Business cards are still relevant in today’s business transactions even with the increasing dependence on electronic communication. It is possible to boost your business growth with business cards. However, you should know that most cards are thrown away within a few days. This means that you have to be careful with your choice of business cards. You want a card that will present the right message and also has a design that will stand out.

• How do I Promote my Business on Business Cards?
• How Does Business Card Assist Entrepreneurs?
• How do You Promote Business Growth?
• How do I Make my Business Cards Look Professional?
• Top 3 Business Card Ideas to Boost Your Marketing Strategy
• 3 Ways to Generate More Leads From Business Cards
• 5 Ways Business Cards Can be Your Best Marketing Tool
• Business Card Marketing Ideas
• Business Card Marketing Strategy
• Business Card Advertising Displays
• Creative Ways to Distribute Business Cards
• Best Marketing Business Cards
• How to Disperse Business Cards
• Is it Legal to Put Business Cards on Doors?
• Business Card is an Example of Which Marketing?
• What to do With Business Cards
• Is it Legal to Put Business Cards on Cars?
• Can I Put Business Cards in Mailboxes?
• What Should I Put on Business Card?
• What Types of Business Cards Are Best?

How do I Promote my Business on Business Cards?

Determine The Message

The most important aspect of your company card is the message that it carries. You should have a clear picture of the information that you want to pass to the recipients. If you plan to hand it out to prospective clients, you will have to include more information.

Read Also: How to Become a Digital Marketing Analyst

Focus on the most relevant content if it will be handed over to existing customers who already know you. If you are presenting updated information such as a new phone number or address, make sure it is highlighted to make it very obvious.

What Your Business Cards Should Say

The message on your card is dependent on the type of business that you do. You do not have enough space to right a long message so you should focus on the most relevant details. You can focus on an aspect of your person or your product or service. If you are involved in more than one type of business, you will have to create different cards for each service that you provide.

Choosing The Right Style

It is important to include logos and graphics that represent your business. The design should present relevant information with a good use of attractive graphics. This makes it possible for people to know about you with just a glance.

If you want your cards to attract more attention, make use of non-traditional colors. However, this should not be taken too far. The colors and fonts that you use should portray the type of industry that you represent. You can be more flexible with the design if you are in a creative industry.

Using Pictures

If your card is targeted at people who do not know you or your business, it will be necessary to include a personal picture or pictures of the type of products that you provide. There are several templates that allow you to upload appropriate images for your card.

Images will also help you to reduce the number of words that will be included in the message. People can easily see what you do or who you are by looking at the pictures.

Consult A Professional

If you are still not sure about how to boost your business growth with business cards, you should consider speaking with a business card designer. A professional will help you to identify the most important elements of the design.

You will have the perfect card when the vital elements are properly combined. You can also look at different designs before the final print. The best business card is the one that finds a balance between being attractive and providing the right message.

How Does Business Card Assist Entrepreneurs?

Despite its relatively small size, a business card can be critical to the development of your small business. As business cards are often handed to prospects and customers, they can be a highly personalized form of marketing. Their multiple design options also provide numerous opportunities to promote your business in a creative manner.

First Impression

As business cards are part of an introduction, they are important for making a favorable first impression. An attractive, eye-catching business card with all the relevant contact information can capture the attention of your prospect and help you remain in her memory well after your initial meeting. Business cards can also enhance credibility, as they can create a sense of professionalism and legitimacy for your business.

Low Cost

Business cards are relatively inexpensive, making them a cost-effective marketing tool for small businesses on a tight budget. A local printing company can often produce hundreds of business cards for just a few dollars, and the abundance of online printing companies makes it easy to shop around to find the best deals.

If you or a friend or family member possesses graphic design skills, you can even create and produce your own cards with the aid of an online business card program, which can further reduce your costs.

Portability

Business cards can go wherever you go, making them an essential mobile marketing tool if your business requires you to travel frequently. If you often attend industry trade shows or business conventions, for instance, business cards can facilitate the process of establishing and maintaining contacts that can lead to future business opportunities. By keeping a stack of business cards with you at all times, you have the opportunity to continuously market your business to everyone you meet.

Building Your Brand

Business cards can help you establish your brand, which makes your company more easily identifiable. By including your company’s logo and advertising slogan on your card, for instance, you help to reinforce your brand with everyone who views your card.

According to Nathan Ross Martin, president of NRM Creative Marketing in Atlanta, a common mistake that many companies make is that the design chosen for a business card differs from or fails to effectively incorporate the company’s brand.

How do You Promote Business Growth?

Generating new business by growing your customer base is important to your business success. However, it can sometimes be very challenging.

Here are some practical tips to help you grow your customer base.

