I’ll admit it, I am business cards snob. When I am out networking, meeting new people or having coffee with a client, as soon as they hand me their business card I take my thumb and flick the corners. I feel how thick the paper is, what the texture of the paper is like and see how their design looks. I can always tell when people really put time and effort into their business cards and when they don’t.
I make an instant judgment on how serious they are about their business based on what I am holding in my hands.
A business card is more than just a piece of paper with contact information. It is the commercial, the billboard, the book cover for everything your business is about. Make it beautiful, worthy and presentable. You wouldn’t go on a first date wearing a dirty shirt and messy hair. You would put time, thought and energy in making a great, clean, sophisticated first impression.
When you are grooming your business card, consider the following:
- Use a good quality paper. Card stock is always recommended, but a lot of print companies use Pounds (#) when referring to paper. The higher the pound number, the thicker the paper; I recommend not going below a 110# paper.
- Consider foiling, embossing, and thermography. It adds more sophistication and professionalism to the card. When people feel more on the card, they will be more interested in it, thus more likely to ask you about it and keep it.
- Get a good design. The design is so important. It is the visual that is associated with your business. Every community has graphic designers full of creativity; post an ad on craigslist.org and you will get multiple bids from designers willing to make something just for you. Remember, spend money on your image, and it will pay itself back.
- Don’t clutter your card. Too much information makes your card hard to read; people don’t want to search all over your card to try and figure out who you are. All you need is your name and three forms of contact. Put your number, your email and your mailing address (or PO Box) on your card. If you have a website put that on there as well so people can easily learn about your business. Don’t put your Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, company statement and all those other wordy strings of information. That is for the follow up email.
How will people judge your business card? Remember at the end of it all you are aiming for that end of the night kiss; let your business card seal the deal.
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