Business cards might be tangible, pieces of hard paper but they are far from a thing of the past. Small business owners especially benefit from using business cards when networking with other business owners and when connecting with prospective customers. These are our top six ways to use your business cards as a small business owner.
1: Referral Cards
Do you have customers who consistently order from your business? Have they become a trusted buyer? Creating a referral program can help you get more business for the small cost of ordering more cards! Take a stack of your business cards and give them to your customers with the promise that they will be given a discount, cash, or another incentive for each new customer they refer. Be careful that you only hand these cards out to a few top customers.
2: Add an Appointment Reminder
Depending on the type of business you run, adding an appointment reminder slot to the back of your business card can be a great way to make sure your card is used. Whenever someone new makes an appointment with you, you can easily fill in the date and the time on the appointment reminder side of your card. This makes your card something that the person will hold onto and be reminded of your business at the same time.
3: Coupon Code in Packaging
Another great way to use the back of a business card is to add a coupon code for a percentage off an upcoming purchase. You can throw one of these business cards along with the product you’re mailing off to your customers. Customers will want to keep the card to later use the coupon and they will be continually reminded of your business.
4: Conferences
If you’re a business owner who attends a lot of conferences year-round, you’ll want a tangible way for people to remember you. Your business card is the best bet. Make sure that you keep some in your briefcase, wallet, pants pocket, and anything else you might bring with you while moving about the conference.
5: Raffle Tickets
If you have a business where customers visit in person or at an upcoming event, you can hold a raffle using your business cards. Adding numbers to the back of the card and calling out one of the numbers at the end of the night for a prize! This is a fun way to get your business cards in the palms of new customers. Who knows how many cards will end up making it home at the end of the night?
6: Friendly Competition with Yourself
You can do this one with yourself or with a competing friend (also in small business). The idea is that you want to see how many people you can hand your card to within a particular period. The goal is to compete against yourself (month-to-month) or with a friend (in one month). It’s a fun way to incentivize yourself to share as many cards as possible and build new connections.
There are numerous reasons to carry a set of business cards on you at all times as a small business owner. Try these six methods of sharing your business and see what other methods you can discover.
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