Miniature Billboards--Business Cards

It's amazing how many new start-up, single-owner, sole-proprietor businesses get going without properly designed and ready-for-distribution business cards. Business cards are such an inexpensive, yet powerfully effective advertising medium that they should be a part of any business's arsenal of techniques to drive customers to the enterprise.

I recently visited a brand-new ethnic market in an upscale community. The proprietor was friendly and quite pleasant and eager to please. I bought some items, and because I knew others would be interested in discovering this new establishment, I asked the fellow if he had business cards that I could hand out to my friends. No, he hadn't gotten business cards. To his credit, he had placed a stack of hand-written (with markers) 8-1/2 by 11" flyers on the counter by the cash register. I took two of those.. but again, business cards would have been more convenient. The flyers had a map on them. His market is nestled in an out-of-the-way corner of a strip mall that's off the main traffic flow through town. So, in order to find this place, one has to drive slowly through the strip-mall parking lot to find a parking spot nearby. If he does eventually get business cards, it would be good if he could pay the extra fee to get them double-side printed--and have a map printed on the back.

I've been back to his market a few more times since that first visit... each time buying some good stuff. But he still does not have business cards. Those cards could be strategically placed in other establishments nearby, on bulletin boards in places where folks of that ethnicity or fondness for that culture gather, and other locations. He's making a noble attempt at having his market. But each time I've been there, there are no other customers around. I sometimes wonder if I'm his only customer (I hope not).

And this is not an isolated incident--another ethnic-oriented market (even more obscure ethnicity than the one previously mentioned), just opened in my hometown. As with the other one, this one's proprietor has not seen a need for getting business cards.

Not that business cards are the solution to end all business problems, but because they are such a powerful advertising medium, they should not be the least thought about item in a business's marketing arsenal. Whenever the owners of these two locations are out and about, they should carry a stack of their cards with them. If, during the conversation with others in line at the coffee-shop or at the movie theater or Department of Motor Vehicles, the topic of what one does for a living comes up, those cards should be readily available for handing out to those curious enough to ask. Because otherwise these folks asking would never pass by the store or business establishment... so, if you have a curious onlooker in a different location, take advantage of the chance to introduce your business to a wider than-usual-traffic audience. If you have a website that also has instructions on how to get to your business or better descriptions of your business, be sure to have that on your business card--and let the website do some advertising and explaining for you.

An example? When I was working as a sales representative at an automotive dealership, on one of my rare days off I was browsing in the automotive section of a local large bookstore. A fellow was looking through a book on car repair... I asked if he was planning on fixing his car... he said, no, he was just trying to figure out what was wrong with his car. We visited a bit, and then, before leaving, I handed him my business card. About a month later, this same fellow came into the dealership, asked for me, and by the end of the day, had bought a new car. Two weeks later, he brought in his mother--her car had finally died--and she also bought a car from me. One business card--two cars sold. The commissions on both cars covered well more than the cost of printing 1000 3-color business cards. In other words, the investment in business cards paid for itself. Besides, if you are a sole proprietor (or any type of business, anyway), the cost of the business cards is tax deductible as a legitimate business expense.