1. Get to know your customers

Understand your customer’s needs and develop products and services that meet those needs. You can gain insight into your customers by personalising your services and encouraging them to provide you with feedback.

2. Offer great customer service

Ensure your customer service is exceptional and go the extra mile when you can. Your customers will not only remember great service they will also be more likely to refer other people to you.

3. Nurture existing customers and look for new opportunities

Have strategies in place to nurture existing customers, such as staying in contact with them via an e-newsletter or letting them know about promotional events ahead of time. 

At the same time, look for opportunities to get more work and build your customer base. Make sure you find the right balance between nurturing customers and finding new ones.

If you own or operate an Aboriginal business you can also promote your business by taking advantage of a free listing on the Aboriginal Business Directory Western Australia (ABDWA). An increasing number of State Government and private organisations are looking to work with Aboriginal businesses and use the directory to search for relevant suppliers. 

4. Use social media

Social media is a powerful tool to promote your business to potential customers and gain valuable insight through ‘social listening’. Through social listening you can find out what customers are saying about you, gain insight into their behaviour, identify keywords and trends that appeal to your target market and so improve your customer service. Social media can help you to build your business profile and attract new customers.

5. Attend networking events

Invest time to build your networks – it’s not what you know but who you know.

Networking allows you to build relationships with other people and encourage them to refer customers to you through word of mouth.

6. Host events

Hosting your own event can be a great way to get to know your customers and build relationships. Invite some of your best existing customers and encourage them to bring their friends.

7. Give back to your community

Building brand awareness in your local community is a great way to attract new business. Consider sponsorship or participating in a community event to raise your business profile.

8. Measure what works and refine your approach as you go

You should monitor where your customers are coming from in order to measure whether your marketing activities are successful or not. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Refine your approach if something is not working and focus more time on the activities that achieve the best results.

How do I Make my Business Cards Look Professional?

A good business card should convey the overall image of your business — not easy, considering the card measures only 2 inches by 3.5 inches.

How can you possibly get a message across in such a small amount of space?

You can’t expect your business card to tell the whole story about your company. What you should expect it to do is present a professional image people will remember.

The color, wording and texture of our business card have a lot to do with its appeal and its ability to convey your company image.

Use common sense when you are designing your business card.

If your business markets children’s toys and games, you might try using bright, primary colors and words written in child’s script. On the other hand, if you run a financial consulting service, then you want your business card to convey professionalism and reliability, so stick to traditional looks such as black printing on a gray, beige or white background.

Of course, professional designers claim entrepreneurs should not try to attempt designing a business card on their own, but many cash-strapped business owners have no other choice.

The best course of action: Look at all the business cards you receive, and emulate the cards that you like. You may have more leeway if you are in a creative business, such as party planning or retailing, but in general, keep the following tips in mind:

1. Use your logo as the basis. Make it the largest element on the card.
2. Keep it simple. Do not cram too much information on the card.
3. Do include the essentials — your name, title, company name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email and website addresses.
4. Make sure the typeface is easily readable.
5. Stick to one or two colors.

Once you’ve got business cards, make the most of them:

1. Always give people more than one card (so they can give it to others).
2. Include your card in all correspondence.
3. Carry cards with you at all times, in a card case so they’re clean and neat.

Business cards don’t have to be boring. If your industry allows for a little creative flair, here are some ideas to try:

1. Use 4-inch-by-7-inch cards that fold over (like a mini brochure), cards made of plastic or cards with photos on them.
2. Although they are more standard than standard business cards, cards in nontraditional shapes get attention. Try a teddy bear shape for a day-care service, for example, or a birthday cake for a party planner.
3. Textured paper can add to a card’s interest, as can colored paper. In general, stay with lighter shades that enhance readability.
4. Thermography, a process that creates raised, shiny print, adds interest to a card. Embossing and foil stamping are two other printing processes that can give your card visual appeal.

Top 3 Business Card Ideas to Boost Your Marketing Strategy

Though there are many ways to connect with new clients and network with people online, the traditional business card still holds value. In fact, for every 2,000 handed out cards, you can get at least a 2.5% increase in sales.

Living in a digital world, this might not be a substantial number, but it’s still higher than nothing. Some clients prefer the old way of networking and collect business cards at events.

Here are the top 3 simple yet effective marketing business card ideas to help you grow your client and customer database.

1. Keep the Design Simple

When making your business cards, bear in mind you have limited space to include a lot of information. This doesn’t mean you should fill the entire card and make it hard to read. In fact, with business cards the simpler the design, the better the effect.

If you’re not sure what style you prefer, look into some popular business card design inspirations online. This way, you’ll get design ideas and pick the right fit for your brand.

