Thirty Creative Ways to Use Business Cards

On the Back

1. Print a team's sports schedule on the back. Fans will keep
them handy and keep your name in front of them

2. Print a special discount offer or coupon on the back. People
will keep it because they intend to use the coupon.

3. If you do seminars, print key principals on the back. Your
attendees will refer to them later and think of you.

4. Hand write on the back your "unlisted" 800 number. This adds
value to your card, making people keep it longer because they
don't want to lose the special number.

Ad Specialties

5. Make the business card the ad specialty: Print your company
information on letter openers, CD openers, magnets, pens,
highlighters, keychains, mousepads, mugs, luggage tags, and
other items that people will keep because they are useful.

6. Attach a business card to an ad specialty: For example, give
business card holders as a thank you gift and place your
business card in as the first one. Or, have your card designed
as a Rolodex card

7. If you routinely give out seasonal gifts or specialties,
attach your business card. Examples: candy canes at Christmas,
heart shaped containers filled with candy for Valentine's Day,
or even a sandwich bag of candy with a card stapled to it.

Unique Places to Put Them

8. Tuck them into the product before delivery: If you are a
florist, cut a hole in it and tie a ribbon around the flowers
and through the business card. If you sell gift baskets, Tuck
one inside the basket before delivering it to your customer. The
same goes for Mary Kay or Avon Cosmetics - place your card in
the bag. You've seen how some restaurants staple a menu to their
bags for takeout; if you use bags, staple your card to the
outside of the bag.

9. Send a business card in every piece of correspondence -
letters, invoices, even your electric bill. Sooner or later,
those cards will be used.

10. If you are crafty, incorporate them into your designs:
embellish them with rubber stamps, or blend them with other art
projects. You can also mount them to greeting cards you create
and send to customers and prospects.

11.When mailing out information: Take a number 10 envelope,
facing you and upside down. Fold the envelope in thirds. When
you turn it around, there is a little pocket to tuck your card
in. Include it in the mailing. Using a colored envelope makes
the presentation even more dramatic.

12. Scan your card in and use it as a graphic for when you
exchange links with other websites. The other site can use your
graphic as the link.

13. Place them in library books as if you used them as
bookmarks. Visit bookstores place them in books related to your
business.

Keeping Them Handy:

14. Use them as bookmarks so you'll always have some readily
available if you meet someone at school, in the library, on the
bus, or at the park where you like to read.

15. Have your spouse, family, and friends carry some of your
cards with them in case they meet someone who might be
interested in your product or service.

16. Wear them! Use them as nametags at meetings and conferences
instead of the "Hello, my name is ..." type of tags.

17. Keep a stack of cards everywhere you might need them - in
your car, your jacket pocket, your briefcase, your purse or
wallet, in your planner, at home, anywhere you can think of.
Then you'll always have some on hand when you meet a prospect.

When to Use Them:

18. Give them out during your personal meetings when you meet
someone new: at your church, your children's soccer games, at
lunch with your friends when someone brings a guest. To be more
polite, you could have a personal "calling card" printed up with
your information to use in these situations.

19. If you do seminars, have your participants exchange cards
with each other. Have them write a compliment about the person
on the back before they hand them out. Everyone will have a
wealth of contacts; they will remember each other and it will
also give participants a boost of confidence.

20. Ask neighborhood businesses if you may display your cards
near their registers.

21. Tack them to bulletin boards at supermarkets, restaurants,
retail stores and the library - anyplace that has a bulletin
board.

22. Give out two cards at a time - one for your prospect or
client, and one for her/him to give away.

23. Place some on the table when you leave a restaurant.

24. Agree to mail the cards of other businesspeople in the
mailings you do, if they will do the same for you. Your
networking circle will grow as your cards are passed around.

How Not to Use Business Cards:

25. Don't give them to a member of the opposite sex in the hopes
that s/he will call you. I have a friend who was told this
wouldn't work. He did an experiment for six months to prove it,
and his friend was right! Sadly, not one woman called him.
Although he does have a girlfriend now!

26. Some people don't give out business cards when they meet a
prospective client. Instead, they send a follow- up note later
with their card enclosed.

Other Types of Business Cards to Have

27. Business card CD-ROM. If you haven't seen these yet, they
are a mini-sized CD that plays in any CD player and has your
contact information on it, as well as an introduction to your
business.

28. Email Signature. Put your contact information into a
signature file for email, along with a link to your website (be
sure to include the "http" in order to make it "clickable.")

29. Vcard. These are electronic business cards that recipients
can click on and automatically add to their address books. Do a
web search for "vcard" to find software that supports this
technology. Then use it in all your emails!

30. One consulting company, which works with designers of
products for people with disabilities, prints their cards in
Braille. It reminds their clients how they can help them comply
with disability laws. It also gets people asking for information.