Business cards have traditionally been used to network with others. Since their inception, business people have traded business cards like collectible baseball cards. But, a card's practical use can go far beyond networking, saving your business precious marketing dollars.
Recently, I was approached by a local student asking me to place an ad in a theatre program. I quickly agreed, finding this a great way to share my business with the local consumers and other business people. The program's ads came in a number of sizes and costs, ranging from a full page ad down to an ad the size of a business card. Given that this was my first ad, I decided to chose the most economical option and selected the business card size. By making this selection, I was also able to leverage the components of my existing business card, in electronic format, in my ad. What could be easier?
To get started, I selected a desktop publishing software, Microsoft Office Publisher 2007, to create my ad. In Publisher, business cards are included in the list of Popular Publication Type," making it easy to get started. Publisher also offers a variety of different templates including classic designs, newer designs and blank sizes. Given that I was working from an existing business card layout, I decided to go with a blank size and made a further selection from a standard size, Asian size or European size. Once these choices were made, I was off and running. I was able to select my color scheme, insert my own logo, add contact information and tagline. I was also able to call out any special offers I wanted to share. Within in minutes, I had created an ad that matched my standard color scheme, included my logo and shared what my business was all about. The design didn't cost me anything so I got away with only having to pay for the cost of the ad space. Better yet, the ad I had created was something that I modify and use again in the future. Before recreating the wheel and spending a fortune on advertising and marketing, consider what you already have today.