Over the last ten years it has become more and more common for businesses to create their own unique card which include business details and then distribute them to the relevant audience in the outside world. It is one of the best methods in getting your company’s name out there and recognised and with that, the company can expand thanks to the promotion through these business cards. There are many stores in the city that offer you a chance to design your own business card printing Belfast.
Business cards date back to another time but thee days it is a given for some companies to have them, and even more so for one man businesses, accountancies, hospitals, banks and people working freelance who are trying to get their name made.
Business cards play a pivotal role in helping to increase the awareness of a company, business or even person to the general public. It has been a means of promotion and advertising for many years.
One of its main attractions from the public eye is its professionalism. When people see a business card they immediately assume the person or business is well regarded and proficient in handling queries or whatever other services they offer.
Details on a business card are usually kept to a minimum, purely down to the lack of space you are given due to the nature of a business card’s size. Relevant details such as Company name/Person’s name, telephone or fax number, e-mail address and possibly a one line description of what the company or business offers. With those short details alone the card is instantly revealing and its something that clients can carry at all times in their wallet, their jacket pocket, or else keep it safe with other business cards.
While black and white print is usually a good way of showing the nature of a company sometimes it can be a good thing to print the card in colour. It makes it more attractive and also helps it stand out amongst other business cards. This is usually recommended if you are trying to promote a retail store or small scale store such as party shops or garages. People working within hospitals or dentists and the like are usually recommended to use black and white print when creating business cards, not to withdraw any sincerity in the tone of the card.
Finally when creating your business card printing Belfast you must make sure that the text and font is easy to read. Remember it is going to be small due to the size of the card itself, which is why you must ensure that the text isn’t difficult to decipher.

Do you consider your business card a marketing tool, or just a basic business necessity? If your answer is “a basic business necessity”
you’re missing out on an inexpensive, often overlooked, valuable marketing tool.

I think many small business owners miss the boat when it comes to their business card. I’m looking at a variety of cards right now that I’ve received over the past few months.

Most of them are missing at least one key element that could be helping them attract more clients and prospects.

Most business cards include the basic contact information, but that’s where they stop.

Your business card is a marketing opportunity. Every time you hand one out, it’s a chance to communicate something about your business. It’s a chance to help establish your brand identity.

And, it’s a chance to attract prospects and clients to your business.

But only if you include the proper information.

Following is my list of 10 things every business card should include, along with a few basic tips on creating a business card that works hard for your business. While some of it seems pretty basic, you’d be surprised what I see on some business cards!

Use it as a checklist to evaluate your business card to see how it measures up.

1. Your Name

Obvious I know, but please make it easy to find and read. No mouse-type and don’t bury it among other information.

2. Your Title

You’d be surprised how many people leave this off. I recently
received the business cards from two gentlemen who work for a
major public relations firm.
One is the founder and president, the other an assistant. Neither of
their cards feature job titles. If time goes by and I forget who they are, or if I pass along their cards or contact info to someone else,
they might not have any idea one of them is the owner of the company.

Too bad. It doesn’t cost any more to print a title on the card.

3. Your Business Name

Most people get this one right. If, however, you don’t have a business name, and you’re operating as “Mary Smith, Accountant” you need to get one. Even if you’re operating as a sole proprietor, a business name tells your prospects you’re serious, that this is a business and not a hobby.

For tips on naming your business, you can read my article “Naming Your Business: 3 Tips to Ensure Success”

If you hand someone a traditional, black and white paper business card, chances are they are going to just put it in their purse or wallet and forget about it. Or they might even just throw it directly into the trash.

However, if you hand a customer an unconventional, unique business card, they might just remember it. And, if you are really fortunate (or if you design a really unique card), they might even use your card to call you up and give you their business.

Before you plan your next business card printing project, consider the following points:

• Unconventional business cards get noticed. Like I said earlier, people are so accustomed to the regular old black and white cards that they usually ignore them. You have to make cards that will get noticed, and if it takes an unconventional card to make that happen, so be it.

• Unconventional business cards get kept much more frequently than regular cards. If a customer keeps your cards, instead of throwing them in the trash, then there is a much better chance that they will eventually purchase from you.

• Some unconventional cards are printed on sturdy material such as metal or plastic, both of which are far more durable than traditional paper cards. Not to mention the fact that cards made of metal or plastic (or even wood) will be much more noticeable.

