The Very Best Balloon Store - Retail Sales Tips 2.

This weeks tip is for both retail and home-based business's.

Benefits of Business Cards as a  Marketing Tool

In our highly competitive world, we need to find different ways to promote our products and services, this week we are looking at business cards.

A well designed business card can be a very effective way of marketing. They are easy to make, there are many online websites that offer an easy step-by step process to designing your own cards, giving you professional results.

The great thing about business cards is that people do actually look at them, probably longer than printed literature such as fliers and brochures. They are easy to carry and store, making it easy for someone to contact you when they need your services.

So what makes the perfect business card?

Professional looking, unlike like my first business card that I designed and printed myself on coloured card! Sadly, an industry friend reminded me of that only a few months ago and proudly gave back to me 'my original business card', they had found recently after 15 years... cringe!

Note: Do-it-yourself marketing materials can make your business look unprofessional, suggesting to potential clients that you cannot perform to or meet the standards they expect. Customers may think that if you don't care how your business presents itself, you don't care about the quality of your product or service.

What information do we need to include?

1. Your company name, business and website address are a must.
2. Company Logo is also very important and should be present on the card. Add accreditation's such as QBN network or CBA. Did you know, as a QBN member or CBA you can easily download the logo's, by simply visiting www.Qualatex.com and clicking on QBN Resources, you will need to log in using your QBN number and password, then clicking on Marketing Resources -  and select LOGO's
   
   
   
   
   
3. The font, text, and colours of a card are very important, they should be chosen with a great deal of caution. They should be readable, and colours should contrast well. Make sure the card is of a standard size to make it easier to carry. Where possible the back of the card should be left blank.

Note: This is another error that I made, recently I decided to make my new business cards a 'Hot Pink'  colour with White and Lime Green writing, yes, it did match my website colour, but it is very hard to read the Lime Green writing, all in all a disaster! 
I have since re-designed my card, making it very simple, easy to read and I lost the Lime Green text too!
Now that I have written this blog and have done a little research on the subject, I believe that I made a number of errors when designing my newest business card, I will make sure that when I re-order I will make a few changes!

My card with the Lime Green Text... impossible to read!

My latest business card, much easier to read... but does it need balloons?

A business card portrays the professionalism of a business. A good card will remain with the customer for a long time and will project a business in a positive way.

Always carry business cards with you. Give them freely and ask permission to leave them in places your target market may visit.

Have you got the very best business card that 'sells' your companies products and services really well? Please send me a photo of it, as I would love to add them to this blog! 
email me : Sue@suebowler.com

Happy Ballooning!
Sue
www.suebowler.com