Whether you are looking for a job or running a business, giving out business cards is crucial to marketing your skills or services. Even as a job seeker, develop the mindset of running the business of YOU, Inc. Business cards speak volumes about who you are, what you offer and how serious you are marketing YOU, Inc. as a business. Oh! So, you have a resume and don’t need business cards. Can you carry 10 resumes in your wallet’ Do you or can you carry your resume everywhere you go’ A church bell ringing lets people know they are open for business. Your business card is your bell. Here are some proven tips using business cards to increase your chances of landing a job or creating a business opportunity.
1. Never leave home without them. Before leaving home, your checklist should be expanded to include business cards, as part of “do I have my wallet/money, house keys, driver’s license’” Any ‘per chance’ meeting is an opportunity to give out a business card. A morning run or a quick trip to the local store could be an opportunity to network. My wife and I always ask each other ‘do you have business cards’, before leaving the house. Make it a habit to carry business cards.
2. Insert a business card when mailing bill payments. Bills contain advertisements. Why can’t you advertise your skills or services the same way’ Insert a business card with your payment. You may not think a person in South Dakota who opens your credit card bill payment can help you. Never underestimate the power of networking. A movie, entitled ’6 Degrees of Separation’ points out we are 6 people away from knowing someone of influence. You could be 6 people away from knowing the President of the United Sates, your favorite movie star or someone who is in a position to hire your skills or services. Each of us knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone etc. Developing this powerful networking attitude will be a fundamental source of continued success.
3. Use proper business card etiquette. Whenever you give a business card, ask for a business card. When given a business card, don’t just take it and place it in your pocket. Make the person feel important by looking at their card for a few seconds. You might see something that could be a topic of discussion. Write comments on the card such as date, location and common points of interest. These comments will prove valuable when following up with that person. This also demonstrates a sincere interest in the other person. Then place it in your wallet. This lets them know they reside in a special place with you. “Skill with People” by Les Giblin is a book that expands on this approach. Make people feel important, in order to make yourself important to them.
4. Be generous. Give business cards out to everyone, including family and friends. Don’t let vanity stop you from giving out your last business card or giving 2 at a time to each person. I have met many people who have totally missed the purpose of a business card. I once asked a person for a second business card, so I could refer his services. His response was “I only have a few cards left and I need them”, as he looked again at his name on the card. Hoarding your business cards only makes your wallet feel full, not your bank account.
5. Ask for referrals. When giving a business card, people feel more comfortable when you ask; ‘I would appreciate a referral, if you know anyone that could use my services’. Don’t make people feel like they are on the spot. This approach disarms people much better than asking them, ‘is your company hiring” People naturally like to do favors for people. Saying ‘could you do me a favor by referring my services to someone’. This always places you in a better position with them. They will feel better about helping you. Give them 2 cards.
6. Maximize every “per chance” meeting. You never know when you might meet someone who can help you. Family or friends social events could produce unexpected encounters with people. Don’t discount those events. So you’re going to a birthday party for your friend’s kid. You never know who you might meet. At a family holiday gathering last year, I met someone that has been instrumental in developing our business this year. Who would have thought this could happen by giving him a simple business card.
7. Place yourself at the right place at the right time. Have you been to a job fair or business conference and been disappointed with the networking results’ Turn the tables around. Consider volunteering to help out at the job fair or other types of events. This puts you in a better strategic position for presenting your resume or business card. Company representatives might view you differently, if they know you are willing to go the extra mile in helping them make their presence easier to manage. Get involved by visiting Eventme.com, TheLunchClub.net, Craigslist.com or view the calendar of events for JacobJavitsCenter.com to place yourself in opportunities for giving out your business card. Volunteering for events has been a very successful resource for my business partner and I to expanding our business. Zig Ziglar, one of the most successful sales trainers in the world says “if you help enough people get what they want in life, you will get what you want in life”.
8. Use “In Your Face” follow up. Did you ever have a job interview or meeting with a recruiter, potential client or employer and wonder why they never called you back’ ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is the operative phrase to remember. Today’s economic climate dictates you might be competing with 20, 50, 100 or more other people for the same position or contract. It’s quite a task for people to keep track of each individual meeting. So it’s up to you to give a person a reason to call you back. Immediately after a meeting snail mail a hand written note thanking the person for their time. Insert your business card. Now you’re in the driver’s seat in standing out from other people. If you get no response, do it again. Patience and persistence pays off.
9. Use promotions to promote YOU, Inc. Newspapers often have stories of people being promoted to high levels in different organizations’ This is an opportunity for you. Consider getting some invitation size blank greeting cards. Use the Internet’s search capabilities to find out the address of the company’s executive offices. Send the blank invitation type card with a hand written note sincerely congratulating a person on their promotion. Insert your business card. For the cost of a 37-cent stamp, you have just made someone’s day and may create an impression that makes a person feel compelled to respond back to you. Make it a habit to do this once a week. Remember ’6 Degrees of Separation’. You just never know . . . People open invitation type envelops faster than any others.
