E-Class #40: Marketing Materials – Business Cards

Checkpoint:

You have established that role that brochures play in your business, and determined if you need one or several different brochures to fill the role(s).
You have written your brochure in a way that tells a story, provides all necessary information and focuses on customer benefits.
Your brochure design is catchy, simple and effective.

Your business card acts like a miniature advertisement about who you are and what you do as a professional.

As a formal extension of yourself in the business world, a business card is an important piece of marketing collateral. This tiny little piece of cardboard can represent not only your business, but yourself as a professional in your industry.

If you have a home-produced card, you may run the risk of looking like an amateur. However, if you’re in the recycling business and you have an expensive, glossy card, you may be communicating the wrong message about your company’s values.

Your card is a leave-behind piece that serves as a reminder of your first impression in the eyes of your clients and business associates. How do you want to be remembered? What will make you stand out?

In this E-Class we will cover:

What your business card says about you and your business
How to create business cards that get read and kept
Ideas for memorable and keep-able cards
Mistakes to avoid when creating your cards

As a piece of marketing collateral, a business card can do more than just communicate your basic contact information. Here’s a step-by-step process for creating an effective, memorable, keep-able business card.

1. How many cards do you go through in a month?

It’s helpful to start with a clear understanding of how you use your cards, as well as how often you need to order more, since this will affect your production budget.

For example, if you put a business card in each one of your customer orders, and you send thousands a month, you’re going to need a lot of cards. Or, if you hand out a few a week, then you probably will only get one set of 500 printed a year.

Write down on your notepad how many cards you think you use in a month, and times that number by 12 to get a yearly total.

Then, write down the people who receive your cards and the situations in which they do. Do you hand your cards out, or include them in product orders? This will give you an idea of who you’re marketing to when you’re creating cards for you business. Think about all of the following people:

Customers
Clients
Vendors
Colleagues
Industry Experts
Etc.

2. What are you trying to communicate?

When you have a good idea of the people who receive your cards, you can then think about what you are trying to communicate to them.

Your card should communicate the nature or industry of your business. It should be consistent with your company’s branding – including other marketing collateral and your website. Since the card is so limited in space, remember that color, graphics and font can communicate to your customers.

If you have a marketing message, slogan or tagline, that should be included on the card. You could also include a short testimonial from a happy customer.

3. What is the basic information that needs to go on the card?

A business card needs to communicate your basic contact information to potential clients, including who you are and what your business does. Make sure you’ve covered the basics and made it easy for them to be in touch.

If you operate an online store and include a card with every order, then that client needs to know what number to call if there’s a problem, and perhaps a special offer on the card to encourage her to shop again. If you’re a lawyer, then clients need to know all of your phone numbers and your physical address for couriering documents and reaching you at any time.

Name
Title
Company Name
Company Slogan / Description
Phone Number
Email Address
Fax Number
Address
Cell Number (if applicable)
Website

4. How can you make the card stand out, be remembered and get kept?

Get creative with your card, and design it so it is visually connected to the type of business you have, or the industry you’re in. If you operate a daycare, use bright colors and childlike fonts. You may even want to include a crayon with each card.

Your card can also communicate your values. If your company is highly focused on its environmental responsibility, use recycled paper. Little details will communicate big messages to the recipients.

You can also use some of these suggestions to make sure your card gets kept. Printing special offers and discounts on the back of the card may encourage recipients to keep it, in addition to things like lawn sprinkling schedules, mini calendars, or other helpful reminders. Maybe your card is a 12-month mini calendar in itself!

Here are some suggestions for little details than can have a big impact:

rounded or cropped corners
die-cut shape removed from card
magnetic back
unique materials or paper
coupon on reverse
mini map on reverse
scratch + win discount on reverse
same shape as the product you sell
square in shape
customer loyalty card on reverse

The possibilities are endless, and can be highly customized to your product or service. Just remember that before you get too attached to an idea, consider the printing costs and whether they fit into your budget.

5. Design your card with some color and graphics.

Graphics are not essential, but color will definitely help your card stand out. Again, certain colors have associations, so make sure the color you choose fits with your business. If you operate a dance studio and deal mostly with parents of young girls, you’ll want to pick a shade of pink instead of green or red. Likewise, if you own a funeral home, you’ll want to choose subdued colors as opposed to bright ones.

Keep graphics small and avoid images with too much detail. There is only so much space on one card, and detailed graphics are difficult to produce in small formats.

Place graphics secondary to your name, title and business contact information. Make sure the text is easy to read, and that key details stand out, like your company’s name and phone number.

6. Have your card professionally produced.

Business cards that have been printed on a desk-jet printer, using perforated sheets will never be able to compete with a professionally printed card. No matter how hard you may try, a ‘home job’ usually comes across as cheap or amateur.

Professional business cards can be printed inexpensively and go a long way towards conveying an image of professionalism and quality for both you and your business. There are hundreds of printing companies that offer special packages for business cards, and produce cards at a discount rate.

If you are having cards printed for several members of your company, consider having a large quantity of “blanks” printed to put yourself in a higher quantity bracket. The cost of printing more cards will then be reduced when you need to refill your supply.

Be sure to use at least 100lb card stock for your cards, and use raised ink and color where possible.
Avoid hard-to-read fonts, and don’t use fonts smaller than 9pt.
Have someone proofread the cards before they go to print to catch any last minute contact information errors.

Here are some of the most common business card mistakes you should avoid:

The contact information is out of date.

You need to make sure you’re handing out accurate information, or the whole purpose of the card is wasted. If you need to, correct new phone numbers and email addresses with a pen, and get new batch printed ASAP.

The contact information is incomplete.

People expect a range of options for reaching you and for finding out more about your business. Make sure you include at least your phone number, email address and website address, as well as the physical address of your business.

The type is too small.

Don’t make your audience have to grab a magnifying glass, or “decode” the type on the card. Make your card easy to read, or it will get tossed.

You can’t write on it.

Most people make notes on business cards to trigger their memories, or for following up later. If your card is glossy, or had no white space, it will be difficult to write on and could run the risk of getting tossed.

The back side is blank.

While not all business cards are two-sided, as a small business owner you’re missing out on a prime opportunity if you leave the back side blank. Use this space to give your client a reason to keep the card. Print a coupon or special offer on the back, and you’ll also be able to track where the lead came from.

No marketing message or statement.

If your business name doesn’t immediate describe the product or service you provide, be sure to include a tagline or your marketing message on the card. This will also enable you to describe what makes you better than the competition.

Too big or oddly sized.

While you want to stand out, if your card doesn’t fit in the rolodex or business card holder, it may get thrown away or overlooked because it isn’t stored with the rest. Try to be aware of standard business card sizes, and create your interesting shape within those parameters.

Invest in a unique and professional business card to represent both yourself and your business.

Hope you’re brimming with creative ideas for your next set of business cards. There’s so much you can do without spending a ton of money. The key is to be original and include some reason for the recipient to keep it – even if that reason is simply how original the card is!

In the next E-Class I’m going to delve into the confusing world of online marketing. Actually, once you know what the most effective strategies are and how to implement them, it’s not that confusing – it’s pretty simple!

Speak with you next week!