networking

Technology is moving fast, and by fast I mean what was relevant at the beginning of this sentence may have changed already. Well. okay, that may be an exaggeration but you know all of us are holding on with both hands to keep up with today’s changing technology. Let’s think about business cards. Are they relevant anymore? Do they have a place in networking and day-to-day business operations? My answer to that is absolutely. They have not lost their value, but there are some different things to think about when getting your business cards done. Here are 7 rules to follow when designing your business cards.

1.  Make sure that your card can be scanned and that the scanner will actually be able to decipher the content. Looks and super awesome fonts are great, but can the receiver read and understand your data? You can have both impactful and cards which can be scanned. Also keep in mind the over 40 crowd. I say that because I am in it! Our eyesight begins to change and its harder to read smaller fonts. Are we your target market? If so, a little less graphics for a little bigger font may give you the sale.
2. Make sure they are vibrant and stand out among the many hundreds of cards your intended receiver may handle each month.
3. Make sure your e-mail, website, and telephone number are on the card. Oh, and believe it or not, some people forget to put their name on the card.
4. Many people want to see an address on your card so they don’t have to call you to get your address. They can simply enter your address into their GPS and find you.
5. Think about putting a QR code on your business card. Do you know what a QR code is? It is a Quick Response code that your cell phone can scan which will immediately take the searcher to your website or other designated online location. They are easy to create and should be somewhere on your business card.
6.  Speaking of the back of your business card. I call this your most valuable real estate. Unless you know you have to write on the back of the card consistently, you should have your list of services, tag line, OR web url on the back of your business card.
7. Finally, I think that we get bored too easily. Keep your card the standard size. If you have a square, circle, triangle, or some other shaped card, the recipient will have a hard time handling or keeping the card. It is generally too much of a pain to have this ONE card that doesn’t fit anywhere so it ultimately gets tossed out. At least in my world it does. Also, they don’t work in standard business card scanners for those that are scanning and tossing the card anyway.

So for now, business cards are still an awesome networking tool for all businesses. You should review your business card at least once per year to make sure all the data is correct. Business cards are so inexpensive you should consider a little freshening up on the style and design each year as well.

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