The ultimate goal of your business card is to help you sell your products and services. The longer your prospects keep your card, the more opportunities exist for them to contact you. The best way to get your prospects to hold onto your business card is by adding customer value. The back of your business card is the perfect place to do this; and if you have a lot of information you could double the height of the card and fold it over to add space. The most important thing when developing a value-added business card is to come up with something that your customers will find useful.

The following are a few ideas to help you add customer value to your business cards:

Coupon

Adding a coupon for a percentage-off discount or buy-one, get-one-free offer is a great way to get both repeat business and new customers in the door. Make sure your offer is good enough to be considered valuable to your prospects, and make sure everyone gets one of your cards!

Offer referral bonuses

Offer free services, gifts, discounts or even cash to existing customers who refer new customers to you. You can use the back of the card to detail the information and include a referral code; or you could have a folded business card perforated so one-half of the card will easily tear off to be given away. Again, make sure the referral bonus is worth your customers' while.

Punch card

Turn a portion of your business card into a punch card that is stamped or punched each time your customers make a purchase. Once they have all the places punched, they'll get a free gift, bonus or discount - as well as a new card so they can continue punching.

Special web offer

You can try adding a special website URL for a page that offers a discount or bonus offer for your business card holders. Make the URL a little difficult to remember, and they'll at least have to take the card home and to their desk to see what the offer is. If your offer is good enough you might generate repeat business immediately.

Useful information

Adding useful information such as conversion charts, tipping fee tables, calendars and athletic and other event schedules are always safe bets for keeping your business cards out of File 13. If you know your target audience well, you should be able to come up with information that they'll find useful enough to carry around in their wallets, briefcases and purses for several months at a time.

Great tagline

You don't necessarily have to add value to the card itself. You can add value to your entire company by incorporating motivating taglines in your business card design. A tanning salon could enhance the perceived value of their service by billing themselves as the "Summerless Suntan Specialists," for instance; or they could add a powerful call to action like "Get 10 percent off your tanning lotion when you schedule your next appointment."

Adding customer value to your business cards is one of the surest ways to get your branded campaign in front of hot prospects over and over again. Give your prospects something they'll truly benefit from, emphasize the benefits of buying from your company, and you'll reap your own benefits from a well-run branded campaign.