2. Include Your Photo

To make your business card truly stand out, include a recent professional photo of yourself. This is especially important with digital marketing business cards that you send to potential clients via email. That way, they can put a face to the brand and research your brand online to better understand what you do.

3. Give Special Offers

Great business cards are memorable and offer something of value to people. For instance, you can give special offers with your business card such as discount codes, free gifts, free samples, or in-store shopping perks.

This is a great way to engage your ideal customers and make sure your business card won’t end up forgotten or thrown away.

3 Ways to Generate More Leads From Business Cards

A business card should still be part of your marketing arsenal, it just needs to be tied to your online marketing strategy.  They should be working together, with your business card working as a marketing tool, pulling people into your online marketing funnel.  Think of it as an offline version of Facebook Ads or Google Adwords, but more personal, with a smaller reach yet still very effective.

If you want your business card to be saved and not thrown into the trash like every other business card, then it needs to have value in the eyes of the recipient.  You create value by having something valuable to offer.  This means that just having your name, email address and phone number on your business card isn’t going to cut it.  You’re just wasting paper and everyone’s time.

Your business card should have value.  It should have a purpose.   It should make people want to hold on to it and not want to lose it.

You should be able to generate leads with your business card.

1. Have an offer in place

Yes, you need to offer something of value to people if you want them to have any kind of interest in you or your business.  This initial offer should be something free or low cost, but still offers a lot of value.  This offer should solve a specific problem for your potential customer and should be seen by them as something valuable enough to want to learn more.

An offer like this is not a, “call now for a free quote”, or, “schedule an appointment today”.  These are not offers, especially if you and all of your competitors offer this as standard practice.

An initial offer like this should be something useful and valuable, such as a downloadable checklist, a free report, or a free course.  Or it could be a first-time customer discount.  Here are a few examples:

• Real estate – A downloadable checklist for first time home buyers to make sure they do everything needed to save time, money and get the dream home they want.
• Restaurant – Get a free dessert with paid entree. Give one offer with the card, have them register to get one each month.
• Personal Trainer – Free online mini-course, “Lose 10 pounds in 30 days without dieting”
• Pest Control – Free guide on common pests found in (insert city) and how to keep them out of your home
• Marketing – Free do it yourself Local SEO checklist.  This is one that I offer sometimes on my website, generates over 200 leads a month and took me 90 minutes to create.

You get the point.  The offer doesn’t need to be extravagant or expensive, but it does need to be valuable in the eyes of your potential customer if you hope to get a response.  I created the Local SEO checklist myself using Google Docs.

Don’t be afraid to give away what you know, if you don’t, someone else already is and getting the business you should be getting.

2. Setup Your Business Card

Now that you have an offer and landing page in place, you can now get your business card created.  You can set up all of the usual information on the front of the card, but you will have your special offer printed on the back of your business card.

You will also have the URL of the landing page you set up in step 2.  You can use something short and easy to remember like “yourwebsite.com/hello”.

It would look something like this on the back of your business card:

Sign up for my online training course, “Lose 1o pounds in 30 days without dieting”.  It’s valued at $99, but free to you with this card.

Go to yourwebsite.com/hello to sign up

3. Share Your Business Card With Confidence

With all of this in place, you no longer have to try and push your card onto people along with a cheesy sales pitch.  You now have something valuable to offer people and all you need to do is sell the offer, not yourself.  And if you’re offer is good enough, it will sell itself, all you’ll need to do is mention it to people.

A great offer turns this…..

“Hi, my name’s Gary and my company if 3Bug Media.  We offer online marketing services for small business that help them get leads online.  Here’s my card if you have any needs in the future”

Into this……

“Hi, my name’s Gary and my company if 3Bug Media.  We offer online marketing services for small business that help them get leads online. If you are interested in Local SE and Local Marketing, I have a great little checklist you can download that shows you everything you need to run your own effective Local SEO campaign.”

It’s much easier when people are asking you for your business card instead of you trying to push it on them.

5 Ways Business Cards Can be Your Best Marketing Tool

Here are a few ideas to consider that will also help generate new approaches for you and your creative business card distribution.

1. Create a referral program on your card.

Leave room on the back of your card to make five to 10 lines for your clients, colleagues and friends to write their email addresses. Either include instructions on the card or explain to the first person you hand it to that your business card is a referral card; encourage them to write their info on the back and pass it along to someone else who could use your services and request that they do the same.

The last person should return the card to you (or take a picture and email or text it to you) and everyone on the card gets a percentage off services (or the benefit of your choosing) when you receive it back.

2. Make a game of business card distribution.

This is similar to the referral program, but it adds in some friendly competition. See who can get the one card in the most people’s hands, or how far your card can travel from home. You can also connect the game into social media. With any game, there has to be a prize at the end, so be sure to plan for something.

