Using Plaxo to market yourself and products

I have used Plaxo for a number of years and have been a big fan.

I use Plaxo like everyone else does to manage my address book and contacts.

A great feature of Plaxo is the auto updates it sends to your contacts whenever your contact information is modified.

Besides phone numbers, email addresses and so forth, there is a special feature which is widely underused by Plaxo users.

Log into your Plaxo account and view your business cards under My Cards.

At the bottom of your Plaxo Work Info card is a gray space. This space, when properly populated, will display a Plaxo Card Message.

To edit, click on the Edit button.

Fill in your Plaxo Card Message in the open box marked Card Message at the bottom of the left hand column.

You can add about 500 characters of text to the box. I use this box to highlight -
- products I am promoting
- recent job changes
- awards or honors
- announcements of upcoming speeches, publications, or presentations
- "want lists" like opportunities, etc.

After editing the Card Message, you might want to use one of the other features in your Plaxo Card. For instance, I added a picture of a new product I am selling in the Choose Photo field (who needs to see a picture of me everyday?). You can also edit the URL field to include a specific website as well.

Don't forget to check the Privacy options at the bottom of the card. I allow any Plaxo member to see my business profile. You may want to limit it to your contacts, just make sure your contacts list is as large as you can make it!

Save your Edits and within seconds, your updated Plaxo Card with message, photo, etc will be sent "spam free" to your contacts and inserted in their address cards. Further, they will receive a standard email displaying your modifications!

Imagine how long this would take if you phoned all of your contacts with the same amount of information!

Get Plaxo if you don't have it already and start building your own email networking announcements today.