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Business Cards Do's and Don'ts
A standard business card should include a name, company name, preferably in the form of a logo, full address with zip code (it's amazing how often this critical information is left out), phone, fax -- and today -- web site and email address.
The colors and artwork should coordinate with the logo and the look of other marketing materials. High quality paper looks and feels better and gives prospects and business associates the immediate perception of a successful company.
I highly recommend using a graphic designer to determine the best placement of the information. A great design can support a huge amount of information without looking cluttered or hard to read. If the designer can't seem to cram it all in, cut back, use the back or splurge on a fold-over design.
I love the use of fold-over business cards because they open up to become mini-brochures or mini-billboards and give companies the opportunity to include lots more information. Typically the front is the standard information; inside is a list of the company's benefits, products, services, mission statement, clients, or other sales information. This is important because the business card may be the only contact a prospect has with the company. The more information you can include, the better the chance that the prospect will call. Typical cards are simply reminders -- small business owners have to use theirs as selling tools to really set them apart from the competition.
Stick with the standard business card size so that they fit easily into a card storage file, wallet, or can be stapled to an address file card. Oversized just are annoying and get beat up and unattractive quickly.
I can't really think of anything not to include unless it's a questionable slogan, jokes or information that will quickly go out of date. Some folks include information about their religious beliefs. I believe that this is questionable because it may be offensive to prospects who are squeamish about such displays of one's personal faith.
The rule of thumb when it comes to typefaces is that when using lots of type, use serif type as it's easier to read. For little bits of type, san serif (no thicks and thins) can work well.
There's not really a rule of thumb for colors and backgrounds. Now keep in mind that I'm not a graphic designer but the only rules that I go by are distinctive, lots of contrast (white space so the card doesn't look "grey" with type) easily identifiable logo. I wouldn't go below a 10 pt. typeface either as some folks can't read them. Just remember when developing a logo, it doesn't have to have little symbols. A good graphic designer can create a distinctive logo with the use of color and the company name in a distinctive typeface -- and these are often the best . Just don't try to be too clever and end up looking tacky.
While I don't like the idea of a blank spot for notes -- especially an area that says "NOTES", I can see that having some white space somewhere may be helpful. I currently have a card with our mission statement reversed out of a colored background and I find that people cannot write notes on it. So while I wouldn't call attention to it, a bit of white space is always a good idea.
For more marketing tips, check out The Remodelers Marketing PowerPak from Remodelers Advantage.
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