose of this card it to generate enough curiosity and interest  that somebody will actually take your business card go to the computer, look you up and take it from there.  There are three musts to have on your card:

1. Tag Line – You want to have a tag line, or results oriented statement,  on your card that is all about THEM and the benefits THEY are going to receive by going to the website listed on your business card.  If you don’t have a tag line already written up,work one up and remember it’s not about you it’s about them.  It’s not about “I made x amount of dollars” or “Here’s what I can do for you”.  It’s about them. A little humor never hurts either.
2. Website – In offline advertising methods it’s pretty important to have your own domain name, and one that is easy to remember.  So, if you are marketing an affiliate offer you would want to buy and register a unique or vanity domain name rather than listing a long site name with your affiliate id number following it.  Host Gator that offers some of the lowest prices around.  You can register and host through Host Gator and may even want to buy a few different domain names that all direct back to your site.  You can have each site masked and forwarded seamlessly to your page, and track different campaigns you may try.
3. Phone Number – Some people like to add their number and some don’t.  Remember that your card may be left laying around with your phone number out there for anyone and everyone to access, though.  What you could do is set up a toll free number that goes to a little recording or greeting. It’s not a voicemail to leave messages or a number you would answer, it’s just a greeting to direct them to your website.  On your recording you would say the very basics, remembering that this is just another mini-advertisement meant to direct them to your website.  Its just a greeting saying “Hey, thanks for calling…glad you heard about us…to learn more about us online here is our website”. Some people prefer to hit a website and some prefer to call a phone number, but you want to get them to your website.

As far as pictures, backgrounds and where to get your cards printed, I LOVE Vista Print!  VistaPrint.com is a source of free business cards.  They will charge a couple bucks for shipping (unless your order is over $50) and you can order up to two sets of 250 business cards per day so it’s really an unlimited supply.  They have lots of different background designs to choose from for free, or if you want to use your own image you can pay a little bit more and use those too.  Either way Vista Print has some very low cost printing  for several business projects besides business cards.

So what do you do with your brand new business cards now?  You get them out there.  With any type advertising it’s about the numbers, but especially in free offline advertising!  It’s about MASSIVE action.  Not about handing out a couple hundred cards, but more like a few thousand.  If you want a strongly producing campaign I am talking about getting 5k cards out a week.

Bring cards with you everywhere you go.  Strike up conversations at your normal places you go everyday and that will get you started, but to really get yourself out there you will need to get creative.  You may not agree with all these ideas, or you may have some even more creative, but I’ll share a few here.  You can go to large parking lots and other places you can find lots of parked cars and place them on cars.  Just please don’t place them on the windshield!  That is so annoying when you get in the car and then see something stuck on your windshield and have to get back out to take it off.   The best place to put a card is on the driver’s side window in between the seal and the window right above the door handle where the driver will see it when getting in. Not only will it be easier seen but probably received in a more favorable manner.  (Be sure you follow your city’s regulations as some areas will not allow certain forms of advertising, so that’s my disclaimer!)

I  know a couple ladies that have been known to go to the library or bookstore and place their cards in the books or magazines.   I’ve even heard of one person sticking their cards  in all the pockets of pants hanging on racks at department stores!  So, you can use your imagination.

Using business cards to market your online business is just one idea of inexpensive marketing and advertising.   What other types of low cost advertising have you used?  How would you take massive action in offline advertising?

Thank you to sensesmaybenumbed for the image used.

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Tagged as:  business card advertising · business card marketing · Marketing · Offline Marketing · Online Marketing