Want to save paper, save money and wow your business contacts at the same time? Use a cheap key chain "pen drive" (a small flash memory card that jacks to a USB port) to create an interactive "business card" that will stand way out from the crowd. Upload the drive with your filled-in Outlook/Plaxo contact or virtual business card and add a few free offerings such as an short MP3 demo of a class or training, a white paper, workbook, ebook - whatever is pertinent to your business. Keep the drive with you and whenever someone is talking to you about your work and has access to gear that will accept your drive (PDA, laptop, pocket PC, USB-capable smart-phone, etc), you can just offer to download your inclusive package into their device. No more agonizingly expensive waste of newly obsolete business cards whenever you need to update or change your contact information. One less "what do I do with this" business card for your contacts to have to deal with when they get home from whatever networking event you've connected at. And you can constantly tweak the content for relevance, change seasonal discounts, update with limited special offers, and so on! A few caveats: 1. Choose your selections carefully. Opt for high-value, high-return options that will benefit the receiver, not just the giver. You can include a brochure, if it seems appropriate, but make the bulk of your offering valuable, pertinent and something they'll want to pass on to friends (taking your information with it)! 2. Respect your contact's time and available memory! Make sure that you don't pack it so full that it will overload smaller devices or take 20 minutes to download! If you have large-file offerings you'd like to share, consider creating a single html "web page" to download instead, with the links embedded in it. Your contact then simply opens the page, logs onto their ISP and clicks through to get all the great stuff you want to share! 3. Don't push! Not everyone is comfortable letting just anyone download stuff into his or her devices. If this is a concern, offer to take their card and send them the information via email. You've already made a good impression just by being ready and willing to pass on valuable items on the spot. Anything beyond that is pure gravy. With just a bit of careful decision-making and common sense, a pen drive business card can be an amazingly successful vehicle for generating greater interaction, creating an environment of valuable informational exchange and providing a source of interesting conversation. It can include anything from a PowerPoint presentation to a multi-media product demo to an audio/video clip of your services or presentation skill - all condensed into one tiny, cigarette lighter-sized bauble. You can even buy them in designer shapes and colors, or imprinted with your logo. And, while we have been discussing mainly business applications, it is a technology that lends itself to a nearly infinite variety of adaptations. How many ways you can think of to use this idea? |
