Use your loyalty card as your business card
At the LaunchRuralOK Small Business Resource event in Alva, I overheard the owner of Millie Coffee from Fairview, Oklahoma, talking to a service provider she wanted to work with. She apologized for not having business cards with her, then handed over her shop’s loyalty card instead.
I looked over my shoulder and said out loud, “That’s actually genius.”
Here’s why her loyalty card beats a regular business card.
It gives people a reason to visit
A business card sits in someone’s pocket or gets filed away. Maybe they’ll call you someday. Maybe.
A loyalty card? That’s an invitation with a built-in incentive. “Come see me at my shop. Get a punch. Come back again.”
Bonus: Cross off one punch right there because they met you personally. You’re not just handing them a card. You’re starting a relationship and giving them credit for it.
You’re already paying to print them
Loyalty cards cost about the same as business cards. Why print two separate things when one card can do both jobs?
Put your contact info on your loyalty card: phone number, address, email, hours, whatever you’d put on a business card. Now you’ve got one card that does double duty.
Do you already have cards?
If you run a coffee shop, car wash, retail store, massage therapy business, hair salon, spa, ice cream shop, or any business where you want people to come back, you probably already have loyalty cards printed.
Those are your business cards now.
Start using them
Grab a stack of your loyalty cards and take them to your next chamber meeting, networking event, or business gathering. Anywhere you’d normally hand out a business card, hand out your loyalty card instead.
And when you order your next batch of loyalty cards, make sure your contact info is on there. You’ll have the most genius business cards in town.
- About the Author
- Latest by this Author
Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
