| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
Information To Include On Your Business Card
The logo and graphic elements that you include on your business card are quite important, but having the right text and contact information on the card is equally important. Here are our tips about the elements to include: Your name - Consider whether you want to include your middle name or initial, degrees or professional credentials that are unique to your field. Title - Including a title on your card will help your potential clients to identify your position within your company. Including a title can also make your company seem larger. A reason to not include a title would be if you're a consultant, and want to market your solo nature as a benefit to your clients. Address - Always include an address on your business card, even if you are operating a business out of your home. Including your address greatly increases your credibility and makes your business appear established. If you're concerned about privacy, a post office box is a great way to go. When signing up for a post office box, consider using a commercial mailbox vendor (such as the UPS Store) instead of a box at the United States Post Office. At a mailbox store, you are given a street address instead of the typical "P.O. Box". The store also accepts shipped packages from UPS, FedEx, and other carriers, so you won't need to give out your home address as a shipping address. Phone number (and toll-free number) - Include your phone number and, if you do business long distance, consider including an 800 or toll-free number as well, as an amenity for your clients. Cell phone number - This is an option to consider if you'd like to make your services available to your clients around the clock, or if your business often takes you on the road. If you'd like to keep your cell phone number private, you can do that tactfully by offering to make your cell phone number available to clients once they have signed up for your services - then your clients will feel special and know that you're taking good care of them. Fax number - If you have a fax number you should include it on your card. If you rarely receive a fax, or if you don't know if faxes will be useful in your business, you can try using efax (www.efax.com). This is an online service that can provide you with a free fax number that will email all of your faxes to your email account. They also offer a paid service that is available as an upgrade if the number of faxed pages you receive per month exceeds their free offering. That enables you to upgrade if needed, without changing your fax number and reprinting your cards. Email address - Your email address is an often-overlooked opportunity to brand your business. Instead of using a generic email address such as "yourname@aol.com" or "yourname@comcast.net", purchase your own branded domain name to use as your email - yourname@yourbusiness.com. It's inexpensive and easy to set up, especially if you use GoDaddy.com to register your name and set up the new email address to forward to your existing account. This makes your business look larger and more professional. Website address - A website is a must in today's business world, even if it's a simple, one-page site that gives a few paragraphs of information about your business offerings and your contact information. A website offers potential clients an easy, no-pressure way to both learn more about your business, or to refer you to new clients. This is also another way to take advantage of the branded domain name that you set up to use for your email address - using it for your website URL will extend your business brand further. Tagline - If you have a tagline, including it on your business card will contribute to your branding and memorability, and a graphic treatment of the tagline (font, color and any graphic effects used) can add visual interest to the card as well. License Numbers - Include your license number if you are required to display them by your industry regulations (i.e., insurance or contractors), or if your being licensed is a benefit that you offer to your clients, or if it differentiates you from your competition. If you have room on the front, or would like to create a two-sided card, consider adding: A few bullet points about your business offerings - This provides you with an opportunity to further explain what you do. This is most helpful when your business name is not specific, so potential clients can identify what you can do for them. Your photo - The people you meet while networking will remember who you are. Putting a face to your business also makes your cards more personal for potential clients. However, we recommend that you do this only if it's appropriate, or somewhat standard, in your industry (for example, with certain types of coaching, or real estate). A "next appointment" area - If you often make appointments with clients (for massage therapy or health care, for example), consider printing a line or two on your business cards to make them into appointment cards as well. This makes a lot of sense from a printing standpoint - you'll be able to print a dual-purpose card for the same price as printing one card design About the Author Erin Ferree, Founder and Lead Designer of elf design, is a brand identity and graphic design expert. She has been helping small businesses grow with bold, clean and effective logo and marketing material designs for over a decade. elf design offers the comprehensive graphic and web design services of a large agency, with the one- on-one, personalized attention of an independent design specialist. Erin works closely in partnership with her clients to create designs that are visible, credible and memorable - and that tell their unique business stories in a clear and consistent way. For more information about elf design, please visit: Logo design at http://www.elf-design.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
10 Ways To Improve Your Print Ads 1) Include a coupon in your large ads. This can increase response from 25 to 100 percent. The Motivational Triggers That Make People Buy In order to sell more products and service, you need master customers' mind. Put youself into customers' shoes and think what customers want. Advertise Where Its Forbidden To The most common way to drive people to your business site is advertising. You cannot succeed without advertising, this is a fact. Does Post Card Advertising Really Work? You've decided to try advertising your business with post cards. The idea came to you from the post cards you receive from other businesses. The Principle Of Advertising Online Advertising online is very similar to advertising in any environment. You really are trying to get your message or your product out there by the most cost effective means possible. Take Advantage of Your Foes Let's take an example that is easy to check: I am French. Among the readers who reacted while reading that, an half felt their painful stomach ulcers starting up again while the others remembered their burning desire for visiting France. 3 Things Every Yellow Pages Advertiser Needs to Know Too many business owners and marketers know that Yellow Pages advertising has an incredible amount of potential? but they don't quite know how to take advantage of it.Fortunately, it's a mystery that's solved pretty easily once an advertiser knows where to turn for advice. The Importance of Your Business Card What are you trying to say with you business card?We have talked about collecting other people's business cards and also about how they are often tough to differentiate from one another. These are things you should avoid for your own business card. Advertising Copy: What's Really Important? You labor long and hard trying to create the perfect advertising piece but only about 20% of your copy is going to get read. The rest will simply be scanned. The Not-So-Hidden Persuaders: The Power of The Media Upon Us All In 1957, a perspicacious young journalist from Pennsylvania named Vance Packard wrote a book called The Hidden Persuaders. It was meant to explain to the public at large why they buy the products they do and to warn them about the psychological aspects of consumer appeal that lie beneath the levels of consciousness. The First UK Man To Become a Human Billboard an Interview Advertising on humans using tattoos is rapidly kind of freak niche that is definitely growing. It all started about two years ago (to the best of my knowledge) when a guy ran an ad on eBay offer his forehead as a billboard. A Quick And Easy Way Of Getting More Customers From Every Single Ad You Write... Guaranteed! FACT: Most people don't spend anywhere near enough time on creating a strong, compelling headline.Which is why many copywriting experts. Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number. Advertising Basics for Beginners So many of us who have decided to do business online have no background in marketing or advertising. It can be so frustrating without any kind of guide. Cable Ads 5 Bucks! Cable has grown from 13 houses connected together in 1948 to coverage of nearly 70% of all households in the U.S. Driving Customers to You - Your Car as a Marketing Vehicle You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked. Small Business Image The single easiest way to increase sales is to look professional. People believe what they see. 3 Elements To A Deal-Sealing Classified Ad Have you ever wondered why your perfectly fine classified ad fails to attract the attention you desire? There should be dozens-no, hundreds-of perspective buyers swamping your e-mail inbox with offers. After all, you are offering a mint baseball card, a vintage coat, pristine used car, those wholesale-priced sporting goods, and whatever other attractive items are in your inventory. Top 9 Reasons To Advertise Advertising is not for every company. But some require it because their market is big and constantly changing and evolving. Yellow Page Advertisers: Your Calls are Going to Decrease - Heres the Remedy Response rates to Yellow Page advertising are decliningThere's no getting around it, traditional Yellow Pages are in trouble. Fewer people use them every year.
|
| home | index |site map |
| © 2006 |
