How To Give Away Cards and Make Easy Money!

There is a big money business that can be started for next to

nothing, with low risk, that involves giving away special cards.

These cards are DISCOUNT CARDS, wallet-sized cards that allow

the bearer to receive discounts at participating businesses

These businesses pay to have their advertisement on the card.

They profit from the increased exposure and from gaining new

customers who come in for the discount and become return

customers. The card-holders benefit from the discounts they can

receive. And YOU benefit from the profitable advertising you

sell!

This is a relatively simple business to explain. Here’s an

overview:

• Design your card.
• Figure your expenses and set your ad prices.
• Contact businesses that frequently use discounts or coupons (potential advertisers for you) either in person or by mail, with an information package.
• Gather the ads (and the money!) and print them together on wallet-sized cards.
• Distribute the cards to the public.

That’s all there basically is to it. Of course, there are more

details you need to know, and those will be covered in this report.

This business works especially well if there is a college in

your town, or any large number of people who either vacation

there or move to town, but it can be run successfully in any

area. The best part (besides money) is that you can run this

business from your kitchen table! Here’s exactly what you need

to do to make great profits in the discount card business.

First, think up a name for your card. A catchy name that has

words like DISCOUNT, SAVER, MONEY, BUCKS, BIG, FREE or other

dollar-saving words will stick in people’s minds. If you (or a

friend) have artistic ability, design a logo, either with your

card’s name, or a picture conveying the money-saving features of

the card.

Next, design how your card will look. It should fit easily into

a wallet, so stick to credit card size. On the front, your logo

should appear, along with, at most, six ads, in three columns of

two. The back should be divided into, at most, twenty ad spaces,

again in three columns (7 on the sides, 6 in the middle). This

might sound like a lot, but they will be readable. Don’t forget

to put your business name, address and phone on the front or

back, at the bottom of the card.

You should also put together a poster with your logo and

information about the card. Leave space for a list of locations

where the card can be obtained, and for a list of the

advertising businesses. This poster will be inexpensive for your

printer to produce, and can be produced on your computer, if you

have one, reducing your expenses even further.

Now figure your costs. The major cost to you will be printing,

so check with a number of printers for price quotes. You will

want a one or two color glossy card, with price quotes for

quantities for 1,000 – 10,000 cards. Find out at what quantities

significant price breaks occur. This can help determine exactly

how many cards you want to produce and distribute. This number

will be important when it comes to contacting your advertisers.

Don’t be put off by how much the cards will cost! You won’t have

to worry about laying out a lot of money for the production of

the cards, because you should require that advertisers pay at

least half of their advertising price at the time they decide to

advertise, the remainder when cards are distributed. Some

businesses will prefer to pay 100{9426e48ae5c3b3ab02332dd167966d9e9ea7aa41d6d2b8540a0550b4f9308632} up front, which is just fine!

You shouldn’t deal with businesses that won’t pay anything up

front, unless you have some desire to deal with collection

headaches.

You should be thinking about how to distribute these cards. If

there is a college in your town, here’s a few ideas. Contact the

admissions department at the college, explain your discount

card, and see if they would consider putting a card into the

orientation materials each incoming student gets. Also, find out

places where you may put a stack of cards for students to take.

Prime locations are cafeterias and dining halls, snack bars,

libraries and any other places where students group.

For the general public, great distribution spots are similar to

the college spots. Restaurants, grocery stores, theaters,

apartment buildings, anywhere where there are large groups of

people. Don’t forget that you can give a good supply to each

advertiser, to give free to their customers. All you need to do

is a few good, persuasive phone calls, and your distribution

will be taken care of easily. Stress to the person you’re

speaking with that making the cards available to their customers

will be good business for them, even if they don’t advertise on

the card, because their customers will appreciate being given

these discounts and will look upon the business as their friend

for doing so.

Now that you have your printing quotes, determine how much you

can charge for advertising. Estimate what your phone,

advertising, driving and postage expenses will be. Lump these

all together and you have an idea of what your costs will be.

Now, multiply that figure by five. Divide that figure by the

total number of advertisers you will have on your card. The

number you end up with is the average price you could charge per

ad. Does this sound reasonable, considering the number of cards

you’ll be distributing? If so, it should make a good starting

point.

