This past week I had the opportunity to meet various business owners. Most of them were selling a product or service which was typical, but while all of them were approaching me I started to prejudge each of them before they even opened there mouth to present their product. Is this wrong of me or is this a natural human tendency? It appeared to me that this is just nature, but if you know this is natural then why aren’t some business owners trying to avoid immediate stereotypes or judgments? Why does this happen?  After much deliberation within myself I decided to come up with some guidelines that may help small business owners stand out from their competitors.More than likely business owners because overlook the situation they are a part of or they are simply following the industry standards. This includes bare bones business cards, the typical polo, and a cheap giveaway pen. There is nothing wrong with giving these away, but most people already have too many of them as it is. So this means how is this going to get you noticed?

First, the business card is an essential way that people will keep tabs on you from a social event or convention. A business card explains the type of business you are even without the text that is embedded on the card stock. The card stock explains if your business is a push over or is serious about business so choose wisely. If you have a vista free business card stamp on the back you can forget the phone calls. Business cards also are more attractive when they are embossed or have an interesting feeling to them. I once was given an aluminum business card which absolutely blew my mind. I can find it in my pocket before any other card because of the metal is very distinctive compared to paper. See what you can do about spicing up your card.

Second tip involves your attire at these functions. Why does everyone have a polo on? If you can show off your business, but yet stay formal compared to your competitors then you are a huge seller. This means wear the suit with a decorated name tag and you could be golden. 

Third and final tip today involves the use of pen giveaways. Pens are such a wasted if you’re buying a cheap bic pen with your logo. I am not saying to spend more by the way, I am saying be more creative and forget about passing out pens. You could give out a jump drive, tire gauge, t-shirts, etc. Preferably try to keep it related to your line of work, but get something that is going to last. I still wear a t-shirt my attorney gave me five years ago, I have already lost half the pens that were given to me last week.

The key is to do more, which in turn should produce better results and help get you noticed. Don’t just follow the crowd, but rather be the leader of the crowd. Let the crowd react to what you’re doing. This puts you in the driver seat and helps you get a better grasp of the customers waiting to spend the money in your market. Be different but yet professional and the you will see the true results in the near future.

Tags: branding, Marketing, promotions, small business

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Marketing, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.