14 Dec What Does Your Business Card Say About You?

What does your business card say about you? It’s a fair question. Does it say you are Cheap, Not Creative, Unprofessional, Creative, Trustworthy, or Professional. From designing and printing business cards for the last 12 years, I’ve learned quite a few practices to help enhance your business cards and have them work for you while portraying a positive image of your company. I’ve put together a few questions so you can determine which category or categories your business card may fall within. Notice that some of the categories may contain the same question; therefore, you may be portraying multiple negative (or positive) images.

CHEAP– Is your business card flimsy? Are images or text on your business card blurry? Does your business card have a phrase on the back that says “Business cards are FREE at www.**********.com? Do you have incorrect information on your card that is scratched out and corrected with a pen? Is your card boring to look at? Does your business card contain an amateur design layout? Does your business card contain a clipart looking logo? Do you have a business email listed on your card that is from a free service such as Yahoo, Gmail, or MSN? Are your business cards printed from your home computer? Does your business card have a blank on it to write in your name? If you answered YES to any of these questions, than you have a “CHEAP” image going for your company when you hand out your business cards.

NOT CREATIVE – Is your business card all one color? Is your business card all text? Does your business card contain an amateur design layout? Does your business card contain a clipart looking logo? Is your card boring to look at? Did you use a standard or free online template to design your card? If you answered YES to any of these questions, than you may have a “NOT CREATIVE” image going for your company.

UNPROFESSIONAL – Is your logo blurry? Is your logo or any graphics on the card a picture that was free clipart? Are there misspellings on your card? Is there incorrect information on your card? Do you have a business email listed on your card that is from a free service such as Yahoo, Gmail, or MSN? Does your business card have a phrase on the back that says “Business cards are FREE at www.**********.com? Are images or text on your business card blurry? Are your business cards printed from your home printer? Do you have a business email listed on your card that is from a free service such as Yahoo, Gmail, or MSN? If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you are portraying an unprofessional image from your business cards.

CREATIVE – Is your business tastefully colorful? Is your business card just a little different than a typical business card layout? Does your business contain full color images that pertain to your business or your geographical area? Is the shape of your business card anything different than a 3.5″ x 2″ rectangle? If you answered YES to some or all of these questions, you may just have a “CREATIVE” vibe going for your company upon handing out your business cards.

TRUSTWORTHY – Do you have all of your contact info listed on your business card such as address, phone number, website, email address? Do you have a blurb included about how long your have been in business? Do you list any kind of guarantee on your business card? Do you list any affiliations on your card such as Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, or Industry Associations? If you are marketing to a local area, is your listed phone number local? If you answered YES to some or all of these questions, then you probably give off a “TRUSTWORTHY” vibe when handing out business cards.

PROFESSIONAL – Do you have a nice looking card? Is your card stock a good thickness that is not too thin and flimsy? If appropriate, do you have a recent photograph on your business card? Does your business card have nice, clean, legible graphics and text that is not blurry? Does your business card contain more than one way to contact you? Does your business card layout look professional as opposed to an amateur layout? Is your logo included on your card? If you answered YES to some or all of these questions, then you likely give off a “PROFESSIONAL” look.

Creative Business Cards - this is definitely different from a typical business card. Great job on making something fun from your business cards.

Trustworthy Business Card - Not only does it have all of her contact info on the card but also her title and professional affiliation seal listed.

Professionally Designed Business Card - this card has clean graphics, multiple ways to contact him, logo, and nice, sleek layout.

If you fall within any of the above 3 positive categories (Creative, Professional, or Trustworthy), then congratulations! However, if you fall within any of the above 3 negative categories (Not Creative, Unprofessional, or Cheap), then you should immediately get an updated and professional design and STOP giving out your current business cards that are portraying a negative image on yourself and your company. You may have originally gotten those business cards when you were on a shoestring budget while just starting out, but now you need to upgrade. Your business cards are extensions of yourself and actually act like another salesperson. Haven’t you ever wanted to clone yourself so you can get more work done? Your business card can help you like a clone could. Let it work for you. But, in order for it to work efficiently for you, you must have it professionally designed with high quality printing. The majority of people don’t have the marketing mind to go to an online designer and input the information in a format that actually works to generate sales. Also, most of those websites with the unbelievably cheap business card pricing is cheap because the printing quality is cheap, the design quality is cheap, and the card stock is cheap. The minimal investment of a professional business card design is well worth the money and will pay off big time for you. So what are you waiting for? Give us a call today at 1-800-773-9472 to design your business card layout.