3. Partner up with complementary services.

Create your own referral network with noncompeting services by offering to trade distribution of cards. Oftentimes someone who needs a graphic designer or web designer will also need a photographer and could benefit from a copywriter.

4. Partner with past clients.

If you have a past client who is pleased with your service, ask if you can display your business cards at their location so they can easily refer you. It will take a little extra effort, but if you write on those cards “designed ABC company logo,” your potential clients are already exposed to some of your great work.

5. Catch people off guard.

Just because you’re not at a networking event doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to people you come across about your service. While you’re in line at the bank, sitting at the coffee shop, or in the repair shop waiting room, be mindful of those around you and ways you may be able to connect. Hint: Well-placed and honest compliments, or finding something in common, are great ways to strike up conversations.

If you’ve done any searching online for this kind of thing, you’ve probably also come across some ideas of your own. Unfortunately, many of them are just plain absurd. (Taping my business card to a public toilet? Thanks, but I really don’t want my services being associated with … that).

Here are some of the more common but higher quality ways to get your card out there that might also spark a new idea for you:

– Include a few business cards in everything you mail out.

– Ask friends and family to carry your cards and distribute when they see fit.

– Check with your local Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center to see if they have a place for local businesses to leave cards and brochures.

– Ask to leave cards at businesses where your service would connect with that clientele.

– Leave them on community boards around town.

– Slide a card in books and magazines related to your service.

– Give more than one business card when you hand them out, so they have one to keep and one or two to give away.

When it comes down to it, nothing beats meeting someone face-to-face for the first impression and letting your business card be the lasting impression. However, it’s just as important to keep your name and information out there— even when you’re not.

Business Card Marketing Ideas

Here are ways you can transform your business card into your best marketing tool before sending it out for business card printing.

1. Include testimonials

Potential customers are always interested to know what your previous customers have to say about your products or services through testimonials. Testimonials are included on brand websites to increase credibility and reliability so why not include some on your business card.

Including one or two of the best testimonials, you have received on the back of your business card will speak volumes about your brand and receivers don’t need to go online to check your credibility.

2. Make your cards multi-functional

The end goal of making your business cards multi-functional is to make the recipients interact with them more times than they would interact with a typical business card. The more the interaction, the more your brand is memorable.

Ideas for a multi-functional business card are designing it as a bookmark, a sticker that they can put in their car or on their desk, a note card where they can write something they need to remember, and so on. Make sure your card can be used in more ways than one, or else you risk them looking at it once and either losing it or throwing it away.

3. Provide links to online marketing

Is your brand present online? Your business card can be the best tool to link your offline marketing efforts to your online initiatives. If you have a website, provide a link. Also important are links to your social media pages. Most people receiving your cards are on social media and social media is arguably the best lead generation tool.

4. Put your face on your card

Can you remember all the faces behind the business cards on your desk? It is difficult to put faces on business cards long after you met them. The same applies to them putting your face on your cards. How about putting a photo of yourself on your cards?

Your potential customers will remember you many months after your brief interaction and feel familiar to your brand. This can give you an edge against your competitors who cards are not recognizable.

5. Mention a cause you support   

Letting people know about the causes you support can be great for your business. For instance, your brand can have an immediate impact on a potential customer because they are passionate about the very cause you support.

It also gives people a glimpse of what drives you and what you and your business stand for. Examples of causes that will resonate with your target audience are charitable causes and environmental conservation causes, especially against climate change.

6. Give recipients a challenge        

Everybody likes to test themselves and surprising recipients with something to tease their mind can go a long way. Be creative about it but make it related to your business. It could be a tricky question or a fun fact that will amuse them.

7. Give special offers

Your business card is likely to have a bigger impact when accompanied with a special offer. You could offer a free gift or a coupon for products on your site. Although costly, this will make recipients think highly of you and your brand.

8. Monitor your business card

Track your business card’s conversion rate. You can do this by plastering SKU or QR code on it. And whenever you distribute the cards, promise the recipients some impressive discounts or coupons for heading to your business website. This technique can give you a benchmark to improve things. For example, if the business card doesn’t convert as required, you can use another strategy.

9. Increase your business card’s recall value using beautiful design

Make use of design to curate a business card that beats the competition. You don’t have to pay a web designer to create a beautiful business card design for you. There are free websites out there that offer beautiful templates to create business cards.

All you have to do is choose the style, color, and size of font. However, if you don’t want to spend time doing it yourself, you can get a good web design out at a really reasonable price.

10. Keep your business card simple

The primary reason for creating business cards is to get prospects to contact you. That’s why you need to put more emphasis on the information that will enable that. A long time ago, information such as fax number, address and the business name was the main aspects required for a business card.

