My 10-year old son is obsessed with collecting football cards. His year-round habit is focused specifically on jersey cards, which are cards that have a swatch of a player’s game jersey embedded in them. He buys packs of cards hoping to find a single jersey card, and scours eBay for jersey cards of his favorite players.

As I understand it, there are two key reasons he loves these cards:

• He believes they will appreciate in value
• He feels that having a piece of a real jersey is almost like having a piece of that player

As communicators, we can use the two-pronged appeal of jersey cards to enhance our effectiveness. How? By always providing something of real value to our audience. And by putting a piece of ourselves into every communication effort.

Remember: make it valuable and make it personal. If that fails, try selling tiny swatches of your clothing.