For example, if you are planning to distribute 8,000 cards with

26 advertisers, and your estimated expenses will be $1,200, the

formula is ($1,200 x 5)/26, or $230-77 average ad price ($28-85

per thousand), and your profit would be $4,800. Considering the

benefits the advertiser will get from the cards (they will be

kept and used for a long time, usually 3 to 6 months, and 8,000

people will be exposed to their ad repeatedly over that period

of time), this will probably be reasonable. You need to consider

the economy in your area, the size of your area, and any

competition you might have, as this can effect what you may be

able to charge.

When you decide how much to charge for ads, here are a few

things to keep in mind. Ads on the front of the card should be

much higher priced than on the back, and, as a result, should be

slightly larger. On the back you can set two different ad rates

by putting using “boxed ads.” An ad with a black box around it

will be noticed more than one without, so it can be slightly

higher. A good example of ad prices corresponding to the above

average ad price would be $200 for a plain ad on the back of the

card, $230 for a boxed ad on the back, and $260 for an ad on the

front of the card.

Now’s the time to contact potential advertisers. Here is a

short list of the types of businesses that will be most likely

to take advantage of this service:

Restaurants, particularly fast-food and snack establishments

Theaters

Oil change and auto parts businesses

Hair salons

Printers

Travel agencies

Formal wear stores

Dry cleaners

Clothing stores

This is not a complete list, but it should give you an idea of

the types of businesses you need to contact.

Put together a list of the businesses you want to contact, and

send them a sales package with full details about the cards, the

population you will be distributing them to, and ad rates.

Include a postcard they can use to contact you if they’re

interested. Here is an example of what you can put on the card:

Yes, I am interested in talking with you about (card name).

A good time to contact me would be _____________.

Please call or visit.

Name _____________________________________

Business __________________________________

Address ___________________________________

__________________________________________

Phone ______________ Fax ____________________

If you are selling 26 ads, try to send information to at least

200 businesses. This will help you easily get enough interested

businesses.

When you contact businesses in person, be professional. Break

all the costs down so you can show them exactly how inexpensive

this advertising will be. For example, if your card will be

“active” for six months, distributed to 8,000 college students

and the ad the business is considering is $230, show them that

it will only cost 4/10 of a cent per month per cardholder ($230

divided by 8,000 people, divided by 6 months)!

Also, show them that you’re distributing the cards to an audience that will need and use their services. College students will always buy pizza, so if a particular pizza restaurant can snare the incoming

students with this discount card, they’ll have the edge over the

other pizza restaurants. This is how you will make successful

sales. Stress the benefits that the business will get from

advertising with you, as well as the fact that this advertising

is targeted to a specific group, instead of everyone, which will

make this advertising more effective than, say, a newspaper ad.

Also, let them know that you will be preparing posters

advertising the card and the businesses that are advertising on

it, and that this will be extra FREE advertising for them.

When the conversation moves to payment, insist (nicely!) that

the business pay at least half up front as a good faith gesture.

You are trusting them to pay the remainder, as they are trusting

you to deliver on your promises. Honest business owners should

have no problem with this.

Advertising copy must be direct and short, due to the limited

space. Ads should be three lines at most, with the first line

for the business name and phone, second line for a short

description of the business, and third line for discount. For

example,

JOE’S PIZZA 555-1234.

Best pizza in town!

10{9426e48ae5c3b3ab02332dd167966d9e9ea7aa41d6d2b8540a0550b4f9308632} off large pizza.

When you have your advertisers and their ads, get together with

the printer you’ve chosen. Your printer will help you with the

card layout, if you’re inexperienced. If you have a computer and

a good typesetting program, you may be able to produce the

masters for the printer, lowering your expenses.

While the cards are at the printers, put up your posters. Put

them in high traffic areas where the people you will be

distributing the cards to will see them. Always get permission

before you put the posters up.

When the cards are done, distribute them to the locations you’ve

picked out, and collect the remaining balances from your

advertisers. This whole process can be done in your spare time,

and should take no than four to six weeks. The example above

yielded a $4,800 profit, which is pretty good for that short

amount of time!

Once you’ve done one card, do another one! Differentiate it from

the first by using a different name distribution to a different

group of people, and different advertisers.

Here are some target consumers groups to start with:

Senior citizens

High school students

Families with children

Women only / men only Singles

By distributing your cards to highly targeted markets like

these, and contacting businesses that cater to these groups, you

can successfully build up a full-time business that will be

highly profitable!