When you go into business, there are usually two things that you think of to make it official – a website and business cards.
Business cards are the way to give out your information at a trade show, networking event, or during a random conversation that turns into business.
Business cards have been shown to increase sales by at least 2%, but they can also get tossed away if they’re not impressive.
Would you like to learn how to print business cards that stand out from the crowd? Read this to find out.
Business Cards with a Purpose
You want to start figuring out our business card design and printing with a purpose in mind. Why do you want business cards?
In most cases, you want to have an easy way to pass out information about your company. They will also work to create the first impression of your business. A well-designed card will leave people impressed and want to know more about your business.
A cluttered card will leave the wrong impression and could lead people to ignore your card or just throw it away.
Not only do you want to know the purpose of having business cards, but you want to know who you’re designing them for. For example, if your business is a B2B business, your business cards will take on a much different tone than business cards designed for a B2C audience.
What’s Your Business About
Do you understand what your brand is? It’s not your logo. A brand is the feeling or thought that someone has when they think about your company.
For example, when you think of your favorite sports team, you think about incredible athletes or a winning team. When you think of their rivals, you think about a horrible club with horrible people.
What do you want people to think about when they think of your company? An IT company may want to be known for reliability and security. A fitness company can be knows for weight loss results.
This is a critical piece to think about because your business card has about 2 inches of space to convey that emotion. This will come into play when you start to design your cards.
The Most Important Information on Business Cards
Back in the day, you used to put all of your information on business cards. You’d put your name, your company address, phone number, title, fax number, and email address.
Then social media handles came along and got added to business cards, too.
You want to figure out the most important information that someone needs on your business card. That would be your name, contact information, and why they should contact you.
Think of this this way, you’re at a massive networking event with hundreds of other people all exchanging business cards with each other.
You hand out a lot of cards, but when people look through a stack of business cards, will they remember the conversation you had or why they collected your card?
Adding a simple tag line that says what your company does, who it’s for, and what results you get for people would be ideal.
Designing Your Business Cards
This is the part where you get to put it all together. You don’t need to be a design expert to design your business cards. You can use online tools to nail down the design of the cards.
Photoshop or inDesign are tried and true design tools that you can use to create your business cards. However, both tools have a steep learning curve.
There are online tools that are free that have templates already made to let you design your business cards in a hurry. One such tool is called Canva.
When you design your cards, you’ll have to decide if you’re going to have a front and back design or just a design on the front with a plain back.
You’ll take all of the information about your brand, target market, and the most important information you want to have on your card and apply them here.
Getting them Printed
It’s not easy to learn how to print business cards. The reason why is that there are so many options. What size card do you want? What kind of stock? Glossy or matte? Let’s break down some of the things you need to know before you go to print.
Glossy vs. Matte Finish
When business cards are printed, they usually have a think coating applied to them. A coating can be a dull finish, which is called a matte finish. A glossy finish means that they look shiny.
Stock Weight
The card stock refers to the thickness of a business card. For example, a 16 point card stock refers to a stock that’s .016 inches thick.
You want to have a card stock that’s thick and has weight to it in someone’s hand, but you don’t want it to be so thick that it’s indestructible.
Foundation for Your Brand
The great thing about having business cards printed is that they can serve as the branding foundation for other printing needs. You can transfer your design to create banners, flags, and trade show booths. This will keep your branding consistent. You can read this guide to learn more about that.
How to Print Business Cards with Purpose
Whenever a new business idea takes flight, the usually next thought is that you need to get business cards done.
There’s a lot to consider when you learn how to print business cards. You have to make the design appealing so it will be remembered and make a great first impression.
Once you design it, then you have to know the type and feel of business cards you want to have. Then you can print them and hand them out like candy. That will send a clear message to potential customers and contacts – that your business means business.
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