10. Brand yourself with a slogan. Print a slogan on your business card that answers the question ‘Why should I hire you’ Or “What makes you different from everyone else’” A catchy phrase or slogan insures people ALWAYS associate a company name with their product or services. People remember even after the commercial is over. That’s called branding. Companies pay big bucks to advertising agencies to come up with these lasting slogans. Consider doing the exact same thing on your business card. This is your insurance people remember you, after you meet. Don’t just put Hortence Smiley, Accountant on your business card. Add something like “Financial Services With Integrity”. A slogan makes all the difference between getting hired or not, because people will remember you long after a meeting.
Happy trails networking . . .
Keywords: marketing, strategy, business, sales, networking, advertising,
About the Author
Carl E. Reid, Business-to-Business Consultant & Career Coach
Carl advises small businesses on maximizing the Internet’s potential for creating new profit centers, while developing strategic alliances for win-win business partnerships. As a Career Coach for 15 years, Mr. Reid has helped hundreds of people jump start their careers or start businesses.
mailto: MyCompass@Success4U2.net
Web: http://careercoachingcompass.7h.com
Category : Blog &Marketing &Networking &Sales
If you think business cards aren’t important marketing tools, you’re wrong. Yet too may lawyers simply stick to the old, outdated format of white card stock with a name and number printed in boring black letters. Bad idea, says Larry Bodine, business development advisor at Larry Bodine Marketing and owner of the popular legal marketing site www.LawMarketing.com.
“A business card is like a mini-capsule of yourself,” Bodine says. “Why not make it interesting?”
Here are his suggestions for doing just that:
1. Add some pizzazz.
One advantage that smaller firms have over their white shoe counterparts is the ability to break away from the old black-and-white, block-letter mold.
Use color to make your cards pop. Add memorable pictures, and think of printing cards portrait style instead of the traditional landscape shape. Try using a glossy finish and nontraditional fonts – just make sure they are professional and easily readable.
2. A name and number isn’t enough.
Your cards should include things like Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles and twitter and blog addresses.
“Make an effort to show that you are technologically hip,” Bodine says.
And of course, don’t forget your firm website address and email address – you’d be surprised how many lawyers omit such crucial information.
3. Make them user-friendly.
Print lines on the back, which allows the receiver to jot down notes.
“I always record the date and where and when I met a contact on the back of a card I receive” for easier reference later, Bodine says.
Make it easy for your contacts to do the same.
4. Banish cards from the wallet.
No one wants to wait for you to rustle through your pants or jacket pocket for a wallet, then watch you rummage through money and pictures of your kids before handing them a beaten-up, dog-eared card.
“That blows any classy impression you were trying to make,” Bodine says.
5. Make the experience special.
One hugely important – yet frequently overlooked – tool for good business card marketing: a card case.
Not only does it eliminate the wallet problem, but “when you pull a card out of a card container, people feel you are handing them something special,” says Bodine.
A leather case, silver card holder or even something more adorned – some cases look like “pieces of jewelry” Bodine notes – makes the experience memorable for the receiver.
Credit: Kimberly Atkins
Category : Blog &Business &Business Cards &Marketing
Running a small business can be a risky endeavor, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to marketing. Taken from The Reach Group’s Free Agent Formula–created by Cheri Hanson, Lisa Johnson and Cassie Pruett–here are the top five mistakes made by entrepreneurs:
Creating a business that follows money instead of your strengths. Without a passion for your product or service, you’re already at a disadvantage. Says Hanson: “If you’re unhappy or out of sync with your natural strengths, you may be diluting your main marketing tool.”
Matching your competitors instead of differentiating and finding your niche. “In so many industries, all the competitors are bobbing in a sea of sameness,” Hanson correctly notes. “Get out of the dogfight by serving unmet needs.”
Working one revenue stream instead of creating multi-faceted revenue models. From Hanson’s perspective, this means operating like a larger company in which your entire income is not derived from the hours you work and the fee you charge.
Packaging products from your perspective, not that of your customers. Today’s savvy consumers tune out spin and interruption. They’re looking for something that adds tangible value to their lives, so focus on real solutions.
Waiting for established media to cover you instead of creating your own. “Publishing is the new PR,” says Hanson. “Whether you create articles, checklists, resource guides, blogs, podcasts, video clips or quizzes, there’s a content strategy to fit your communication style and business goals.”
The Po!nt: Identify the pitfalls before you begin, and your business will stand a much better chance of finding success.
The more you focus on SEO strategy, the more you might begin to think you can outsmart Google. But Dharmesh Shah argues in an article at MarketingProfs.com that gaming the system with sneaky SEO techniques is, in the long run, a losing proposition: “It’s safe to assume that if you try to exploit a hole in the algorithm today, your advantage is going to be temporary,” he says. “More importantly, you carry a significant risk of having your Web site penalized or banned.”
According to Shah, some slight-of-hand tricks you should avoid include:
Link farms. Most SEO professionals agree that the number of inbound links plays a critical role in search rankings. Some less scrupulous practitioners, therefore, create a group of dummy Web sites for the sole purpose of linking to the actual Web site.
