Is this something you would do?
17/07/2008 send to a friend
I’m intrigued. I read a blog post that advises leaving business cards in places like the doctor’s waiting room and supermarkets. I’m not so sure this is good advice. What do you think?
Pot calling kettle
To be fair, I’m not really in a position to slam or question the advice in this post as only yesterday I ‘accidentally’ left a copy of a magazine in which my book was reviewed on a train. Half of me thought ‘well, that lightens my bag-carrying load’ – the other half thought ‘if I leave it here, someone else might just pick it up, take a look, and decide they quite like the sound of this book.'
But I think that’s a bit different to leaving your personal calling card scattered about. I’ve never left a business card on a train (or pinned one up in a phone booth, in case you were wondering) as you just don’t know whose hands it will get into. It feels a bit too much like scatter-gun marketing to me.
What do you think?
This is what the post said:
“Prospective customers are anyone from your next door neighbor to your dentist. Sending and/or leaving your business cards to and at the following people/places is essential in getting the word out “offline” about your business:
- Doctor’s Office
- Bill payments (Yes, attach a business card to all of your outgoing bill payments. In fact, its known that the person who receives your bill payment is not always the same person each time!)
- Dental Office
- Laundry Room
- Supermarkets
- Bulletin Boards
- Cleaners
These are just a few places. Be creative and send/leave your business cards to as many people/places you can think of.”
Do you agree?
To be fair, the post goes on to suggest a couple of good points:
- A site where you can upload your business card, and
- The value of networking.
To read the full post, click here. And to see the magazine that I left on the train? Well, that’s on seat 34A of the 7.30am express from New Street to London. - Emma Jones
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10/10/2008 by | Online Diary sharing
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10/10/2008 by | Bad Payer
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10/10/2008 by | Bad Payer
Thanks everyone for your advise. I think I will start posting out statements to late payers. Siobhan
Comments
Author: alex
Date: 17/07/2008
Comment: Reeks of desperation. I used to do the business card thing when I was 25. It resulted in no extra work whatsoever but was a good way of getting rid of the billions of business cards that I ordered. Would you ever contact somebody who pushed a leaflet through your letterbox? No, neither would I.
Website: http://www.shedworking.co.uk
Author: Kerryn Greatrix
Date: 17/07/2008
Comment: I didn't think doctors surgeries or dentists etc would allow advertising/selling literature to be left in their waiting rooms, so it was probably put in the bin that evening!!
Website:
Author: dee blick
Date: 17/07/2008
Comment: I think it is a naff idea too - rather like mass mailing - the hope that scattering far and wide will bring a return. The likelihood is that it will probably yield the wrong type of response ! A good way to get a business card read and kept by a warm prospect is to paperclip it to your direct mail letter - the letter could hit the bin but an attractive business card is less easy to throw away and having run many of these campaigns I speak from the soapbox of experience!!
Good marketing means targetting and great, relevant creative input rather than just spamming a random universe.
I am off my soapbox now!!
Website: www.themarketinggym.org
Author: Alan Young
Date: 20/07/2008
Comment: I would agree with the comments here. It's not something I would ever consider doing myself, as it's just not targetted enough, and does smack a bit of desperation.
I always make sure that my details are put about in a slightly different way.
My corporate ID and message is on everything I produce, to a greater or lesser extent, from a logo and phone number on our accounts to what is is effectively a full blown advert on my email signature.
Even our envelopes are individually branded with logos on the front and our freephone number / web site on the back.
For me, it's a way of getting our details around, but in a subtle way. To me, it's a free advert, but to most of the receipients, it's a professional bit of branding, and I often get comments as to how impressed people are with the whole branding side of the business. (In fact, I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked if the business is a franchise, as most people can't believe it's a one man band).
Website: www.1staddition.co.uk