So far 100% of people I ask admit this is true.

Then I ask “Why should I want to add yet another meaningless piece of paper to your home?”

The point of this is not to say you should be like me, but to point out that most people have a business card only because they heard (or read) somewhere that it’s one of the first things you do when you have a business.

In the last few years, this same wrong thinking has applied to websites… “you have a business? You NEED a website” And the result is a large population of websites that are nothing more than a giant BORING business card online.

THE PROBLEM

No one ever stops to think about the purpose of the business card (or website) and what is it’s place in your marketing funnel BEFORE you bother to have the card (or website) made.

If you have been following my teachings at the NGH conference, on the  Hypnothoughts Internet Marketing Group, and here on this site, you will have heard me talk about the importance of 2-Step Lead Generation.

I won’t go into all the reasons Hypnotists should use 2-Step Lead Generation, but I will say the ones who have listened to me and are using it are going gangbusters even in the middle of a recession. I’m talking 6-figure incomes.

PERMISSION BASED MARKETING

So here’s my point… you aren’t likely to get a sale from a business card. There’s not enough room on it for a decent pitch. But there is plenty of room to get a likely prospect to give you their contact information so you can do follow up marketing.

This is them giving you PERMISSION to market to them. It’s like they are raising their hands and saying “please tell me more”. In sales lingo, you now have a ‘qualified prospect’. A very valuable prospect. And one who is much more likely to buy if you develop the relationship correctly.

So, with this concept in mind… the question becomes “what can I put on my business card to attract the kind of client I would like to work with?” And “what can I offer them of value to get them to give me their contact information”

Think of this as a sale. It’s an exchange of value. You offer them information on how they can solve a very important problem. They give you contact info, which is ‘permission’ to send them follow up information.

As my friend Craig Garber likes to say, even if you are giving something away free, you have to sell it as something of value.

Key Point: Like any sale you need GOOD SALES COPY to increase conversions. This means eye-catching headline, listing of benefits, and an offer… at a bare minimum.

And yes… (almost) no one else does this. That’s why so many business cards are freaking BORING and you can’t remember who gave them to you.

Finally, I leave you with this thought provoking video by Joel Bauer. Joel is a magician who got tired of barely scraping by and studied Direct Response Marketing. He now works trade shows and gets at least $10,000 a day. He does this by guaranteeing tons of traffic for the booth, which is what all business want who spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars on a trade show.

I have his business card and saved it even though I’ll most likely never hire him. It’s one of the few worth showing to other people.

Cheers,

Craig

P.S. I have articles on Lead Generation and Copywriting on my website.

** I do use highly specific and niche targeted business cards when I speak at conferences. Each card has a headline, and an irresistible offer. The offer is tracked by using a keyed URL so I can measure conversions and ultimately determine ROI.

I also put my photo on the card so people know it came from me and I make it brightly colored and unique so it stands out from the pile.

I don’t give a rat’s whisker about image or “looking professional” (whatever the hell that means), I only care about effectiveness of the marketing piece.

More on Your Business Card Is Boring

Most Burning Question:  What is the best combination of easy understand-ability / clarity of the call to action and actual value presented to the average potential layperson (when it comes to Hypnosis services)?

And assuming some of the higher value stuff we can offer as hypnotists is too cryptic for most people to understand or even conceive of.

This is a good question.  In fact it’s a great question and one most people won’t ask.

And it’s also not a simple one to answer.

People mostly don’t understand hypnosis, and that’s not so important as long as you don’t sell hypnosis.

Instead you sell the benefits hypnosis has for them and you tightly niche it.  A good example is Irritable Bowel Syndrome.   This is an area where Hypnosis shines yet almost no one knows this solution is available.

People who are miserable with IBS (either the symptoms or the side effects of medication) won’t give a rat’s ass what can solve their problem, they just want their quality of life back.

Yet hypnotists have done a poor job of getting word out there is a 3rd solution that has no side effects.

So to paraphrase Michael Fortin, to produce a good marketing piece you need to

More on Don’t Sell Hypnosis

Hi Craig,

You really over deliver, both in your website and everything you do! I was not expecting to receive a personal answer from you! Thank you so much.

I am starting my business, and what I need right now is to start having clients so that I can have proof elements. I have to take "massive" action!

While having testimonials is solid proof and extremely effective, if you don’t have any (because you don’t yet have any clients) there are many other ways you can offer proof.

Do you homework, both online and at your local library.

More on Where To Get Proof Elements For Hypnotherapy Marketing

It’s a website that you most likely have used yourself, but never thought about it as a wealth of market related data you can mine for copywriting.

I like this video because it shows you how to do research when writing copy, but it’s a good lesson in how to do market research.  The most important element of successful marketing is research on your market.

More on Video: Copywriting Shortcut By Jay Abraham

I have my own opinions about these long sales letters. Personally, I just dont spend time to read them, rather I shrug and hang my head and scroll way down to see how long the sales letter is. So many of them are getting insanely long. I am not sure what the theory is with such long and massive amounts of information that would take an HOUR or more to read. Nobody is going to read it all. Why write so much? Are people really reading the entire thing?

More on Should Hypnotherapy Advertising Use Long Sales Copy?