• It is much easier to make your business cards relate to your business if you are willing to use unconventional materials. For instance, if you own a locksmithing company, why not make your business cards out of lock picks? Or, if you make furniture as part of your business, consider making your business cards out of wood.

• You can use unconventional cards in ways that make them more useful than traditional cards. For instance, you can turn your business cards into roadmaps, so your customers can use them later. Or you can make business cards out of that lottery ticket scratch off material, to give the recipient a neat thing to do while learning about your business.

When it comes to business cards, the possibilities really are endless. And if you are willing to go down an unconventional route when designing your cards, you can really do some crazy things. Getting crazy is not such a bad idea when it comes to marketing. In fact, sometimes that is the only way to get noticed.

I hate to use a cliché, but “thinking outside the box” is a great idea when it comes to designing your business cards. Try to break the barriers to your own thinking, and design some truly memorable cards.

Besides their first impressions of you personally, a business card is often the first line of offense most people use to determine your status. Typical business cards using black type on basic white card stock, screams ‘typical person-typical business.’ But you, of course are not a typical person. You are a somebody looking to become famous, so allow your business card to reflect this.

Denise Chaplin, owner of Chaplin Lighting, increased her number of appointments with apartment complex managers by 43% the first month she started using her unusual business cards. They had a pop-up lamp shade on them with some kind of chemically treated paper that caused a luminescent glow inside of the lamp shade. Even better, more than half of the appointments booked were because the managers had called her instead of her having to call on them for appointments.

Denise ended up doing so well that she told Steve, a gentleman who supplied apartment complexes with water-saver toilets. Even though I’d never personally met him, he ended up sending me his version of an unusual business card, a toilet seat! Because he got the seats directly from the manufacturer at a cheap price, he decided to slip a cardboard piece around the seat with his name, address, phone and fax numbers and a 10% off discount coupon. He received two new clients the same week that he sent them out.

Benefits:

95% of people with business cards use the basic black on white scheme, nothing overly impressive. By using a little creativity with your cards you can be assured that people will remember you 70% more than your basic black and white counterparts.

When people remember who you are, sales calls become easier to make. People tend to keep unusual business cards five times more than typical ones. Technique Tips:

Travel Agent:

A card with a pop-out plane that has a flexible spring behind it so it looks like the plane is
flying.

Bakery:

A business card that smells like chocolate-chip cookies.

Stress Management Consultant:

A card with one of those ‘press-your-finger-here’ stress tests on it so people can test their
stress levels.

Bonus Unusual Business Card Idea’s For Anyone

Go to your local office supply store and purchase some business card size magnets. Take your business card, place it on the sticky side and you’ll have a business card that can be placed on any magnetic surface. Excellent if you sell your product or service to consumers because they’ll place it on their refrigerators giving you a 24-hour billboard.

If you are in the graphic design business, you know that your standing, not to mention the stability of your wallet, depends on your ability to create eye-catching designs that ultimately astound your clients. Business cards are the simplest form of advertising but they are the most challenging medium to design. Some text, a picture and a symbol is what you are typically limited to on business cards due to their small size, 3.5-inch by 2-inch; they must also contain the identical type of information. The key to reputation out – and therefore impressing your customers – is to experiment different business card layouts.

Here are a few instructions for creating business card layouts that customers love.

Vary backgrounds or shapes

If you want to make your business card easily standout, you should contrast two parts of the card. For example, you could place the logo and business name on a white background on the top half of a horizontal layout, use a curved line as separator, and to distinguish the bottom half fill it with a shade of one of the business colors.

Place pertinent information inside shaded boxes, circles, triangles or other shapes and use no more than three colors; two colors can often be enough to create stunning designs.

Small text

Amateur designers often use large fonts that cheapen the overall look of the business card. A distinguished expert in his/her given field is what a customer would like to look whether he/she is professional clown or corporate executive. Use small text to avoid making a business card look gaudy, they are fun and elegant. This is not to say the font should not be readable, so keep in mind that most fonts will look best in the 10 to 14-point range. Giving these sizes to your clients will make their business cards look great, and therefore earn the respect of their customers.

