5 Different Ways to Use Business Cards
We are all trying to adjust in this new world. Because of COVID-19, most events, conferences and trade shows have been canceled or postponed leaving you with the inability to hand out your business cards. The main reason people use business cards is to hand something tangible to a potential client so they remember you. This virus in 2020 has robbed your business of an opportunity…so what can you do?
Find Creative Ways to Use Business Cards!
Don’t fret, you can utilize business cards in a different way. Not all of these ideas will be applicable to your business, but maybe it will stir a new idea! As Ken Hakuta once said, “Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle.” Keep in mind that a business offers you a lot more space than you may have thought, especially if you use both sides.
Discount Cards
Whether you’re showing your appreciation to an existing customer or you’re encouraging a new customer, everyone LOVES a good discount. Especially in this economy where people are quarantining and overall happiness is at an all time low, you can brighten someone’s day by saving them some money. On one side, you can have your offer or discount displayed, and the other could be your contact information like you would normally print on a business card.
Examples:
- Meg walks into a locally owned boutique for the first time. She’s honestly just browsing, but you can tell that she seems to like your products. Hand her a limited time discount card to entice her to purchase something in your store.
- You own a neighborhood restaurant. You notice that your pizzas are selling out for dinner, but you’re looking to increase your takeout orders for lunchtime. When Peter orders his favorite pizza from you, hand him a discount card that offers him a B1G1 sandwich deal during lunchtime.
Reward Cards
Reward cards are a fun way to keep your customers coming back and developing long-term loyalty to your business. You are not giving them an instant discount like Option 1 above. On one side, you can have a cute design that either an employee marks after the purchase or punches a hole through it. If you want to get fancy, you could create a plastic card that is a digital rewards card so you can keep it forever. The other side would display your contact information.
Examples:
- Carl walks into a cafe looking for boba. He’s never ordered from your business. As the business owner, you know he will love your boba tea, so after his purchase, you hand him a loyalty card and mark the first one complete (ex. order 9 boba teas and get the 10th free!). He now has a reason to come back for your boba tea because of the incentive you created.
- Jill loves your salon. She always gets her hair cut from you. You have a plastic reward card that you scan and it converts her purchases into points. Every dollar is 10 points. When Jill reaches 5000 points in salon services, she gets a free haircut or money back on her next service.
Keepsake Cards
Do you collect baseball cards, stickers, coins or stamps? Well, even if you do not collect them, many of your customers may love collecting keepsakes. Or maybe your cards have nothing to do with collecting but your business card is functional so people keep it anyways!
Examples:
- You are a real estate agent. You decide that you want to make your business card a measuring tool. One side is your photo and contact information and the other side is a ruler. Now when you hand this to a new client, they will most likely keep it because they now have a wallet size ruler!
- You own a restaurant. You’ve decided to create some cool food art or other type of art on the back of your business card. If people take a photo or video of your card on social media and tag you, they enter a monthly raffle for awesome discounts. It’s a great way to get your name out there with some free social advertising.
Referral Cards
When you are happy with a product or service, you tell your friends. Word of mouth goes a long way for a small business that does not have a big advertising budget. You can motivate more people to talk about your business by encouraging them to do so with a refer-a-friend discount for you and your friend.
Examples:
- Ralph visited your car wash for his vehicle to be detailed. You hand him a referral card so he can hand one to his friends. If Ralph’s friend brings in that referral card, his friend gets a discount.
- You own a spa. You have success with your massage services, but you want to encourage people to get facials at your spa. Paula just paid for a facial with you. Reward her by giving her a referral card. If one of her friends comes in for a facial, Paula will also get a free facial. One side is your contact information and the other side is a place for people to write their name and their friend’s name.
Appointment or Reminder Cards
Appointment cards are common and often seen in the medical industry. How many times have you walked out of a dentist’s office with a card that has a date six months ahead? Or your local optometrist sends you a reminder to make an appointment one year from now to order new contacts? These are the most common and recommended ways to use an appointment card, but there are other ways.
Examples:
- If you experiment with the material you print on, you could make reminder cards for other things too…John and Lisa are getting married. They decide to make a cute save the date magnet. You will always remember the invite because it’s visible every time you open the fridge.
- You own an art gallery. You typically give a brochure or nice postcard to people entering the art gallery with information about the current exhibit and artists involved. If you also hand out a nice card promoting the next event or upcoming exhibit, people will be likely to return if they enjoyed the first exhibit.
We hope you found this useful. We have experience printing traditional business cards as well as creative ones that were used for the five functions mentioned above. Think outside the box, we love new ideas!
