Make Sure You're Holding The Right Cards

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Make Sure You're Holding The Right Cards

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Does your business card reflect a positive image for your business? Does it clearly define what your business is all about at a glance? If not, you may be making some big mistakes...

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583 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: Wed Jul 13 03:59:50 EDT 2005

Written By: Debbie Allen Copyright: 2005 Contact Email: info@DebbieAllen.com

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Make Sure You're Holding The Right Cards Copyright © 2005 Debbie Allen The Shameless Success Expert www.debbieallen.com/

Does your business card reflect a positive image for your business? Does it clearly define what your business is all about at a glance? If not, you may be making some big mistakes in your marketing and need to take another look at the message you are putting out there.

Why? Because if a prospective customer views your business image as unprofessional or confusing, they will simply do business with someone else. You can't afford to let that happen to you. Are you holding the right cards?

While presenting marketing seminars to thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs, Debbie Allen (sales and marketing expert) discovered a shocking reality. Many of the business cards presented a poor and unprofessional image of the business at first glance. Very few business cards or marketing materials had an effective message that described the business clearly. Most lacked a strong visual logo that defined the business and had no branded image or catch praise that set them apart from their competition.

With this newfound discovery, Debbie began to ask members of the audience to stay after her presentation to receive a free business card evaluation. This intrigued attendees, and many waited for up to an hour to have a chance to talk with her in person and to get feedback on how to improve their marketing message.

Another discovery! Many owners and managers are so close to their businesses that they don't see the most obvious mistakes. The reason for this is that they don't look at their business through their customers' eyes. They view it from a very narrow focus, their own eyesight. This can be disastrous for a company's professional image.

Just as people judge individuals at first glance, so they judge a business image the same way. If prospective customers view the business image as unprofessional or confusing, they will simply walk away. Prospective customers will be lost to competitors who do a better job at marketing their company's image, brand and uniqueness.

The goal of an organization should be to create a strong, immediate message that clearly defines its business. The message must connect an emotional bond with the customers, both verbally and visually. This same image and message must be coherent on all marketing materials ranging from a company's business card, advertising, packaging and signage to its website.

Once organizations recognize the need to improve their business image on their marketing materials, it can be easy to make the changes needed to update and improve. The solution is often a small investment in a graphic artist and a marketing consultant.

Where do you start? A great place to start is to take a close look at your business card as if you were a prospective customer. First compare it with the list of top 10 mistakes below then take the business card ranking quiz online at: www.DebbieAllen.com

The 10 Most Common Business Card Mistakes

1. Scrambles messages with inconsistent design elements. 2. Does not clearly define your business services and/or products. 3. Does not make you memorable (in a good way). 4. Indicates unflattering things about your business. 5. Does not generate additional business. 6. Creates a cluttered impression. 7. Omits essential information, or is filled with non-essential information. 8. Looks out of date, or information no longer applies. 9. Is hard to read or confusing to the eye. 10. Lacks a point of interest, image or theme.

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Debbie Allen is an international business speaker and author of five books on sales and marketing. She has presented before thousands of people in nine countries around the world. Debbie is the founder of "International Business Image Improvement Month (May)" which was created to help people improve their marketing materials and present a more professional business image to attract more customers. Take her free online business card quiz to see if you're holding the right cards at: www.DebbieAllen.com

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