Write vertically

Placing the corporation name, card-issuer name, or tag line on a design element perpendicular to the rest of the card’s text usually makes the card more appealing. For example on a horizontal card, you could have a photograph on the far left with the corporation’s name positioned vertically on the photograph’s right side. The top right quadrant can be white with the card-issuer’s name and position, and the bottom right quadrant could be shaded in one of the company’s colors and can contain the tag line and contact information.

Offset elements

Placing text in the center of business cards is what designers usually do, or right justify everything with the business name in the center. This is a pretty basic and bland approach. Mix things up in your business card layout with offsetting elements. You could use a vertical layout and put the individual’s name in the top left corner, center the sign a few spaces down, then right justify the company name and contact information at the bottom of the card. Experimentation is the key to obtaining an great business card design, so experiment with several layout elements, re-size them, and reposition them.

The big picture

Putting a photo of the individual on a business card is standard in many industries. In the upper right quadrant of the business card, in small boxes, is where you would usually see these photographs. Today’s artistic designers, however, are breaking outside the box with larger photos that lend to the overall aesthetic appeal of business cards. For example, on one-third of the card’s total space place a large photograph, then use a transparent gradient to fade it into the remainder of the business card layout. Other ways to emphasize, a specific individual and their skills, include using a full-body photograph interacting with the card’s text elements (smiling and pointing to the tag line, for instance) or depicting the individual working, like a contractor with a clipboard supervising a building construction.

Although all business cards serve the same function, they certainly don’t have to be similar. By using elegant design, like shapes, styles, colors, you will assure yourself a business card layout that customers will adore.

Do you run a business? Do you have a business card? If not, why not? Today, everyone should carry business cards no matter if they work freelance, work for themselves, are employed by a company, or are a homemaker or retired. A business card is a simple and easy way for you to exchange personal information with a friend, acquaintance, business associate, or neighbor. Thanks to the internet, you can even design and order your business cards right online. Let’s take a look at what goes into a business card and what you should expect when ordering business cards online.

Yahoo! No, I don’t mean the search engine company, instead the feeling you get when you design and order your business card right online. Here are some things you should know before designing your own business card:

Quick and Easy: Thanks to some lovely templates you can design your card within minutes, place your order, and your finished cards will arrive within a week to ten days. Some companies allow for you to upload your own artwork or a picture. Usually a nominal fee, about five dollars, is assessed, but it is typically a one time fee at that.

Pack It In: Okay, you don’t want to overwhelm people with tons of useless information, but you do need essential contact information on your business card. Things to include: your name, address, telephone number, fax, cell phone, company name, and title. A tag line can be cool too to help people remember who you are.

One Side Or Two: Most people only print up one side, but business cards do have two sides to them. Slap a useful calendar on the back, or some other personal information.

Plain or Glossy: If you want a real attention grabber, select glossy paper to get noticed.

Use Colors: Black on white is okay, but four colors is fabulous! Hey, you want to stand out from the rest, right? Dress up your business cards to really zing!

Quality and Quantity: You already have a nice card, so why order only 500? Order more and pay less per card! Some companies run specials especially if you order 2500 or more. Don’t worry: the next time you head off to a convention you will be depositing your cards left and right.

Once you have settled on a design and submitted your order then relax. When your order arrives, check it out to make certain that all errors were caught with your first proofing. If all is good, consider ordering matching envelopes, paper, magnets, etc. Hey, your business cards look terrific so why not do the same with the rest of your supplies?

Have you seen the custom business cards being given around lately? They are becoming fancier and fancier. I have seen business card templates using every color of the rainbow. There are color business cards out there with glitters, ribbons and gold embossed lettering. In addition, there are business cards out there with different shapes and sizes.

Business card printing has become a lot more diverse, creative, bright and fancy. Therefore, I have setup this simple manly guide to business card printing. If you do not want to be stuck with all those all too colorful business card templates and have a decent, respectable and eye-catching business card this is the article to read.

1. Use a simple but dignified design. There are a lot of business card templates out there from business card printing companies that are getting a little way over the top. If you are not designing your own custom business card, then try to choose a simple and respectable design for your business card. Everyone might be convincing you to try the more fancy and expensive design, but does not necessarily mean its better. Pick a design that suits you and your profession. For businesspersons you do not have go all artistic. A business is a serious and respectable task so print a business card deserving of that image.

