**Just a Quick Note** Welcome to Part II of the Marketing Expertise six part small business marketing series…

Back From the Dead: 5 Print Media Marketing Vehicles Guaranteed to Make Your Small Biz’nass POP!!!

And Away We Go With Part II: The Power of (Well Designed) Business Cards
If the eyes are the window to the soul, business cards are a viewfinder offering a glimpse into the world of your business.
Done well and properly executed Biz Cards are…

Your Calling Card

Business cards are literally your calling card. Of course it goes without saying your phone number, email address and any other relevant contact information should be FEATURED PROMINATELY.
A billboard, Promo’ing Your Business and Your Brand
With your business name front and center, your tagline shining in all its customer converting glory, a few key service offerings summarized and your logo, all packaged in your brand design and color palate – BOOM! Your business card is bite sized (or at least handheld) billboard promoting your brand.
A Chance to Reiterate and Underscore Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
A well-crafted tagline cuts to the core of your business’s USP – so slap that baby on your biz card and put it to work spreading your gospel!
An Opportunity to Establish Trust and Credibility
Well designed, clean, uncluttered and professionally executed business cards printed on quality materials go a very long way toward establishing credibility. First impressions and appearances count for quite a bit. The more legit you appear the more trust you engender.
Alright, I’m Sold – So What Makes a Well Designed Business Card?

Size

A standard business card runs 3.5” x 2” –  and with good reason. Go bigger, and the card won’t fit in your wallet. Go smaller and the card’s that much more likely to get lost. Sure, odd size cards stand out, but if your prospective customers don’t hang on to it because it’s too big or lose it because it too small, you’re SOL.
Moral of the story stick to the standard size.

Alignment

Whatever you do, stick with one alignment.
As you can see in the sample below, our man Jeffrey E.’s card features several different pieces of information, each presented in a different alignment:

Right out of the gate, an offer center aligned at the top.
His name and title – inexplicably featured in a brown bar opposite a disembodied handshake – along with his contact info and website justified to the left.
His company’s logo and video testimonial blurb justified to the right.
Dave M.’s card, on the other hand, features everything flush left, with the company logo relaxing nicely is some wide-open white space.

Another word of advice, absolutely avoid the “bulls eye” layout.

Lois T.’s card pushes info into each corner, making the center a “bulls eye” that leaves your eye confused and unsure where to look.
In both “bad examples,” your eye is drawn in so many directions you don’t know where to look. This breakdown makes the cards confusing, difficult read and unappealing – which is the association potential customers make with your business.

Keep Clean (Avoid Clutter)

Referring again to Jeffery E.’s card above, there’s just way too much info packed into this bad boy – it’s a cluttered mess!
It makes ole Jeffrey look like a total amateur and complete kills his credibility
In all fairness, at the opening of this post I did I stress the importance of including relevant contact info, exulted the virtues of incorporating your company’s tagline or some text to present your USP, and suggested your logo and branding elements and possibly some service offerings be included on your card.
There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to do this.
You’ve got two sides to work with – so spread the love!
Name, contact info and logo one side.
And tagline (USP) + service offerings (if applicable) on the other.
Really, whatever combo you come up with is totally cool, as long as it’s: well thought out, tasteful  and looks good.
**If you’re using a discount or self-printing services that only allows one-sided printing (which I don’t recommend), you need to scale back and include less content on you card. A one-sided biz card jam packed with info looks like shiite and represents your business poorly, which defeats the whole purpose.

A Quick Word on Stock

Thin, flimsy and extremely high-gloss business card stock screams: CHEAP! A little gloss is OK, but thin stock and high-gloss is no-no, unless you’re going for the sleazy used car salesman effect.
Moreover, matte and textured finishes are just classy. They feel good to the touch and give people the impression that you and your business, like your business card, have substance and weight.

What About You?

Has your business card, either simply its existence or its design and quality affected your business?
Talkback: give us the sweet and low down on your biz card tales of triumph and woe.
Next up in part III of the Back From the Dead: 5 Print Media Marketing Vehicles Guaranteed to Make Your Small Biz’nass POP!!! Series: POSTCARDS.
p.s. What does your business card look like? Is it time for a redesign? How about an upgrade in your card stock? Not sure what to do on either front?
Reach out to Marketing Expertise and I’ll help you design a snazzy new biz card that helps your business shine in all its glory. (remember, every time you hand off a crappy business card, it’s like throwing up a billboard on Sunset Boulevard that repels, instead of attracts customers)
Ryan Anys: 310.466.7898 | ryananys@designexpertise.net