Believe it or not your business cards will often be how you are remembered. You probably already know that you absolutely need to have a business card for your business, but why?

Anytime anyone in your company is coming in contact with potential clients, they can and should be handing out a business card. This combination of talking to someone in person and getting a promotional printed piece given to you, that you’re “supposed to keep”, makes business cards a very powerful marketing tool. Especially when you compare them to yet another direct mail piece that has no personal connection and usually ends up in the trash!

So putting the extra effort into creating a really great business card design is a truly cost effective marketing strategy.

Whether you’re a designer or not, there are certain challenges whenever designing a business card:

• Their so small! To create a distinguished, highly professional looking printed piece at 31/2” x 2” can be daunting.
• Standing out. A business card’s only purpose is to be remembered. How do you make a positive powerful impression that really stands out?
• Readability. Often you will be trying to fit a lot of information on this tiny card, how do you ensure that what is important gets read.

To make your business cards stand out, color is a must. By using color in your business card design you can communicate what your company does that much more clearly. Research has shown that cards designed in color are less likely to be thrown away, and more likely to be remembered. The bottom line is that your cards will look better and be more effective if you design them in color.

Printing business cards in full process color is also of low cost than you might expect. Get an instant price quote on our low cost business cards.

With all the information you want to put on your card, plus your logo and/or design elements, it's hard to avoid overcrowding your design. This makes your card look less professional, and also makes it less readable. The problem is how small business cards are, combined with the limits of readable font sizes. There are two things you can do to avoid overcrowding:

1. Really narrow down what is essential information to have on your card. Remember this is not a brochure or other printed piece advertising everything you do. It is simply a point of contact that will be remembered and conveys what your company is about.
2. Consider using a double-sided business card.

Someone looking at your card needs to instantly see what your business does. If you serve a specific group of people, then who are they? For example, if you service home computers, then you not only need to convey that you fix computer problems, but that you specialize in home computers rather than business computer problems with network concerns etc.

The paper stock used to print a business card says almost as much as the design of the card. Avoid using flimsy or low cost paper that will end up with rough edges and a homemade feeling when you hold it. At Frontline we only use high quality, thick paper stock for our business cards.

Information you will need to include on your business card:

• Company logo
• Company name
• Individual’s name
• Company address
• Telephone number
• Toll free number if different
• Cell phone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Website URL

How can such small cards get so many typos? It’s hard to say, but they do! Numbers and address information are harder to proof read, and problems usually occur when you design and print business cards for many different people in the same company.

Get at least 2 other people to proof read all your cards (on paper) before printing them.