Despite almost everything turning digital nowadays, physical business cards are still effective and can come in handy at various occasions and events. Say, for example, you’re going to attend a networking event, and there’s a high chance you’ll meet your dream employer’s Vice President of Marketing. How would you make an initial connection without a properly-designed business card? Without it, you’re going to miss out on a suitable chance to appropriately get in touch with a person who can allow you to fill the position you’ve wanted in your dream company.
While it’s true that there are other ways to get in touch with someone you met at an event, handing out a business card is the most professional means of doing it. Others commit the mistake of immediately scrolling through Linkedin profiles to search for the person and make a connection. Of course, that’s something you don’t want to replicate. Chances are the person you’d want to make a connection with will find it awkward, decreasing your chances of getting entertained.
No doubt, a quality business card improves your professional image. You can simply hand it to your new contact and do all the following-up later with your new professional acquaintances. Business cards, despite the recent advancements of technology, are still the most respected contact information sharing method during in-person meetings.
How To Create A Professionally-Designed Business Card?
The big question still remains – how to create a well-designed business card? Think of it as your mini-resume, or personal card, when considering which things to include in its contents.
Here are some tips for you to ponder:
- Make Sure To Target Your Industry And Audience
What targeting your industry and audience means here is that you have to select design elements for your business card that can be easily associated with your niche. Your card represents your business, so for it to be a good one, it has to be easily relatable to what you do. It’s an effective way to market yourself, your product, as well as your service. A perfect example of this is including a photo related to digital marketing if you are a digital or internet marketer. The design of your business card should showcase whatever your area of expertise is. - Describe Your Skill
It’s always a mistake to skip adding your job title in your business card. As you probably already know, it’s one of the first things that a new contact looks for upon receiving your card. Some people opt not to include a job title because of not being connected to any company at the moment. Well, if that’s the case, you can still describe your skills even without relating it to any organization.For example, instead of putting “Email Marketing Specialist of XYZ Company,” consider writing “Experienced Email Marketing Specialist.” Including your post-graduate degree is also a good idea if applicable. Of course, it’s a way to highlight the accomplishments you’ve had in the past.
Again, don’t commit the mistake of including any particular organization that you don’t have a connection with anymore. You can mention a job title that’s going to describe whatever skills and abilities you have instead.
- Make All Content Easy To See And Read
Don’t forget to choose classic and easy to read fonts. Also, choosing a tiny font size is one of the main business card blunders that you have to avoid. Keep the size of all the texts large enough, especially if you’re going to display a lot of information. It’s essential so that your new contacts won’t find it difficult to collect relevant information about you. If you’re going to put a logo, keep it simple and straightforward. As long as the logo complements the business card, you’re good to go.
- Include All Important Information
Your business card is what creates awareness of what products or services you can offer to your prospective clients or employers. That said, be careful not to miss a piece of valuable information in its contents. All information that will help the card’s recipient to learn more about what you do should be included.Please take note, though, that a business card is always small with a standard size of only 55×85 mm. For this reason, don’t commit the mistake of including unnecessary information. Simply focus on your name, the name of your company (if applicable), skills description or job title, as well as contact information like phone number, contact address, and email address.
- Include At Least One Of Your Social Media Accounts
In today’s technology-driven world, people expect you to use at least one social media platform as a professional. You can include either your LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook account in your business card. It shows your new contacts that you’re active online, and they can easily reach out to you.
- Follow The Basic Design Guidelines
The basic design guidelines that you have to follow are a large font size so your recipients can easily read the contents of your card, and the CMYK – cyan, magenta, yellow, black color model. You should also go for 300 dpi for best quality during the image reproduction, and at least 5 mm from the card’s trim edge for the main copy. If you want a business card that’s both memorable and effective, you can’t go wrong with these guidelines.
- Include A Positioning Statement
Your card should also contain a motto or even just a short-phrase that defines your values and beliefs. Such a positioning statement will differentiate you from the rest of your competitors.
Final Thoughts
A business card not only represents you, but it’s also your identity. That said, you should design it in a way that sets you apart from your competitors while still maintaining professional communication. And always check for errors before printing.