2. Work only with a few proper color themes. You do not have to get too overboard with your color business cards. Everyone is saying that you need to stand out. I have seen red, lime green and pink business cards. Yes, they may be eye catching, but it sends the wrong message. It is loud and speaks of vanity. If you want to use colors in your business card use only one or two. Pick a comfortable color to look at. Something that would lend dignity to your calling card without having it look too loud. Use colors like cyan and teal, which are cool colors for the eyes.

3. If you have to put pictures, use workable decent ones. Some people think that artsy images and complex intricate designs have to mark your business cards. It is true that business cards are more memorable with an image. However, they do not have to be flagrant right? If you are using your own picture, place a well-groomed image of yourself dressed in your best. No fancy poses. You should look respectable. However, if you are going to use another image like a clip-art or drawing, keep it in line with your theme and personality.

4. Business cards are about yourself, be memorable and use your unique tag line. If your company has a tag line or if you have a motto for yourself you can put it in your business card. With a well-written tag line, you will be easily remembered. Place it at the top of your name or company logo as a teaser, or add it below them as a “title” of sorts. When people read tag lines, they associate it with a brand or person. Whose tag line is “just do it”? As you can see, it sticks, so your tag line should stick to you too.

5. Have your business cards printed in high quality paper. As always, print your business cards using the best quality paper on your budget. You cannot hold back here. It sends the message that you are paying attention to yourself and your business that is why your business card deserves to be the best too.

Simple right? You do not have to be caught up in those design fads for business cards. Proper business cards or “manly” ones do not have to get too fancy. They have to function well, portray your competence and approachability and above all get you remembered.

Business cards or as I like to refer to them as conversation starter then memory joggers and aided recall on who was the guy/gal who does that. The power of a business card has evolved from the desktop rolodex or as I prefer, the always reliable zip lock bag, to the online business card manager. Technology has taken us from searching the rolodex to manually inputting in contacts to scanning in the information.

This change in the way we handle business cards has also changed the value of the design of a business card. Creating a cool business card is still a priority however with all the do it yourself templates the coolness can lack and more importantly the differentiation has diminished. Budgets do not always support hiring a graphic design agency to design a business card so here are some tips to keep in mind.

1. Layout. Horizontal or Vertical? The size of a standard business card does not change so deciding if a horizontal or vertical card will work best is determined by the logo design and the amount of information on the card.

2. Information. The amount of information varies generally by size of company, industry as well as the best way to contact you. The logo, your name, title (although some are eliminating this), phone number, email and address (again this is being eliminated). A good rule is to have the best way to contact you. If you are an avid tweeter, then your twitter name should be included, as a small business if your address is your home then omitting this might be a good idea.

3. Color Choice. White or a flood of color for the background? White is standard and safe where a colored background stands out. Utilizing colored backgrounds does differentiate however they still need to be legible. Having a card that looks great at first sight but not easily read does get you remembered but as the person whose card we cannot read.

4. Fonts. The font that is chosen for your logo is not necessarily the best choice for the information on your card. Look at each character and make sure that they are legible. There are so many fonts that can make a number or letter look different that can change the appearance.

5. Font Color. Incorporating your company colors is a great way to further your corporate identity however some colors do not reproduce well together. Red vibrates and with certain background colors it may at first glance stand out, it can very hard to read.

6. Dye Cuts. Dye cuts differentiate and are cool business cards so long as your corporate identity supports it. Graphic elements that are a part of your logo sometimes reproduce better with a dye cut so long as it does not interfere with your information.

7. Single Sided/Double Sided. It used to be that the back was to be blank so people could write on the back. With the emergence of social media and the various applications the back of the business card can be valuable space. This once again comes down to the providing information on the best way to contact you.

8. Paper Stock. 14pt,12 pt,100 pound cover, 80 pound cover – all industry jargon but what is the standard? Generally 14pt or 100 pound cover works best as these are similar. There is ink saturation levels that play a role as well. Another consideration is gloss or matte. Certain colors can get muddy with either a gloss or matte.

The way we interact with business cards has changed however the importance of having a business card that represents your business has not. Meeting someone for the first time face to face is still brings out traditional tried and true business card. The lasting impression, the memory jogger that can set you apart from everyone in the room.

Suzanne Vara is a principle at Kherize5 Advertising & Marketing, a Las Vegas based agency. We provide innovative marketing solutions by combining traditional advertising and marketing with social interactive media.