Building a GREAT Business Card
This week, we will be talking about the elements of a great business card that leaves a lasting impression. As a business owner, you should ensure that your business card represents your business professionally. Even more importantly, your card should be unique and stand out; a memorable card that was designed with effort is much different than one that barely stands out. If your card does not stand out or is not clear, it will end up in the trash! You do not want that to happen, so we are going to cover some tips to help your business card leave a lasting impression. If you are going to a networking event in your area, you will want to read this post before you go.
Business Card Design
Before you even begin to design your business card, first you should have established a branding/identity system for your company. We wrote an entire blog post about branding your business earlier this month (check it out here) and we recommend that you read that first before you begin designing your business card. If you choose to design your business card now without establishing a branding system, you may be setting yourself up for an disaster related to inconsistency. Your business card MUST follow your branding guidelines; a lack of consistency in colors and fonts between your cards and other marketing materials (website, brochures, etc.) will generate confusion among your brand and also make your company look unprofessional. Once you have established your company’s branding, you can begin designing your business card. Let’s cover some general design rules to help ensure that your business cards look professional.
Avoid Microsoft Word and any template-based business cards like the plague!
One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is that they do not include business cards into their budget and just choose to make their own using Microsoft Word. This is especially bad if you just throw some text on a blank background or on a solid-colored background; Microsoft Word does not allow you to design a business card professionally. Their cliparts look extremely cartoonish, you cannot style text in a special way (WordArt doesn’t count) and there are no special effects. Also, fonts appear pixelated when printing from Microsoft Word as it is not a vector-based program.
Take a look at the example above; how professional does that design look? Business cards that are designed this way will give off the impression that the business owner is cheap and does not want to put any effort into how they represent their business. The next worst thing a business owner can do for their business card is to not be unique at all, but instead use a template-based business card from Microsoft Word or Vistaprint. Both Word and Vistaprint offer several templates to choose from, and it can be tempting to choose from them if you do not know how to design a business card. As tempting as it may be, NEVER use a template-based business card because this prohibits your business from having a unique card. Several other people are using Vistaprint’s templates and this means that your card could look exactly like someone else’s. Your business card should be designed uniquely for your business; if your business does not stand out it will blend into obscurity (especially if your business card looks just like someone else’s).
Branding guidelines must be followed
Your business card must use the same fonts and colors you used on your other marketing materials. As we mentioned above, consistency is key to a successful branding image. Don’t use different colors between your different materials as it will look extremely unprofessional on your part. Take a look at the Instagram post above where we developed the branding system for Stone Cold Meats; your business card should should tie in with the rest of your business’ marketing materials both digital and print. Take a look at their business card design in detail by visiting our Portfolio page.
Glossy cards work best with bright colors
If your company’s color scheme uses bright, vivid colors then you will want to consider using a glossy, UV-coated business card to represent your brand. Companies such as Vistaprint, for example give you the option to print your cards on glossy material (they are not a bad choice for printing your cards, but do not use their templates). When designing your business card, consider making your most vibrant color the background color; on glossy cards such colors will make your card pop. Cards that pop will be memorable and when designed in a creative, unique way they will find homes in people’s wallets and rolodex files rather than in a trash can. If appropriate, consider reds, yellows, oranges and some neon colors (don’t go overboard with neon though, the 1980s were 30 years ago).
Logo and contact information should be prominent
Remember, the main reason why you hand out a business card is so people can contact you easily if they decide they want to do business with you. Hence, people should be able to identify who you are, what company you are with and how they can contact you without having to look all over the place. Your company’s logo should be large without being too overwhelming so people will know what company they are contacting, with your contact information placed near it without any distractions. Most likely, people who receive your cards will look for your phone number or email first so this information should not have any distractions near it. Don’t clutter the front of your business card with unnecessary pictures or words; you can place additional information on the back of the card. Ensure that there is a good balance between negative space and the logo/contact information; on both the front and back of the card the design should aid and not distract from the information being presented.
Utilizing the back of a business card
The back of your business card is a great place to put information that would otherwise destroy the front of the card by making it too busy. Many people will probably forget what your company does if they do not know you well and therefore will forget what services you are offering. Use the back of your business card to list out your services; if your company offers too many services then list your most important ones or your strongest ones that generate the most income. If you have some extra space, add a QR code that links to your website (you can generate one here) or a space for clients to write down an appointment date that they set with you.
Business Card Design Checklist
Ensure that your business card has all of these elements to make sure that it is successful.
- Your company’s logo
- Your name and title
- Your company’s address
- Your company’s phone number (list all that are relevant, if you have an office line and a mobile list them both)
- Your direct email address (do not use generic email addresses such as @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, etc. Your email address should be at your website).
- Your company’s website address. (If you do not have a website, you should).
- Any social media networks your company has a presence. Have many methods for people to contact you if possible (such as Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc.)
