Now, hopefully you have a great brand that doesn’t need a lot of updating. But, if you merge with another company or add a new line of products and your brand shifts ever so slightly, you need to update your business card to reflect your new brand.

Your brand shows everyone your business’ personality, and your business cards should reflect your current brand. Whenever you give someone your card, they’ll most likely look at it three times - once when they receive it, once when they put it their pocket or wallet, and finally when they are deciding whether to keep it or trash it.

That’s three occasions for your card to make an impression on someone. Ideally, each time a person looks at your card, they should feel the same about your brand - impressed and interested.

To keep people interested, you can use the following tips to use your business card to market your brand:

Use a professional designer. Even if you don’t know a professional designer, you can find one through most printing companies. A pro knows good design and how to create a look that will give off the image you’re trying to project.

Use color printing. Many business cards are blah - black and white. To really stand out and show your logo well (your logo should be part of your brand), spend a little extra money to print cards in color. There are also many other printing options, such as embossing and foil stamping, which will make your business card interesting to look at and memorable.

Laminate one side of your card. This will help your brand image by keeping your business cards strong and sturdy. They won’t get as dirty or creased, which will keep the card, and you, looking professional. Laminating just one side is key because you want people to be able to write on one side of your card - if they’ve written on it, they’ll be more apt to keep it. Laminate the front and you can hand write your personal number on the back, and your text won’t fade from rubbing in a wallet. Or you can laminate the back if your cardstock has a nice texture that shows off your font well, or if you use embossing.

Use the back of your card. You can use the back for important emergency phone numbers, a small calendar or to list your services. This will show people that you make the most of what you’ve got and will also give recipients valuable information to boot.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Color Printing

Charen Smith writes articles about Internet Marketing. She has an extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to business strategies, techniques and business solutions.

Smith, Charen “How Well Does Your Business Card Market Your Brand?.” How Well Does Your Business Card Market Your Brand? EzineArticles.com.

Use the same font and design style on your business card that you use on your other marketing materials. Your business card is part of your branding strategy, so it should match the rest of your brand’s image. Online business card printing services can make this easy for you by easily uploading the font used on your other marketing materials.

Use prominence basics. Your name should either be the first or second element people notice when they first look at your card. If your name isn’t the first element that catches people’s attention, then your logo should be the number one element.

The rest of your contact information, including your company’s name, should be in smaller font. You don’t want too much information competing to be read first. Make it easy for the reader by making what you want them to see first the biggest element on your card.

Use your logo. Don’t forget to add your logo - it will probably be your only graphic design on the card. And if people see your logo on your card, they’ll be more apt to remember your logo the next time they see it in an advertisement or when they drive past your store.

Don’t use clip art. Clip art doesn’t look professional and it’s probably not licensed for logo use anyway so you could face legal issues if you do use it. Hire a graphic designer to help you come up with a graphic or logo that is unique to your company. Also, anyone can use clip art, so it won’t help you stand out from your competitors.

Use the back side of the card. You’ll get the most benefit from your money by using the back side of your card. You can either include a short list of benefits and/or services your company provides, or you can include some helpful information like local emergency numbers or a three- or six-month calendar (a yearly calendar would be too small to fit on the back).

Pick the right paper or cardstock. The feel of your business card is just as important as its look. If your business card is flimsy, people will think you don’t have the money for good quality paper and are therefore unstable. However, if you use nice, heavy cardstock that has some texture to it, your card will exude a classy feel. Feel different types of paper at a stationery store or at a printing company. Pick the one that gives you the reaction you want people to feel when they hold your card.

Make your card functional. One functional idea is to make your business card into a magnet. Magnetic business cards are very popular because everyone uses magnets and you’re business card will be in a place people look several times a day.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Online Business Card Printing and Magnetic Business Cards.

Smith, Charen “High Impact Business Card Design.” High Impact Business Card Design EzineArticles.com.

• Website(s)
• Email Addresses
• Instant Messaging ID’s
• Social Properties (a-la Facebook)

and of course the original stuff:

• Name
• Title
• Company Name
• Phone Number
• Fax Number
• Physical Address

 
You get the picture.  There just isn’t much room on a 2.5 by 3 card to hold all that stuff, is there?
 
Nope!
 
So people have started shrinking the size of the font they use so they can cram it all on. 
 
This just makes a business card too hard (especially for an aging population) to read.
 
Listen if I can’t just glance at your card to get your phone number or email address, guess what?  I’m not contacting you, unless you are the ONLY one who can provide a solution for me, which is not very likely is it, so I’ll go to the next gals card. 
 
So how do we solve this dilema?
 
Glad you asked! 
 
First of all don’t shrink the font. 

Next review what information you really want on your card.  In most cases you probably won’t be putting your Facebook or Instant Messaging ID’s, unless you really want people to contact you that way.

Then you could create some white-space by using some abbrieviations like “P:” for Phone Number, “E:” for email address, etc…

Finally consider designing multiple cards, focusing each design on a segment of your target market.  This will allow you to create a more compelling reason for someone to contact you.

Have a good one!
Mark

Today, I’ll share with you a “best” (by vote) answer I gave on the very popular Yahoo answers site.

The question was around what key information to put on a freeelancer type business card.  In particular they were wondering about putting their home address.

FYI: I ran away with 100% of the votes for best answer, which is:

Only include information about ways that you want to be contacted.

If you want to meet people at your home then include your home address.

If you only want people to contact you through your website, only put that.

The thing is most business people load all kinds of contact information onto their business cards, but it’s better (for you) to just give the contact points that you want to  actually use.

I’m glad people on Yahoo liked my short and to the point answer and hope this helps you with your next business cards.

Have a great day!
Mark

Being the business card guy that I am, I picked one up.

I think the person must have been really impressed with the business card scene from the slasher flick American Psycho (this scene is on my business card videos page), because their business card design sure is similar.

Plain white background!

Name in big letters in the middle!

Vague description of what they do! (Artist/Photograher)

And even more:

No Address (well they had the city and province)

No web site address

A generic ISP-based email address

It did however, have a phone number! Unfortunatley just no particular reason to use it.

So how can this card be improved?

Let’s see…

Plain white background. There is nothing wrong with being minimalist in your business card design.  So this part is fine, and could even help the card to stand out in a crowd of other business cards.

Name in big letters. While we all like to see our name stand out, the main thing this persons prospects are likely interested in are what type of art and/or photography they do.

Vague description.  Art and photography are pretty big categories.  Make it more specific.  Do you excel at certain types of art or prefer doing specific photography?

(Rant warning: a business card should focus on one thing. If you specialize in more than one thing, you need to have multiple business cards.)

Generic ISP-based email.  Gotta get rid of that, a business that doesn’t have it’s own website and email address just screams unprofessional, and possibly fly-by-night!  It costs like $10 bucks a month to have your own domain and email address, get it!

Okay, I hope this helps in your business card success.

Have a great day!
Mark