Business Cards, Bulletin Boards, and the Micro-business

This is not an eMarketing topic. It is a traditional marketing topic. It just seemed so niche, especially as coffee shops have become so prevalent in our communities that I thought I would include my notes.

I have been forming some theories on the strategies around using bulletin boards for local marketing. Small businesses are my target audience. Small businesses often use bulletin boards in coffee shops and restaurants and small stores, etc. Therefore, I am attempting to use bulletin boards to network with those businesses.

My initial thinking was that the bulletin boards would speak to the consumer who might see the bulletin board. This would have rendered my participation useless. But this myth has been debunked after a few conversations with business owners and independents whose cards I retrieved. The micro-business especially (like me) is interested in this medium. In fact, the basic demographics of the shop where the bulletin board is found seems to speak some generalized information about the smaller business owners themselves.

I haven't figured out how it would apply to my goals, but I found an interesting article on bulletin board anthropology. I am out to discover if this applies at all to a larger metroplex and its suburbs individually.

I will also be posting some loose statistics on successes or failures from different business card designs. Logos and/or print that can be seen from 6-8 feet away, colors and the type of person that calls, etc.