Business cards are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver’s name, company affiliation usually with a logo and contact information such as street address, telephone number and e-mail address. Traditionally in the past many cards were simple black text on white stock; today a professional business card will often include one or more aspects of striking visual design. Business cards are frequently used during sales calls to provide potential customers with a means to contact the business or representative of the business.
Take a look at your business card, would you be interested in what it has to offer or would you just throw it in the trash? When you think about it, your business card is more than just a card with your name and phone number on it. It is a mini advertisement. With imagination, you can make it actively sell you and your product rather than landing in the waste basket.
So what can you look at when redesigning your cards?
The texture and color are vitally important. Select card stock that says something about you. if you think it’s not that important, watch the next time you give a card to someone. They almost always feel the card as they talk. Give them something nice to feel. They may keep it!
The next thing they do is turn the card over. Has your card got white space on the back? You are wasting a valuable selling opportunity if it has. Just as copywriters will tell you the more you tell, the more you sell in your ads, the same applies to your business card. Remember, while you know what your company does, and the full range of products and services you provide, the customer may not. Print useful information there. Even one more sale may pay for that card a thousand times over.
Can you make your card useful? For example a card here that provides useful service from a national tire chain. Apart from having a lot of useful information on them, their cards have a tread gauge die cut into one edge. Chances are you’ll keep that, just to check your tread one day. So who comes to mind when you want tires?
Cards with a color photo? Yes, they keep you in the mind of the prospect. But, if you can, take it a step further. Picture yourself doing whatever you do, at a computer if you are a programmer, beside your Rolls fleet if you’re in the limo business. Have you won any awards for excellence in your field? Don’t keep it to yourself; put them on your business card. It is a testimonial in miniature.
Finally, please don’t save money by getting your printer to come up with a design for your business cards. or for that matter, your letterhead. Go to a good graphic artist. They may charge you what seems like a fortune. but it is a good investment. If you make do with a poorly designed card, you’ll pay more for it in the long run in lost sales and image.
