New Business Cards? Here's how to make it a great little piece of marketing collateral!

You can get really creative with your business card! (no, this is not mine!)

As I’ve just changed the physical location of my office (remember, I sold my office building!), I need new business cards. It’s a perfect opportunity to rethink this useful little piece of great marketing collateral!

Here is a short guide to what I think needs to be on a card and the way it could look:

Ensure all relevant information is on there:

o   Name

o   Title (eg Manager)

o   Phone (ensure it has your country code, ie +64 in front of it if you deal with overseas clients)

o   Mobile phone (same as above re the country code)

o   Physical address (include your country too!)

o   Postal address

o   Website address

o   Social media pages (if applicable)

o   Skype address (if applicable)

Look and feel:

o   Use great quality paper (I have a fettish for nice paper and only use the best, in fact, my cards have a laminated finish…nice!)

o   Use a consistent font for all your marketing material (incl website)

o   Use your brand & colours

Personalise:

o   Real estate agents do it (sometimes) and I’ve seen sales people do it too: a photo of yourself on your card. Most people don’t like it, but it’s the best way for people to remember you! My brother had a business card once (this is 8 years ago and I still remember it!) that had a photo on the back, but more a black and white one. (see pic below). Quite classy and it made people remember him!  I might try that for my next business card!

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A photo on your business card?

'Gimmicky' things:

o   If you want to be more creative, you can get business cards with all sorts of effects: cut in a particular shape. Say you sell cards; you can get it cut into a car shape. Or embossed, with a hole in it etc.

o   QR codes are still valid. If you use these, ALWAYS mention what they are referring to. For example they can scan to a mobile website, to your contact details, your phone number, a video clip etc.

So, the next time you need a new business card, put a little thought into developing it!

 

Till next week, Marijke