Keyword stuffing. Once upon a time, the constant repetition of certain keywords might have manipulated rankings. But no more–search engines got wise to this practice, and it’s now a wasted effort.
Hidden text. Placing white text on a white background–visible to spiders, but not to humans–is a seemingly invisible way to load a page with rank-improving content. But, he notes, “Regardless of how sophisticated the approach, it is still going to be detected at some point.”
The Po!nt: “An Internet strategy that is predicated on outsmarting Google is not a smart strategy,” says Shah. “Working with search engines instead of trying to exploit them is the only approach that works in the long term.”
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &Design &E-mail &Internet &Marketing &SEO &Websites
- Product is what you sell, whether it’s a physical product or a service, idea, or yourself (like when you search for a new job).
- Price is not only the list price or sticker price of a product, but its also any adjustments to that price, such as discounts.
- Placement is where and when you present your product to customers.
- Promotion is all the sales activities, advertising, publicity, special events, displays, signs, web pages, and other communications designed to inform and persuade people about your product.
- People – Referral Marketing is a powerful marketing force where your customers serve as a sort of “mini” sales force for you. They refer others to you because they’ve had a positive relationship with your people.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Design &Internet &SEO
I thought this was an interesting chart. I was surprised to see the iphone to be gaining in this area.
With the addition of email client reports for all our customers, we took a step back and analyzed 6 months of data covering more than 250 million opens. The result – a birds eye view of email client popularity and usage trends over time.
Below is the email client market share as of March 2009. These numbers are not exclusive – some people used more than one email client during the month, and so that will register a vote for each client used.
| 33.20% | Outlook 2000, 2003, Express | |
| 16.19% | Yahoo! Mail | |
| 15.29% | Hotmail | |
| 6.62% | Outlook 2007 | |
| 5.77% | Apple Mail 3 | |
| 5.27% | Gmail | |
| 3.97% | iPhone 2.0 | |
| 2.09% | Apple Mail 2 | |
| 1.84% | Lotus Notes 6-7 | |
| 1.54% | AOL Desktop 9.1 |
Category : Advertising &Blog &E-mail &Internet &SEO
So, what are keywords and how do they help to increase traffic to your website? Keywords are words that depict for the search engine what your website is all about, this will then cause search engine to rank you so that surfers can find what they are looking for. Truthfully speaking, I am a good example for improperly choosing keywords in the past, I’ve setup sites with keywords that I thought were good and relevant to my website and the thing is, they were. The question is though, does the users associate this keyword with the niche of your products and services.
Do your research! Properly choosing the right keywords for your website can be very helpful in increasing your websites ranking in the search engine. Well, a lot of companies have an idea about what keywords are relevant for their products or services for their company, but these keywords may not be what users are searching for in the search engines. Doing your homework, and research to find what your potential clients associate with you products and services can be very helpful in increasing traffic to your site.
If your website is optimized for the keywords or keyword phrases that people are actually using to find solutions that your company offer, you will increase traffic to your site and in turn lead to increasing sales.
Here you can find out more about choosing keywords and search engine optimization.
If you have questions or comments, don’t hesitate to post them below. I will do my best in responding and answering them.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Internet &SEO &Websites
I found this article very informative, just because these are things that has helped increase my ranking in the search engines.
Creating a website can be a fun time. There are millions of personal and business websites on the internet, including this one. Of course, if you want your website to be viewed by other people you must get past a lot of competition.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Marketing &SEO
Make sure that you visit Google and check out the Local Business Center. Especially, If you are a business trying to attract customers in your local area. Google allow you to add your business to their directory which includes optional information like images and videos to help your listing stand out. As you may already know you can add information like opening hours, payment acceptance types, and additional details to help users refine their search in order to find your listing.
Google gives you the options to list your business website as your homepage, along with your business name, physical address, and phone numbers.
New features have been recently added to your Local Business Center, showing you analytics. You can now see detailed useful information about your search terms, your business location and what drove them to your site. Very similar to Google Analytics.
While your setting this up don’t forget to take a look at the Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide to learn how to help Google crawl and index your site for higher search engine ranking.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Branding &Marketing &Websites
Search Engine Optimization
is very vital for your online marketing campaign. Do your due diligence and you will reap the rewards, especially when that traffic starts rolling in. Here is a great article for you to get started with. Title, Anchor, <h1>, <H2>, What Matters? What Doesn’t?
By Mike McDonald – Tue, 06/16/2009 – 15:31
Search Engine Marketing and SEO have always been very dynamic fields. Search engines make changes all of the time. Sometime they announce their changes, sometimes we are left to guess at them. In either event, more often than not, we are left largely to our own devices in terms of assessing the impact of these changes and what to do about them – if anything.
This makes sessions related to ranking factors pretty popular at shows like SMX Advanced. This year was no exception and I was able to get a few minutes with one of this years speakers, Rand Fishkin, to chat about the state of SEO ranking factors.
Category : Blog
