Marketing with business cards and networking

September 24, 2013

Handing out your business can be a good way to help you market your business. It is good for two reasons. The first reason is obvious in that the person to whom you are giving the business card may visit your website and become a client. But the second reason that handing out business cards is a great way to promote your business is that the business card gives you a chance to stay in touch with the person to whom you gave it, and form a business relationship which can be mutually beneficial for the long term. In this article we will go over a number of good practices for marketing your business by handing out business cards. Additionally, you may be interested in taking a look at my offline marketing tutorial or my full business card marketing course.

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Following up

Whenever you take someone’s card, it is easy to never follow up because the business cards tend to pile up in your pocket. But make sure you follow up and email everyone whose business card you took. And preferably, follow up the very next day or two. That shows that you are dependable, serious, and reliable. When you are marketing your business by handing out business cards, it is equally important to follow up with the person after the event, as it is to make the initial connection.

Make notes

Try to carry a pen with you when you go to networking events. That way, you can make quick notes on the back of the business cards that you take. It always feels like you will remember all the details of the conversations you have, but in reality, after a day or two, we tend to forget many details about our conversations. So make a few notes on the back of the business card so that when you follow up, it can help you remember the key points of what you initially discussed.

Marketing with business cards does not scale

The drawback of marketing with business cards, like many offline marketing techniques, is that it does not scale. There is just not that many people you can talk to and build relationships with. Of course, you can maximize the number of people with whom you exchange contact information by simply being more social everywhere you go.

Ask how you can help

When you meet people, it might be tempting to talk about your business. And you should do that at some point. But it is always good to ask the people you meet about what they are working on, and try to see whether you are able to help them in any way. If you offer help or kind words, people will be more inclined to be interested to hear about your business and would also be more motivated to help you. So before you talk about your own business and hand someone a business card, make sure to ask that person about what they are doing, and try to get genuinely interested in their work.

Other Offline Marketing Strategies

Networking and marketing with business cards do not have to be your only offline marketing strategies. Here is a video with other offline marketing ideas.

Further Marketing Resources

For more business-starting resources, please take a look at our business planning mobile apps. Here is the iOS business plan app and here is the Android business plan app. Additionally, here is the iOS marketing app. And here is the Android marketing app. And here are our business apps on the Kindle. And here is an article where I give the argument that our Android apps are the best business apps on Android.

And please check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel where we cover many marketing topics.

Business card marketing book

In addition to this article and the business card marketing course, I also have a book business card marketing book on Amazon. This book covers similar topics that my online course does. The difference between them is that the course is all video and the book is all text. So if you prefer learning by watching video, the course may be best for you, and if you prefer learning by reading, my business card marketing book may be better for you. Check out all my business and marketing books here.

Additional offline marketing strategies

In addition to business card marketing, there are other ways you can promote your business offline. Some of those ways are with events, by doing flier marketing, by getting on the radio or podcasts, by increasing your word of mouth marketing, and by doing door to door marketing.