Reputation counts. Image counts. When you are in business whether it is your own or whether you are representing a company, your image, reputation and conduct are critical when meeting stakeholders, potential customers, current customers or anybody else potentially associated with the company for the first time. Depending on your business you will have a dress code, you will always be professional and you will of course ensure your conduct is impeccable. Critical to good first impressions in a business environment is the business card. Even in an era where we have smartphones to quickly note contact details or email apps to quickly get off that brochure, catalog or proposal, the paper business card has maintained its need.
Business cards are still the mainstay of business introductions. A meeting, conference, trade show or customer pitch is never held without the handing over of business cards. A business card is not, however, just your name and contact details. It is a reputation and image mechanism that tells the other person what kind of business you are in and what that business sees as important. A plain white business card with black text does not say much for your business other than contact details. It certainly isn’t going to create an impression. Despite business cards just being 2 x 3.5” pieces of card, a certain amount of attention needs to be paid to their design, look and feel to maximize the chances of the business card being pulled out again and contact made days or weeks later.
The design of business cards has endless possibilities, and it is always advised to consult a good printing and design store to ensure an image garnering set of business cards. This is not something to be done in-house. Business cards should typically be done in full color so that they are eye catching and are retained in memory. A good print store can assist in designing artwork that relates to your business or use the companies own supplied artwork or images. Layout is critical. You don’t want contact details to be lost in the artwork or images and font size is critical for ease of reference when the business card is viewed again. A great solution for business cards is double sided printing with the company logo and artwork or images on one side and contact details on the other side.
The feel of business cards can also play a role in good first impressions. Ideally you will want high-density card so that the card is durable and provides a sense of weight in hand. The finishing of business cards is also a choice provided by good print stores with a matte or gloss finish used depending on what use of artwork or images is made. Embossing of business cards is usually an option as well with this use dependent on the industry in which you operate and what image your business needs.
Despite their small size and fairly innocuous process of handing them over, business cards are a vital image tool in business and if you are wanting to make good first impressions, then give the design and printing of your business cards due care and attention.
