151 Guerrilla Marketing Ideas :: Business Card Advertising

Today's Low-cost, High-impact Marketing Ideas focus on Business Card Advertising.

For the full list of ideas, organized by category, check out this post.

1. drop cards at hairdressing salons, cafes
   
2. drop posters on bulletin boards at work
   
3. drop flyers in kitchenettes at work
   
4. I did have an intranet classifieds listing at work- unfortunately they're onto me and it's gone now :(
   
5. make gifts for children of friends- with card included for Mum!
   
6. Print your business card on a pen and leave them everywhere - when you sign the check at a restaurant, when you sign in at the doctor, when you write a check at the grocery store, when you sign your kids out early from school...
   
7. tape your business card to the inside of a bathroom stall
   
8. What about cards left in taxis? And pockets of clothing you try on (those that aren't sewn up that is!) Or giving a bunch of stuff to a thrift store with tags attached?
   
9. Whole Foods has a bulletin board in their front entrance and they let people put things up their all the time.
   
10. Coffee shops are great for leaving cards.
    
11. i put flyers up at "public" places; laundromats, the community building, the library, the park, the beach etc.
    
12. a cafe owner had wrote "free coffee with this card" on the back of all his cards, that way the card finder has to come into the cafe to get some coffee, it's working and FAR less expensive than "advertising"
    
13. On a side note, another good place to advertise is at your daycare. Lots of mom's picking up their kids would probably really love a free goodie bag & some business cards to boot!
    
14. I carry a large Ziploc bag with half sheet sized flyers I made on PS and copied onto brightly colored paper at Kinko's in my van, with a roll of Scotch tape and a pack of thumb tacks. You never know where you'll end up that'll need some Etsy love. :)
    
15. I leave my business cards with the tip in restaurants, and I hand them out to the staff at doctors offices Of course the key is to leave a good tip!!!!!!!
    
16. I went to my OBGYN today for that oh so fun check up... DR asks me what I have been doing lately (of course I am sitting there in just a paper napkin and he wants to chat) anywho- I tell him about my new little biz adventure and he suggested I bring by some fliers and stuff and he will let me advertise there (perfect for me, baby items at the OBGYN office!) talk about multi tasking! LOL
    
17. What if those of you who screenprint, had a little onesie, or burpcloth printed out with something like "I love Dr. so and so" or "Delivered with love by Dr. so and so". Something cute, but also giving a little promo to the Doc. I bet some obgyn's would love to purchase some of those to give out to new moms, and if I were a new mom who loved my obgyn, I'd have my baby wear it.
    
18. For those who do animal-themed work, like I do, finding out if any of your local vets would be okay with you posting a card on their bulletin board
    
19. Then, you could work out a deal, either by putting your etsy address on the item itself, or having the doctor include your business cards, or having a little tag on the item that says that the item was made by you, a local artist and mom who has more items available at *****.etsy.com
    
20. When I leave business card or my booksmarks someplace. I mark them in a corner with the first two letters of the name of the place that I left then. Like I added 60 booksmarks to my son's goodie bag party and on the back I put the letter LE. LE stands for Long Elementary. I I go to the library I put DL, stands for Downtown Library, SD Supermarket Davidsons, SS Supermarket Safeway. This way I can ask them what letter are on the back this way I know where they pick up the bookmarks. Also I give them 10% off if they buy using the code: "Please mention the code on the card and you get 10% 0ff." This way I can see which place is working out for me.
    
21. Everytime I use an ATM machine, I leave a business card on the little ledge beside it or on the keypad.
    
22. Another good place is at fabric stores. The one that I go to has a board where others leave their business cards and flyers.
    
23. I leave biz cards in my shopping cart/basket after I check out at the grocery store
    
24. I've tucked mine inside those Sky Mall magazines tucked behind the seats in airplanes!
    
25. i leave aceos in tip jars
    
26. What places are you thinking of putting your cards? For my cooking class I teach at the city's rec center, I put flyers at the library, the Whole-Foods-ish grocery store, and a Starbucks or two. For my Etsy shop I'm thinking of putting cards/flyers at places moms and babies go but am having a hard time thinking of mom-places that have billboards
    
27. Try asking any friends or family that work in office buildings to take some of your cards and leave them in the break rooms and cafeterias. I see them a lot in the building where I work, usually on bulletin boards or stacked by napkin dispensers.
    
28. If you are selling multiples of the same item and sell one, you can include a few "tell a friend" business cards with the order - that include a photo of the item they purchased. Customers will sometimes share these with people who ask them about your item.
    
29. I have been selling some items on ebay. When I package up my item for shipment, I include a small card that reads "thank you for your purchase - be sure to check out my other items on etsy" and have my etsy address at the bottom. I also include my (etsy) business card.
    
30. Last night I gave the property manager a stack of my cards and he is going to put one in each of the new tenants(homeowners) welcome package! I also went around and hit up every bulletin board in the apartment complex.
    
31. Whenever I take a flight I leave cards in the seat pocket and/or the magazines.
    
32. I leave free buttons with my biz card attached pretty much anywhere I can without being caught. Mostly bathrooms etc.. Its my PIF with a motive I guess...I dont know if Ive gotten any looks but what the heck... I usually use my Canadian Girls Rock! buttons....I cant wait till that day Im standing in line at a coffee shop and see one of my buttons on the napsack of the girl in front of me...I might cry! LOL
    
33. Got business cards. They have a description of what I sell, my name, my email address, my store address and the line "Come see what I made today!" I hand out two to each friend I see during the day, the babysitter's mom, and enclose two in every letter and package I send out.
    
34. I got some great results by leaving fliers in stores around town, any store I went to that would allow it got a nice little stack of my fliers. I would also put them on the bus and subway seats. I had a few people report they found out about my business that way.
    
35. I would only put on your business card, your name, your etsy store name, your etsy web address and your e-mail address. I don't have my address or phone number on there. If people want to contact me they can get to an e-mail address with a computer or they can come and leave a message by going to etsy.
    
36. I live in a college town and the students are back so I grabbed a pal and hit the high-rise dorms. They have bulletin boards by all the elevators usually covered in weight loss or work from home ad's. I did 4 different dorms each with 25 floors! My feet hurt.
    
37. Whenever there's one of those raffle boxes for a prize or to enter your info to be on someone else's mailing list--instead of filling out the little form (and hunting down a pen) I just drop my business card in the box instead--it's a lot quicker for me, and all my contact info is already on there.
    

With all of these great business card ideas, there are also some safety concerns to think about.
BUSINESS CARD SAFETY

• I would only put on your business card, your name, your etsy store name, your etsy web address and your e-mail address. I don't have my address or phone number on there. If people want to contact me they can get to an e-mail address with a computer or they can come and leave a message by going to etsy.
  
• Archdiva said: There was another discussion here in the (Etsy) forums about putting a phone number on business cards. Several no cost or low cost options for voicemail were discussed which would allow you to have a contact number on your cards without giving out your home or personal number.
  
• I wouldn't put my home address on business cards that I drop here and there. Instead I use a PO Box so creepy people can't locate me so easily.

As mentioned in this post, the ideas in this post came from my snippets of ideas saved from Etsy forum posts over the last year. If you provided an idea listed here, please comment and I'll credit the idea to you with a link to your shop, ok?

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