These days, there is a bit of a shift. Business cards give you the freedom to customize them. So you may include information such as your name, your title, your business name, your email address, your phone number and your website URL on the front of your business card. Prospects can find other information such as fax, landline phone numbers, and address when they check out your URL.

Business Card Marketing Strategy

Business cards can be a great inexpensive marketing tool for a small business. They say exactly what you do and give people all the contact information they need to get a hold of you. Yet oddly enough we tend to use them only for networking, and even then, we aren’t really sure if people are holding on to them.

Here are 7 different ways you can turn your business cards into a low cost marketing machine!

• Keep them on hand
• Situate them with strategic alliances
• Include them in your correspondence
• Direct people to your website with them
• Put something useful on the back
• Use them for jotting down information
• Use them as part of your referral system

Keep them on hand – even when you are popping to the convenience store or running a short errand. You never know who you will run into or what opportunity might present itself. It’s wise to keep your business cards in multiple locations, like your wallet or purse, your car, or your favourite coat, so that you won’t be left empty-handed. Words of advice….invest in some simple card holders so your cards are protected instead of bent or soiled.

Situate with Strategic Alliances – This is highly effective if you market to consumers, but can also be used business to business. Business cards can be placed at grocery stores, car washes, or restaurants, for example. How about placing them with a graphic artist if you’re a sign company, or a realtor if you are a mortgage broker? Keep your eyes open for opportunities to get your business cards in front of your target audience!

Include them in your correspondence – If you are sending out invoices or other correspondence to your target market, make sure you include your card. Consider enclosing a couple and ask your loyal suppliers or clients if they can pass them on. I know a travel agent who even included hers with her utility payments.

Direct them to your website – Face it! More and more people are turning to the web for information. Yet some people still forget to include their website on their business card. If you are proud of your website and it promotes your company, point this out to people when you hand them your card.

Put something useful on the back – By useful, I mean something that makes them want to hold on to your card. It can be a calendar, a discount, a FREE Trial or a Free Report. Think of something that your target market will value and you’ve increased the longevity of your card.

Use them for jotting down information – So someone asks you for the name of your dentist or you are trying to explain a point. If the information will fit on your card, use it. By doing so you are guaranteeing two things. They will remember you for helping them and they will hold on to your card longer.

Use them as part of your referral system – Business cards can be an integral part of your referral system. I’m not a huge advocate of handing out 2 or 3 cards to people you have just met. I am however a big believer in making sure happy clients and strategic alliances have extra cards on hand.

Consider marking the cards in such a way to track the referral source. Offer a discount or prize if someone hands in the card. A good referral strategy can be one of the most powerful alternative uses for your business cards.

Think about it. You have in your possession 500 – 1000 pieces of marketing in those little business card boxes. The idea is to get them in the hands of people that can grow your business. In order to do that you need to devise a strategy to utilize them in creative ways. Ideally you want all of those cards out of your office and into the marketplace as quickly as possible!

Business Card Advertising Displays

Most people advertise by pinning their business cards to a cork board or shoving them in a generic business card holder. However, you’re a visionary entrepreneur and such old-fashioned business card advertising methods just won’t do! Instead, you hunger for something unique that makes your business cards stand out from the rest, possibly something a little like this:

Card Cues

The Business Card-Business Card Display

Software developer Ned Batchelder created a tutorial that shows you how to make a business card cube out of existing business cards. Unfortunately, you have to waste a few business cards to make the cube, but at least you don’t have to actually buy any additional items (you could always use some old business cards to make the box).

The Nintendo NES Controller Business Card Display

Unfortunately, Etsy seller lostmitten sold out of these creative business card displays in May of 2007, but who knows what a little begging and pleading might get you. Plus if you’re really ambitious, you could put your own spin on the design and make your own custom display out of perler beads or Legos.

The Vintage 80’s Action Figure Business Card Display

Designer and Flickr user chesterfly came up with the interesting idea of using Prince Adam’s alter ego (a.k.a. He-Man) as a business card holder. You could dig through your old junk or take a trip to the local thrift store in the hopes of finding your favorite childhood action figure (where’s that die cast Voltron when you need it) and putting it to work. Of course, this idea may not be feasible in certain situations but it’s a unique solution nonetheless.

The Japanese Papercraft Business Card Display

Lenore Edman’s Japanese Papercraft box tutorial has all the information you’ll need to create your own custom business card display box. Although this particular design is a bit more labor intensive, it is completely customizable to match your company’s logo and branding.

The Eco-Friendly Reused Business Card Display

Artist and PhD Design student Rebecca Stern designed her business card holder out of corrugated cardboard, which should appeal to customers with a love for eco-friendliness and reuse. There are no instructions for building the holder, but according to Rebecca,

It’s basically just one piece that wraps around and has a slit in it, then a bottom and another little shelf for the top section; nothing too fancy. The pieces have tabs which made it easier to glue them together.

