Thirty years ago, one of my favorite marketing tools was a little yellow business card.
You could get a thousand of them printed for about $50.
Five cents each.
I’d put a stack in my pocket and distribute them everywhere I went—restaurants, coffee shops, bulletin boards, wherever people gathered.
One said:
Georgetown
Lovely three-bedroom homes.
Zero down payment.
Free recorded message.
Another promoted Julie’s Guide to Winter Haven Real Estate.
The entire playbook was contained on that little card:
Get somebody’s attention.
Convey a compelling message.
Invite them to take one next step.
The cards were cheap. But we still had to print them, carry them around and manually distribute them.
And we never knew who would actually see one.
That’s what makes the opportunity we have today so amazing.
A static ad on Meta or Instagram is simply the modern version of that little yellow business card.
Except now, for less than the five cents it cost us to print one card, Meta will deliver your digital card directly to the kind of person you want to reach.
You can choose the location.
The age range.
Men or women.
Their interests, occupations and circumstances.
You can put your message in front of thousands of carefully selected people—even if your entire advertising budget is only $5 a day.
The tool has changed.
The fundamentals haven’t.
You still need an image that catches the eye.
A few compelling words that communicate what you do.
And one simple action people can take to learn more.
That’s it.
Think of it as a five-cent business card that someone else will distribute for you…
Directly into the hands of exactly the right people.
What would you put on yours?