As a business professional it is important to make a good impression, so why do so many professionals overlook the obvious first impression they often give to their colleagues, their business card. Your business card is your opportunity to impress potential clients and customers with a positive brand image about doing business with you.
You have the do-it-yourself online tools to produce business cards but sometimes these cards are easily identifiable because they are not custom and used by many other people. Also when use the free do-it-yourself tools you need to remember to pay the extra charge to remove the signage on the back of the card that may say “This card was printed Free from ….”. You have to think about what type of message that sends to those people you’re trying to do business with? It may draw questions like, is this person going to cut corners when they are doing work for me?
Some helpful tips to a well designed business card include:
1) Get help from a professional designer – When looking for a designer review samples of their work to get an idea of their capabilities and style before you make a decision. This same designer should also be able to assist you with items such as your company letterhead, brochures, envelopes, posters, etc. so your branding is uniform.
2) Keep the standard business card size unless your confident the design of the business card is impressive. You can make changes to the standard business card to make it different such as having rounded edges or choosing complimenting color chooses or even printing it vertically rather then horizontally.
3) Make sure you include your contact information on the card but don’t go overboard with information. Keep it simple, include your name, company name & title, office number, mobile number, fax, email address, physical or mailing address, and website address. When possible include your company logo on your card for brand identification.
4) The back of the card can be left blank or your can add your company tag line/mission statement or brief bullets points of your services but don’t try to cram a lot of information on the back of your card.