Again, this design is completely customizable and there is also a “Leave Yours” slot where potential customers and fellow business owners can leave their business card for networking and collaboration.

The Paint Chip Business Card Display

Fellow blogger tango! has created a template and tutorial for making your own business card holder out of the free paint chips that you find at home improvement stores. Just about any thick paper can be used so the design can be easily modified to suit your needs.

The Retro Cassette Tape Business Card Display

This particular design by stylist, DJ, and radio producer Liz is actually a business card holder, yet the potential for modifying the design into a business card display is why it was picked. Other possible items that can be fashioned into a business card display are old floppy disks, 8-tracks, or vinyl records (can be molded into different shapes with a hot iron)

The Nucleus Business Card Display

Flickr user lenkodesign has a prototype for a simple and contemporary business card display that is made from 9 gauge silver rod. According to the designer,

This product is designed to be produced in batches by people with limited skills. The design is an exonomical product to produce and is aimed for the corporate market. Value is added through design. The product is made simply by using a set of three jigs for bending. Materials are 300mm of 9 guage silver rod and 5mm rubber balls

The Custom Paper Toy Business Card Display

Designer and cartoonist Matt Hawkins created the C3 business card holder for his department at work. The body of the robot opens up and acts as additional business card storage. Although this particular item is a one of a kind creation, you could try getting in contact with Matt to see if he would be willing to implement a custom design for your own business card display.

The Retro Couch Business Card Display

Etsy seller Posh Pretties has been making and selling polymer clay items for over a year, and she is more than willing to try her hand at custom orders.

The Cork Business Card Display

Last but not least, Etsy seller narchi created this simple business card display out of cork. As with several of the designs above, this is an eco-friendly alternative that is easily customizable.

Creative Ways to Distribute Business Cards

There are a number of ways to use business cards to promote your business. Of course, a face-to-face meeting or conversation is always effective and a perfect base for follow up calls. But there are plenty of other ways you can use your business cards to increase leads and sales.

1.Send business cards with every piece of correspondence
If you’re sending a product, receipt, order, payment, compliment slip, thank you card or letter always include at least one business card. It gets your brand noticed and sends a message that you’re ready to talk business. Even if the recipient doesn’t need your service right away, they’re likely to keep it for another time or pass it on to someone else.

2. Leave a business card when paying a bill
If you’re paying a bill in a restaurant, hotel or any similar establishment, leave your card with the payment – especially if you’re leaving a tip. You can even print cards specifically for these occasions. It might seem cheeky but no one will mind and it’s a great way to introduce your business to new potential customers.

3. Don’t limit your business cards to one per person
We all know people who provide more than their fair share of referrals, so make sure they have a few of your cards to give out to associates. A personal referral is extremely effective and accompanied by a business card it is even more likely to lead to new sales opportunities.

4. Venues for networking events and conferences
Of course you bring business cards to networking events, trade shows and conferences. Go to as many as possible until you can filter out the less useful events and concentrate on those with the best new business opportunities. The foyers, receptions and tables in venues that host these gatherings are great places to leave cards – but make sure you ask first.

5. Suppliers and non-competing businesses
You’ll have relationships with a number of other business that aren’t in competition with yours. They’ll be happy to take your cards and refer your business in return for you doing the same for them. You’ll both grow your client pool so everyone wins!

Best Marketing Business Cards

we round up some of our favourite business card designs for marketing pros, to give you a few ideas and to inspire your own business card projects.

1. Casta

Who said business cards have to be geometrically perfect? These monochrome cards designed in-house at Portguese marketing company Casta come with a beautifully unique design on textured paper. There’s no chance of these striking designs getting lost in the pile!

2. Hoofd&Letters

Hoofd&Letters is a Dutch marketing and communication company whose name is Dutch for ‘Head and Letters’. The name symbolises the balance between emotion and reason, and this concept is echoed in the design of its business cards, which combine hand-drawn typography with a sleek sans-serif typeface. Designed by Rens Dekker, these letterpress cards were printed on custom triplex mounted Colorplan paper from GF Smith, by Dutch printing firm Exclusieve Visitekaartjes.

3. LongGrass Marketing

These stunning letterpress business cards for Canadian firm LongGrass Marketing Inc were printed double-sided in two ink colours on duplex white cotton stock. They were designed by Aileen Fretz at Livework Media and printed by We Do Printing.

4. Tactic Marketing

Indianapolis agency Tactic Marketing wanted a unique look for its letterpress business cards, and it certainly found it with this loose halftone style. The coarse dot pattern means its employees’ headshots just look like an abstract pattern up close, while at a distance they come into focus as a crisp headshot. It just goes to show how effective and memorable business cards can be when you go out of your way to make your designs stand out.

