I was looking through a bunch of attorney business cards that I have collected at various events and I was shocked. By and far the majority were plain white with only the name, sometimes the address, phone number and email on them. What a waste!
So here are the Southers’ Business Card Rules:
- Always have color on your card. It’s best to coordinate your color with your website or other marketing materials.
- Always, Always put the area of law you practice on your card. A person meeting you at an event will forget immediately what you do, but the card will remind them.
- Use the back of the card to enlarge your description of services or focus on your target market. Could be something like “Helping people with their wealth building through careful planning” for a Wills and Trust Attorney.
- Put the important parts of your card in bold: Name, phone number and email address are the most important.
- Project the image you want. Add your picture so people can really remember who you are.
- Make your card standard sized. Many people are annoyed with over sized card
What do you do with the business cards you get?
ASAP put them in your contacts list. Categorized them as A, B or C contacts. A are those who you know will refer. B are those who you have meet and might someday refer and C are your hairdresser, cleaners, plumber, distant relatives. Most cards you pick up at meetings, etc. will be Bs.
- Pick out at least one to write an email to following up your conversation.
- Maybe make a date to meet if that seems appropriate.
Additional hints about business cards:
- Hand a small wrapped piece of chocolate with the card to the person.
- Use cheap printing like Vista Prints to do your cards, etc. Change them until you finally get someone to say “What a nice card!” when you hand it to them.
- If you have several areas of law that you practice, think about having a different card for each area. Marketing one area at a time is easier and makes a lot of sense. This is especially true if you do research for attorneys as well as other areas of the law. Having a card that just markets that area is essential when you are talking to attorneys. You can always bring in the other areas that you do after you have establish the relationship of offering services to attorneys for appeals and research. People get confused. Even Attorneys!