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FIB - Scams 101 - Ye Olde Archives
Posted By: Bill Carton - the Roadie <wcarton@flash.net> In Response To: You're joking, right? (Mr Bluto ^_^)
Monday, 17 July 2006, at 12:25 p.m.
> I am not saying whether or not this company in question is legit, however,
> to imply that business cards are business cards are business cards and
> that they have to hype it up to sell something like that, and then to bash
> anyone who claims to be an expert on business card design...
> well, it shows that you don't have much of a clue about business and
> marketing.
Ummm, no. I believe I possess a good dose of clue. Read on.
> If a marketer is merely using dull business cards that just give the
> essential infos and is not putting any creativity into it, he is just
> throwing away a great marketing opportunity.
Better for my needs to have a product that meets a need and sells itself, and can be priced at a premium, than depend on hype, flash, and creative business cards to convince folks to buy.
> Business cards are not just a piece of paper designed to help prospects
> and clients contact you. If you use them to your fullest potential then
> you will use them as exactly what they are - a great marketing tool - and
> therefore you will use them to actually help you convert your prospects.
I happen to have a very fulfilling day job in high tech systems. I was even in marketing for a couple of years before I returned to the technical management side.
Our style of marketing is to research the prospect base, design the perfect solution to a problem they're having, and engineer it to be the best economic fit. At that point, the prospect would be nuts to not buy it. There is no such thing as convincing them to buy something that doesn't fit their exact needs - we've engineered it to be compelling in and of itself.
The industry is small enough that we know almost all the prospects - and a competent prospect knows of us, even though we're tiny, because they've done the research and know we have the best solution to an intractable problem.
Business cards in that situation cannot possibly influence the sale. The engineering takes care of that. They just let the prospect contact us later if we meet face to face. There's none of this push-selling where you have to distinguish yourself from otherwise identical faceless competitors. Nasty, black-hat marketing, I tend to think of that sort.
We run competent market research. The customers do a competent job evaluating the solutions they need. We come together as a natural process of attraction and mutual benefit instead of a forced-together process.
Which is why I have a healthy suspicion and low opinion of business card over-design, glossy brochures, and print advertising. It's the nature of the business I've spent my whole career in. If your business is different, then be my guest, go for it, hire such a consultant, and see if your market is more elastic than mine.
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