Are Your Business Cards Really Impressive?
February 28th, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — Advertising AuthorBusiness cards are essential for any business. You might think you can get by without, but life will proof you wrong. Business cards are a networking tool and they can open the door to major deals, but one thing needs to be right: the business card design and quality
Pick the cheapest design from OfficeMax and you are just wasting a lot of money. White cardboard with black print on it will not cut it. The following items can make or break your business card success.
The Business Card Material
Business cards are usually made up of a special kind of cardboard. This cardboard is different from that we usually see used for greeting cards or any other card for that matter. There is a particular measurement of the thickness for business cards – go below the established quality and you are wasting money. This thickness level is measured in “msg”. A good business card thickness level should be around 400 msg. You can also have business cards made from plastic, metal, or other sturdy materials. These kind of business cards are usually a little more expensive, but they can stick out of the crowd of business cards and open the doors.
The Business Card Layout
With your new business card, you should get as creative as possible. Remember to design a look that is a) professional and b) unique. However, while designing the layout of your business card, you still must follow certain business card standards. You can use fonts of your choice, a background color or background image and even a small photo would look acceptable. However, keep enough gutter space and use a readable fonts so that the prints appear neat and highly visible. If it takes too long to read your business card information you wasted your money.
The Business Card Printing
This is one of the most critical aspects of your business cards. Go cheap and you will waste your money. The print quality has to be high in quality. It should be sharp, crisp and the output should offer the ability to read the card in just moments of time.
While many businesses prefer to work with a local print shop, they are missing out on the crop of online business card printing services. Why? Those businesses that use the Internet to acquire new customers have specialized in providing better design options, lower prices, and to cater to businesses that do not really need a local print shop. Their optimized order and design processes are easy to use and a large variety of online help options makes this kind of ordering easy. We have seen great design templates online that none of the local stores we surveyed could match. There was always an additional layer of cost added – a designer. And while a designer might be helpful in many cases, you are able to design unique looking business cards online.
Conclusion: Business Cards are a critical tool for success when doing business face to face with others. You have only a few seconds to get a) noticed and b) your message across. With the right business card you can be ahead of your competition.
Christoph Puetz is an international author writing about business and health related topics. He has also been writing about free business cards and their business impact.