5. Bazooka

Bazooka is a Portuguese agency involved in what it calls “guerilla marketing”. Created in-house for a self-promo, these eye-catching business cards play on that concept, by featuring a ‘war game’ on the flipside: a navy-themed battle puzzle.

How to Disperse Business Cards

Here are some of the most important and most basic things that should be kept in mind, when distributing business cards:

The What

First of all, what do you do with your business cards?

You give them out, of course! That’s why there are so many of them printed out – there should be enough to give to anybody and to be placed anywhere. But first, make sure the business card should include all the important information: your name, your company, and different ways to reach you (e.g. mobile number, office number, fax, e-mail, etc.).

The Where

Now, where do you put them?

The simplest way to answer this question is to know where your target customers will most probably see them. Try doing it backwards – determine who your target customers are, find out where most or all of them frequently go, then put your business cards there. Add that memorable effect by placing them on unusual places like in the bathroom, on the cup dispensers, or even on tissue holders. Be creative. Think out of the box.

The Who

Who will receive your business cards?

Basically, you give your business cards to past, present, and future clients. But why stop there? Give them to your friends or relatives who might know someone who can potentially be your customer someday. Tap on your network. Who knows? You might find your next big deal there.

The When

If you’re aiming to give an unforgettable impression to prospective clients, timing can be very important. Try catching them off guard. For instance, after meeting them, run after them and hand out your business card. This is just one example, though. Come up with different ways to leave a lasting impression on your prospects.

Is it Legal to Put Business Cards on Doors?

If you send them by post with the individual addresses of the recipients on the evelopes, it’s perfectly alright.

If you deliver them personally door to door, you have to look at the door/mailbox to see whether there’s a sticker saying that the occupants don’t want to receive printed stuff that isn’t personally addressed to them.

If you still shove them into the box it’s not illegal, but very bad-mannered… and since it’s your business card they’re confronted with, you may rest assured that they will call you and give some negative feedback – so your action will be counterproductive. If there’s no sticker there’s no problem either: just shove the bloody thing into the box.

You are not allowed to place your business card inside a mailbox. Its fine if you stick it inside the door gap. You might annoy people.

Business Card is an Example of Which Marketing?

When you look at your return, you have a few options for the business card expense. But do you list it under supplies, advertising, or legal and professional services? Most accountants, bookkeepers, and tax preparers would say it’s an advertising expense because you hand them out to prospects at networking events to generate new business.

Since you are attempting to generate leads for your business, it’s considered an advertising or marketing expense. On the profit and loss form for you tax return, the IRS deems most types of advertising or marketing costs to be a business expense that can help to lower your overall tax liability. However, there are a few marketing and advertising costs that are not deductible.

What to do With Business Cards

You can be incredibly creative in the way you used business cards. You can establish a useful connection with potential customers, clients, and numerous types of businesses. One of the best features of business cards, they are affordable. Plus, they are great to have on hand at all times making them a great marketing tool.

The Appointment Card

One of the most traditional uses for business cards is an appointment reminder. You’ve seen them all over town from a physician’s office to a styling salon. You can easily use them for your own company whether it’s your store, an architect, or a construction company.

You are already establishing meetings with your customers, partners or business associates anyway. Business cards are a way to remind clients and customers of upcoming meetings while making sure they have your contact information. You can hand them out when you make a sale or leave a display with other businesses to help increase sales and brand awareness.

The Bag Stuffer

One of the best ways to get repeat customers is by placing a business card in every bag. The shopper will look at the card later, and many will put them on their refrigerators as a reminder of your business, product or service. You can include your contact information, upcoming sales and exciting facts and news about your business.

This is a way to remain in contact with your customers long after they have left your store. Not only are they great for your repeat customers, but you can also include them when creating a swag bag for an upcoming charity event or a goodie bag for handing out at your next conference.

The Referral Card

Referral cards can give your business a nice boost. Just like any promotional materials, you’ll want to make sure the card is well designed. Not only should they be appealing, but they also need to have the necessary information that is easy to read and understand.

Hand these cards to your best customers so they can give them to their friends and family. Offer a discount for the individual if the person comes in and presents the card. Providing a discount when this person makes their first purchase is an excellent way to increase your business. Make sure you decide on your program.

A recent study found that non-cash incentives are 24% more effective at improving performance than providing a cash incentive. Interesting in learning more?

Sam’s club is a great example of including a referral program with cards. They urge members to refer their friends and family. For each referral that joins, a $10 gift card is mailed to the existing club member and a $20 gift card is sent to the referral.

