Business Card Design
Pocket Marketing Tools for Business Networking Events
Well-designed business cards are pocket marketing tools that will generate leads long after the networking event is over.
Business card design is frequently given short shrift by new entrepreneurs and experienced business owners alike. Unless the business specializes in graphic design or marketing (and sometimes even when it does), the design of this pocket marketing tool falls low on the list of budget items. Desktop publishing makes it easy to quickly create and print a card from a home computer. However, a business card which is not designed well is often tossed into a desk drawer or Rolodex after the networking event, and does the business no good whatsoever.
Business Card Exchanging Should Be Convenient
Business card design must strike a balance: it must stand out, but it should be enough like all the other cards out there that it won't be a nuisance to the people that receive it. Jacci Howard Bear, About.com's desktop publishing guide, wrote a thorough overview of business cards in which she discusses the parts of a business card. There is a tremendous amount of important information to be considered when designing this pocket marketing tool, and some decisions will lead to a card that never sees the light of day.
Skilled networkers use a rolodex or binder to organize business cards. Elements that make a business card inconvenient to these systems should be avoided, and include:
- Vertical layout.
- Magnetic cards (these may serve a purpose, but not for business networking events).
- Nonstandard sizes - cards that are not about the size and shape of a credit card.
- Folding cards - the additional information makes the card thick and inconvenient, less likely to be used again later.
Pocket Marketing Requires Good Design
Fitting every possible bit of information onto such a small piece of paperboard will take some time and creativity. Decisions about the use of a logo and tag line must be balanced with need to have the card announce its business easily to the casual observer. Seth Godin blogged about tasteful business card design perfunctorily, but his opinions on good card design are helpful.
Not All Information Belongs on Every Business Card
There is too much contact information to include it all on a business card. Some of it must be sacrificed to make room for the business name, and logo if used. The decision on what contact information to keep should be guided by how it will be used to network, and by common sense.
- Email addresses should be standard on today's business cards. Moreover, if the company has a web page, the email address should be at the company's domain (jsmith@mycompany.com, not jsmith1234@aol.com). It's very easy to set up email forwarding, and this eliminates the need for a web page on the business card.
- Phone numbers should be limited to one, even if there is an office line, a cell phone, a pager, and a fax machine. If call forwarding is not an option, provide the best contact number and make sure the others are available at that number.
- Physical address is still necessary on business cards, even for businesses that work entirely remotely. It gives your networking partners another way to connect with the company if it's local, and a sense of legitimacy if it's not. Additionally, savvy networkers will often send written invitations and thank you notes after working together.
A well designed business card is one aspect of business networking. Learning how to speak to people and hand out the cards is the other part of the equation, but a good business card design will keep that card from collecting dust when it should be collecting revenue.
