Elements of an Effective Business Card

• In many instances, a prospective client’s only initial contact with you will be through your business card. Depending on the situation, you may not get the chance to speak or even shake hands.

•The question is, what does your business card say about you and your business? You can find many effective business cards that consist if many different designs, but virtually all of them will have some basic characteristics in common.

What Is Effective?

• In order to produce an effective business card, it’s a good idea to figure out just what an effective business card is. In other words, what is the point or the goal of the standard business card?

• Business cards serve a few different purposes. They are a handy place for prospective customers to find your contact information, and to write extra information or details about you or your products and services.

• They also act as a portable advertisement that is both inexpensive and quite convenient.

Inclusions• For a business card to truly be effective, it must

include several key elements as part of its overall design.

• Your name, the company name and the best number to contact you at should be easy to read on the front of the card.

• The prospect may not remember your name, especially if you handed over your card at a tradeshow or similar event. But the company name will probably help to jog the memory and remind him of who you are.

• Some cards will also contain a fax and cell phone number, but if you’d rather not be contacted on some of them, it’s ok to leave them out.

Inclusions• In the modern business arena, having your

email address and website url on the card is also a must.

•Many people feel more comfortable just sending out an email or checking out the company website rather than picking up the phone and making a call.

•You want to make it as easy as possible for your prospects to find out about the company and get in touch with you in the way they like the most.

Inclusions• It’s also a good idea to have your job title printed

on the card underneath your name. This helps guide potential customers when they’re ready to make contact with the company.

• They’ll gain a better understanding of you role within the company. A tagline or short description of the business is another piece of information that will help potential customers figure out what the business is all about.

• In some cases, you can even fit some of the benefits of doing business with you into the description on the card.

The Design

•Anyone involved in business that regularly collects business cards has likely seen a wide range of designs, colors and even shapes. The design of the card can often help a card stand out from the crowd, but in most cases it just adds that little bit extra to the overall presentation.

The Design• If your company has a logo that

makes sense for a business card, you’ll want to include it as part of the design. You’ll also want to adjust the font if necessary so it’s easy to read all of your information.

The Design

•Throughout the design process, try to keep in mind that your goal is to produce a card that communicates information as clearly as possible. Feel free to use background colors that will make the card stand out from the rest, as long as the text on the card stands out from the background color and is easy to read. If someone has to pause or squint at all to take in the information, you’ve missed the mark.

The Design•Feel free to use some creative license with

any designs or artwork on the card, as long as it doesn’t look cluttered or interfere with the text. If you’re ever unsure, follow the ‘simple is best’ mantra.

•A simple design may not win any artistic awards, but it will make it easy for people to read your name and contact information and will ultimately be more effective.

The Design

•If possible, spend a little extra for better card stock to help give the perception that your business is professional and should be taken seriously. Cutting corners on the quality of the stock you use may come back to bite you down the road.

Common Mistakes

When creating a business card, it’s easy to lose sight of your goals and get a little carried away. The following are a few common mistakes that people make when creating their business cards:

 • Too much information – trying to cram as much info. as possible onto the card is only

going to make the card look cluttered and confuse the very people you want to read it.

• Not enough information – not including enough information about what you do or what the company does is a sure way to get your cards tossed in the trash.

• Distracting logos – your logo is meant to enhance the card and attract people to it. Making it the focal point of the card will only distract the eye from the important information.

• Inappropriate font – you may feel the need or desire to bring out your artistic side with fancy script or a complex font, but it isn’t a good idea. Stick with easy-to-read fonts like Arial, Times new Roman or Helvetica.

• Too many points of contact – Including three or four ways to contact you isn’t going to increase your chances of someone getting in touch. Add one reliable phone number and an email address and call it a day.

Let the Pros Handle It

• Even with so much of business moving online, business cards are still used as much as they ever were, and that trend will probably continue.

• That’s why it’s a good idea to use a professional service to print your cards. You can find a local printing shop you trust, or design and print your cards through an online service. However you do it, remember to follow all the basic rules of design and include all of the important information, so your cards are noticed and they get the job done.