Since I was up and out of the house bright and early, I was sure to schedule plenty of meetings to make the most of my day out. I work from my home office more days than not, and find that the weekly mix of most days “in”, and a couple of days “out” works well for me personally. It’s important for me to get out and be with people regularly.

One of the best features of my home based greeting card business is there are as many ways to grow this business as there are people. Some people work their business 90% from home, and others attend in-person networking events 5 days a week such as Kiwanis, Business Network International (BNI), or after hours “Mixers”.

I know online marketers who work solely at their computer, and other people who find the huge numbers of contacts made at Trade Shows work well for them. Many people will share this program with their “warm market” contacts.

You may be familiar with “Lifestyle Marketing” which means connecting with the people you encounter during your day-to-day activities, such as your kids sports, the PTA, involvement in a club or hobby. My son is a musician, he and his friends have a “garage band”. They’ve done a couple of performances at school, so you can be sure I grabbed some pictures to create cards (with their photos on the front) to send to the other parents. What a great way to capture a memory!

I like to exchange business cards when out and about and casually meeting others. As mentioned in my prior blog, there are many occasions to send cards to say “Hey – it was nice to meet you – I enjoyed hearing about your…….”. People appreciate the personal connection and thoughtfulness.

There are some in the home based greeting card business who focus on a particular niche. For example, people in the Real Estate industry find this program to be a tremendous tool: Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Title Companies. Another great niche is Photographers. Having the ability to put ones images or photos on the front of their cards as well as inside is appealing. Human Resource directors appreciate this program for sending the employees Birthday cards, Anniversary of Employment cards, or Spot Recognition (this is huge!!) cards.

So, variety is the order of the day. “Have it YOUR way” to recall a past burger advertising campaign. I have found through trial and error it’s good to pick 2 or 3 of these methods and be consistent. Trying to do too much at once can dilute your efforts. Maybe some of the suggestions here apply to marketing in your industry…

Tari Conley

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1) A humorous “Congratulations” card to a business associate who won a door prize of “Free Coaching” (very funny – no one in the room needed it more although he will probably never use it).

2) I won a door prize of tickets to a sporting event and sent a “Thank You” card.

3) “It was nice meeting you” cards went out to two women sitting at my table who I met for the first time. One of them actually enrolled in my program within a few days.

4) Another “Thank You” to a Chamber staff person who told me she recommended me to a newspaper reporter writing an article about my industry.

5) A note of apology for being late with keeping a promise to do a volunteer job at the Chamber office (with the most adorable sad puppy dog face you ever saw on the front).

As you can see, there are typically more opportunities to send out cards to people to say “I’m thinking of you”, “You’re important to me”, “Thank you”, “Congratulations”, etc. than one has time for. And just think how every one of them will feel when they receive my heartfelt, personalized greeting card in their mailbox! Make their day… it feels good and it comes back to you!

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