BUSINESS-ADVERTISING -4

I.6 Habits of Highly Effective Marketing Using Business Cards


When people print business cards, their usual goal is only to introduce themselves and their company. Thousands of full color business cards are printed by business card printing services just for this very simply purpose. But did you know that a business card can be used as something more than just introductions and making contacts?

A good businessman or businesswoman can expertly use a print business card for marketing with themselves as the center. Yes, printing business cards is of course about you! It is about selling yourself, and your company. Use yourself as the advertisement for your products while your custom business card seals the deal. In this article you can learn about seven habits you should learn to use your business cards for marketing yourself and your products.

1. Everyone is a contact: The first thing you should learn is that you don’t have to use your business card sparingly. You don’t even have to give them ONLY to people who you consider as a business contact. Everyone is a contact. Give them to your family, your brother, sister and the folks too. In fact for family, it is better to give them two or more so that they can give it to others. Give them to your friends, officemates, the lunch lady etc. The point here is to have your business cards spread, even circulate to other people. This increases the chances of a person discovering you as a new business opportunity. After all, a business card’s whole purpose for existence is to be given away.

2. Always have several handy: Never ever leave the house or office without a couple of business cards ready in your wallet. Many is the time business opportunities are lost because you forgot to give your business card to a newly made friend or business contact. That casual lunch out of the office would have probably been the best business deal of your life if only you had a business card for the client to remember you. So? Bring it!

3. Have a character: Always display yourself and your business card with a certain image or character in mind. You may be the suave salesman sweet talking your company to greatness, or you can be the respectable supplier who always has affordable stocks ready to go. Have your full color business card design show this character as well. Use its color, images, pictures and font as a tool to be remembered as a character proficient in a certain kind of business. You can even add a slogan or tagline to your color business card to further internalize your characterization. Doing this makes you easily remembered. You can be known as the “silver tongue of sales” or the “supplymenator.”

4. Give and take: When you are given a business card, always be ready to give yours back. Also, if you give a business card, politely ask if they have their own so that you can remember them. It is a great habit to always look appreciative when gaining a contact. This tells people you are interested in them, and you are not just selling yourself.

5. Insert them in greeting cards and mail: Do you send greeting cards on people’s birthdays? Do you give everyone Christmas cards during the holidays? If you are mailing these greeting cards, try and insert your business card in there. Basically it is a minor form of direct-mail marketing. Who knows where your business card will end up when in the mail? It might get to someone important.

6. Print a lot: The habits above will mean nothing if you don’t print a lot of your business cards. Maximum distribution is key to marketing. So always have your business card printing company print business cards for you in mass.

That should finish up the habits you should inculcate to market yourself using business cards. It is a unique way of marketing that you should really try. All the effort will be worth it one day.


II.Software You Can Use for Business Card Printing

When deciding to invest in business card printing for you and your staff, there are several useful applications out there that can help you print a full color business card. Online business card printing companies usually have a favorite software that they use to print business cards. Depending on your budget and skills you can choose from a variety of software perfect for you. Below are some of the applications readily available for you to use for your business card printing tasks.

Office Applications: Some people might not have noticed yet but office suites like Microsoft Office, and even open source applications like OpenOffice.org have the ability to create business cards. Usually this involves using a standard business card template. Some office applications may even have wizards which let you answer a step by step guide as you create a business card.

Since office applications are usually installed in the office or even at your home this makes them readily suited for your business card printing needs. You won’t need a lot of training to use them, and it is as simple as firing up your trusty printer to print business cards.

Graphics Software: For more creative people, special graphics editing software can be used to create a design for business cards. Applications like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP are powerful image manipulation tools that can really give birth to the business card ideas you have in your imagination. Use filters, different fonts, lighting effects and others to design a business card ideal for you.

The drawback in using software such as these is that you need the skills to efficiently operate them. If you don’t you can either train yourself, or hire others to design your business card for you. Professionals in business card printing companies periodically use graphics software when creating designs.

Actual business card design software: If you are willing to spend some money on a more easy to use, but powerful tool in designing business cards then this kind of software is perfect for you. There are actually applications out there that were programmed solely for the purpose of creating business cards. A few examples of this kind of software include, “Business card designer plus”, “JuicyBC” and the “Business Card Factory.” They offer a lot of things in terms of supplemental content. Normally, this would be in the form of business card templates, a gallery of cliparts, textures, fonts and other special formatting tools If you really want a full array of features when design your business card then these kinds of software is for you. It should be worth the money in purchasing them.

Those should be the three major types of software you can use for business card printing. Chose what kind of software best suits your skills and your budget, and you will find the process easier. Good luck in your designs!