The Coupon or Discount Code

You can have a coupon or discount printed on the business card. Place them on display in your window or the counter for your customers to see easily. You can offer a reward for customers giving them out when they make a purchase.

If your customers enjoy your products or services, there is a good chance they will return to redeem the coupon.

Raffle Cards

Everyone loves to get something for free. If you are selling raffle tickets, a business card is a cost-effective alternative to an actual raffle ticket. Allow plenty of space on the card to enable those who enter to write their name on the back of the cards.

When you pull the winning card, it is much easier to have a name than a raffle number to identify the winner.

Information Cards

An information card enables your customers to learn about your business, products, and services. You can also include information about how you began your business. Adding a little personal touch can go a long way. When creating your information card, be creative.

You can include a calendar that can help keep the customer informed about upcoming sales, promotions, events, and festivals. The standard business card size is 3.5″ x 2.”, so they are relatively small which makes them easy for customers to grab and keep for later.

The Event Ticket

Your business cards will make exceptional event tickets. When you are having an event, you can have cards printed with your business information, logo, venue information, time, and date of the event. You can further entice your customers by using fantastic design.

Allow the ticket to get noticed by adding Stamped Foil, Raised Foil, or other features.

Is it Legal to Put Business Cards on Cars?

It depends on the jurisdiction and on local laws. If people take them off the windshield and throw them on the ground, you might be liable for the litter. Although I think that’s a little far-fetched.

Over the course of some individual career, they might have left thousands of my cards on windshields. It will possibly take a lot of business cards and a long time to realize that they never once got a call from any of them.

Can I Put Business Cards in Mailboxes?

In the US, anything you put in or on someone’s mailbox needs to have postage paid, and be delivered by USPS. Expect to have anything you leave without postage to be collected by the mail carrier, and then expect a phone call from the Postmaster. (If you’re lucky, it’ll be to give you advice, but it could be to collect the postage due.)

This applies to Us Mail boxes within the jurisdiction of the United States, and to mailboxes intended for the transaction of Mail via the US Postal Service. It will not pertain to administrative mailboxes in corporate distribution centers for example.

Placing items on or around a US Mail box is punishable by a fine of $5000. That said, I believe that you can place a card ‘on’ but not ‘in’ the US Mail box, simply because any non-affixed item may not necessarily be tied to you personally; unless, there is video-evidence for example.

You should not even wedge a corner or edge of your card between the door and frame of the US Mail box, nor should you affix by adhesives or some other mechanism to the door of a US Mail box. But, just to set it on-top, you’re probably safe from prosecution.

If it is a US Mail box, it’s better to just leave it alone.

What Should I Put on Business Card?

Knowing what to add and what to leave out helps create a card that’s both eye-catching and well-balanced. Try not to only focus on the graphic elements and text you want to add, but consider the space around them too. This is often referred to as ‘negative space.’

Read Also: Top 19 Best Marketing Tool

By also thinking about the space around your text and logo, you achieve balance and give each element room to breathe. Good, clean design communicates that you’re organized and professional.

Your business card should include the following:

• Logo
• Company name
• Tagline
• Your name
• Job title
• Website
• Contact details

What Types of Business Cards Are Best?

Looking to create your business card? We have collected five approaches you can chose when creating the business card. You can also check more examples of professional business cards from Print Peppermint.

1. The classic business card

If you don’t have any creative idea, go with this one. It has a standard format, all the information needed, and hey… you can even design it well if you want. In our example, the Med Traveler Club’s card is quite average, but made attractive by the use of nice paper and letterpress printing.

2. The wild-format business card

Some designers like to play with different formats for business cards. Some go with a huge folded format that turns the card into a small brochure, others prefer to go tiny. Either way, it can be a good way to get your card noticed when you give it, but you should also think about how people will store your card. Use cutting wisely and you could create a business card as cool as Franco Caligiuri’s business card.

3. The social networker’s business card

A phone number? What would you do with it anyway? Call me? Come one… The social networker’s card reflects his communicating habits. Some will forget about all the traditional contact ways like the address or the phone number (let’s not talk about fax please, it would be embarrassing). The online geek will rather add URLs of his Twitter account, Facebook page, or share his IM info on the card.

In the following image you can see a fine example of a minimalist social networker’s business card.

4. The gadget business card

Not the easiest cards to create, but making a card that can be transformed into something definitely makes an impression when you give it out. You can try to be creative and you’ll get noticed for sure, why not get some inspiration from this previous post on Designer Daily?

The creative business card

5. The typographic business card

One could argue that all business cards are typographic, which is true, but I’m talking here about business cards that specifically use typography to look cool. Creating a typographic business card can be very fun for any graphic designer.

These example cards are very well designed and excellent examples of business card printing.