If you’re in a tight financial spot and can’t afford to order more business cards, there are alternatives. Cheap alternatives at that. Instead of ordering more business cards, why not use resources you already have to substitute for business cards?  Here are some cheap alternatives that might garner more business than a usual business card would anyway.

Brochures
If you carry a briefcase or a large purse or notebook with you on business calls, tuck a few brochures into your carryall. You probably have extra brochures lying around your office. Since your brochures have your company’s contact information on them already, you’ve got a ready-made business card right there. Plus, you can hand people info about your products/services to boot. The only downside is that your name is probably not on the brochures.

To remedy this, you could either place stickers on the back panel of the brochure with your name on it (this could look a little tacky unless your brochure and sticker are both white so that the sticker doesn’t stick out too much), or when you hand a prospect a brochure, you could write your name and phone number directly on the back panel or wherever there’s space.

If you tell the prospect you want to give him your personal attention and that you’re writing down your direct line or personal phone number, that will make the prospect feel more special which will work in your favor.

Promotional Products
If you have promotional pens lying around, hand those out to prospects in lieu of business cards. Pens don’t have to be fancy – you can order ones like these for as little as 15 cents each with the imprint included from www.Pens.com. I can’t think of anyone who turns down a free pen!  

Coupons
You can print coupons right on your home or office printer, just using the ink and paper you already have. You may want to splurge and get some colored copy paper, but that’s entirely up to you. All you have to do is create a square or rectangle border in Microsoft Word or Publisher, type your business info into the square and then include a coupon amount in much bigger type. Add a fancy border and you’re set.

Bookmarks
You can either make your own from cardstock or buy promotional bookmarks from sites like www.LogoSurfing.com. Either way, you just add your business info and perhaps a graphic, like your logo, and you’ve got bookmarks to give away. They don’t have to have tassels coming out of them, unless you want kids to keep them. My favorite bookstore keeps free, cheap bookmarks by the registers, and I always grab a couple when I’m in there.