25 Places to Leave your Business Card

Business cards are often viewed as legacies of a bygone era before online marketing. Well, that couldn’t be more wrong. Actually, digital media makes it easier to create and use business cards. They provide all the necessary contact information in one place, which gives potential customers the option to choose their preferred method to contact you. Business cards also leave space for people to discover solutions on their own and come to you when the time has come. As a bonus, business cards can be multifunctional! For instance, you can add more value by turning it into loyalty, referral card, or gift card. This will also increase brand recognition and help you stand out from the crows.

If you haven’t already, create a nice stack of business cards and start distributing them right away! Remember, they’re meant to reach a broad audience. You’ll need to hand out cards far and wide to attract people who are less likely to find you through other channels. We gathered 25 smart places where you can leave your business cards and market your business absolutely free!

1. Work/Plast Clients

Needles to say, the very first place to hand out your business card is right where you work. Display them somewhere visible so that customers and clients can take them with themselves when they leave. 

You undoubtedly know the people who are the most impressed with your business and work. Well, they are the perfect ambassadors to spread the word about you! You can’t control word of mouth, that’s true, but you can increase its effect. Give your loyal customers extra business cards and ask them to pass these along to friends and acquaintances. 

2. Gym

3. Children’s School

4. Malls

Malls are full of areas where people can sit and hang out, that is why isn’t one of the best places to leave your business card. Find the spots where people usually rest or gather, like seating areas, food court tables, indoor children’s playgrounds with parents sitting nearby.

As a bonus, malls are known for the diverse crowds they draw. You can find secondary markets for your business here!

5. Coffee Shop

6. Restaurant

Leave your business cards at your local restaurants! Be careful, though, don’t leave them on the table as waiters usually clear them right after the customer leaves. Menu holders can do just fine!

7. Bar

8. Train

People are usually bored to death on train journeys, so they will read anything they find. Make sure to leave your business cards on a train table or in seat-pouches whenever you take a trip.

9. Bus Stop

10. Hotel Room

11. Bulletin Boards

Find those local organizations that allow anyone to post on their public bulletin boards. They may seem crowded at first, but people usually like to dig through information if they expect to find something that interests them. 

Here are a few places to check out for bulletin boards:

• grocery stores
• community centers
• churches
• gyms
• laundromats
• college campuses

12. Library

The local library is the perfect place to leave your business card. Books and magazines can be smart tools to connect with your target audience. Do a little research on what publications might be of interest to your customers in your specific field of activity. Then, visit local libraries and book shops and casually slip your business card into relevant volumes and magazines. This is a fun and effective way to reach out to people. 

13. Book Shop

14. Taxi

Typically, taxi drivers don’t quite clean their vehicles until the end of the day, so taxis are also great places for your cards to be found.

15. College Campus

16. Business Centre

It comes naturally that people in business centers are interested in other businesses. You can discretely place your business cards on the main reception desk and the magazine desk in the waiting area. Bypassers might take an interest in you!

17. Bank

Drop your cards on one of the counters so that people can find them while waiting for their transactions to get put through! Leave some by the ATMs, too, so they will still be visible after-hours.

18. Leisure Centre

19. Takeaways

This is a great place to drop off your business card, especially if you live in a busy city. Sandwich or coffee takeaways have a LOT of prosperous people passing through, so you might get lucky.

20. Newsagents

21. Trade Shows

22. Airport Lounge

23. Gas Station

24. Waiting Rooms

Ah, the evergreen waiting rooms. During a long wait, people tend to look into anything they can get their hands on: brochures, magazines, books, or business cards. They are basically a captive audience. Place your cards on lobby tables and inside different printed materials in places such as:

• doctors’ and vets’ offices
• hospitals
• airports and hotels
• hair and nail salons
• retirement homes
• auto repair shops
• employment agencies
• local government buildings

25. Affiliate Businesses

If you haven’t already started building partnerships with other businesses, start doing it right away! For example, if you’re a nail specialist and have a small nail salon, you can try and build relationships with hair salons, spas, or other beauty establishments of the same profile and size. They will be non-competing partners with whom you can have cross-marketing agreements.