Are you looking for ways to make your networking events more meaningful? Do you wish to make an impression that boosts your brand recall? If so, then you need to learn how to design a business card.
Doing so can help you gain more exposure, make yourself the face of the brand, and give your target market a great way to contact you. Not to mention that it can legitimize your brand and make you seem more professional to prospects.
See below for an in-depth guide that you can use to design the perfect business card. Let these tips be the foundation of your new business card.
Table of Contents
1. Use Colors That Are on Brand
Before we start diving into tips and business card design ideas, let’s take a deeper dive into the purpose of your business cards.
In the end, your business card is a marketing tool that can help you generate more quality leads, higher sales conversions, and build loyalty with your personal brand, as well as your company’s brand.
How do you do that? By connecting with your target market. But what is your target customer looking for in a business card? Now that’s the question!
Truthfully, they’re looking for brands and business people that give them an emotional attachment to their brand. If your business card can capture the right emotion, then you’ve got them hooked!
Believe it or not, the colors you use in your business cards convey subliminal feelings and emotions in your customer’s mind. It’s called color psychology, and the top brands use it to attract their ideal clients to them.
Take the time to learn about the different colors and the emotions they send. Then, use that to your advantage.
For example, if your want your business card to give people a sense of friendliness and comfort, then use the color orange, which conveys warmth and friendship.
2. Infuse Your Online and Offline Marketing
Whenever you design a business card, there are 4 main pieces of information that clients want/need to see on it: Your company’s name, your name, ways to contact you, and your website/social media address. Experts in the business refer to this as the “Big 4” of business cards.
Back in the day, you would use business cards as a way of promoting another old-school (offline) marketing tactics. These days, however, your offline and online marketing tactics should be promoting one another.
In other words, you should be looking for ways to use your business cards to push people to your online content. This can boost your online presence, push them along the customer journey, and ultimately connect them with your brand.
However, merely placing these tidbits of information on your business card isn’t enough. You have to be strategic about where you place them.
First, establish a sense of priority. Your company’s name should always be the most prevalent name on the card, followed by your name.
After that, it’s all about finding ways to incorporate your methods of contact, your website address, and your social media platforms in a way that prompts people to take action.
3. Provide Contrast
Those of you that watch Parks and Recreation will remember when Tom handed Andy his business card with a black background and black ink. Andy’s immediate reaction was a look of confusion because he couldn’t read what it said.
That’s a very extreme example of the next point: contrast is important. In fact, the argument could be made that it’s just as important as the words you place on the business card.
Why? Because it sends subliminal messages to your target audience about your brand. Solid contrast shows organization.
It also helps direct people’s eyes to the picture or words you want them to see first. In fact, you can use different shading to control which words the viewer reads first, which ones they read second, and so forth. Always provide a stark contrast, it’s a necessary element!
4. Focus on Printing
Businessmen and businesswomen get handed business cards all the time. What can you do to make your business card stand out?
All of the tips we’ve listed so far are being used by every legitimate brand and successful company. But here’s a tip they might not be using: differentiate the printing style on your business card.
Something like thermography printing can leave a lasting impression on anyone that lays their eyes on it. The ink will be raised from the card, giving a prevalent message, strong contrast, and can make your brand appear more luxurious.
5. Logo Big, Print Small
Yes, you want to make sure that your customers know how to get in touch with you, but don’t forget the most important part of any business card: the logo.
The logo is what lasts in people’s minds. If we told you to think of the NFL, what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Their logo!
Be sure to make your logo the biggest item on your business card. Even if they can’t tell what the logo is right away, the impression has been made. