These days, there is an increase in paperless offices. However, business cards are still being a useful and crucial medium to get prospective clients or collaborators and keeping in touch with them. The use of effective business cards is a great marketing opportunity which lets us strengthen our network ability. Besides, they can help us to introduce ourselves with few words and a lot of creativity if we allow it.
Small businesses can design their own cards and print so easily. Nevertheless, we must be sure we do it in an effective way. There are common pitfalls that we can make, like forgetting important information or creating an illegible and boring design. So, with all that in mind, we shall show you how to make an innovative and successful business card.
Less is More
Business cards bring us a small space for all our information. The standard size is 55 x 85 mm, but it could depend on what we want to show in typography or design. We must use only key information, like our name, job title, company name, and contact info (phone number, email address, social media). Although it might be advisable to put all the information on the center of the card, we can make our business card memorable by being creative with the layout of the space.
Wrong or Missing Key Information
It would be awful to give our card and realize that there is a typo or that we forgot something like an email address. This can be so basic and obvious, but it can happen if we don’t make sure that all our contact details are correct. It’s important we check twice all information. Once in the beginning and other after we have the final sample.
Fit Design
First impressions count, so we have to keep in mind what kind of appearance we want to give at prospects. Therefore, we select colors, sizes, and typography according to our business area. If we want to look more creative, we can use unusual materials, like transparent plastics, woods, metals. We can even recycle paper from old cards.
Also, we recommend looking to make our cards functional. We can find business cards that have different functions and uses. For example, coffee shops that give their cards on cup holders. We only must think about what we offer and find how to project it.
Call to Action
Usually, business cards keep the back blank, but we can use it for non-critical information. For example to show a sample of our work, offer a discount, give a tip useful to the reader, etc. If we want to provide more information, using a QR code could be an excellent way to make it possible. By scanning the code, anyone could go to our online content, where we can give a complete experience.
