Last month I delivered a presentation to AIA Chicago called Beyond the Magic Bullet: Business Development Strategies to Tackle a Down Economy (Geared towards Small to Mid-sized Firms). The audience was a mix of 70% small-mid-sized firms and 30% job seekers. As a result, I shifted some of the content in the 11th hour to ensure that the job seekers would also receive much value from our 90 minutes together.
During the session, one of the audience members (let’s call her Joanne) shared her own story about a (past) job search. Essentially, she had physically (not online) posted her business card, along with her CV, in public places where her future employers might frequent. She had also put a mini-CV on the backside of her business cards, and dropped those cards strategically into the hands (and locations) of those whom might have access to people she’d like to work for. No surprise, she also sent her resume (with an intro statement) far and wide in electronic format.
As a result of this gutsy move to make her personal brand highly visible during a competitive job market, Joanne received a call from an employer who said to her: “I simply had to contact the woman that I had received information about from three different and unrelated sources!”
Her point was to encourage the job-seekers in the audience to be aggressive in terms of their visibility. Not aggressive in an aggravating way (such as incessant phone calls and emails to prospective employers or network contacts), but rather, aggressive in a clever, more benign way.
I was reminded of Joanne’s story earlier this week. I was sitting at a business lecture and looked down to discover a business card of someone in my industry. I asked the people sitting next to me if it belonged to them. It didn’t. But this card piqued my curiosity…..just randomly laying on the ground. And so I actually took the time to do an internet search on the person, and their name/company is now on my radar screen in terms of my AEC network.
Alternatively, I think a cool idea would be to write a handwritten note (in your beautiful architectural lettering) on the back of your business card stating: “If found, and it makes good sense, then I hope you’ll consider adding me to your professional network” or a similar sentiment. Discovering a business card with a handwritten note would most certainly be memorable to the finder!
So, job seekers, this may be something worth considering. How can you, as an individual brand, use guerrilla marketing tactics (leaving clever business cards in strategic places, or in the hands of strategic contacts ‘counts’) to make yourself the brightest star among the crowded milky way?
As well, readers, is there anyone who believes a similar tactic could work when marketing your AEC firm to prospective clients? To other potential consulting partners?
**Special note: When gainfully employed, business card distribution is a different story. I do not recommend handing them out willy-nilly. As I discuss in my presentation: The not-so-secret secret to networking: followup!, you may want to consider giving out your cards selectively, and with discretion. Reasons that I personally do not initiate a card exchange include:
- 1. If there’s truly no reason to reconnect….for business or personal reasons.
- 2. I don’t have a good feeling about the person.
- 3. I had such a minimal conversation that it seemed silly—even trite—to exchange cards (i.e. in a cocktail line when you just made small talk for mere moments).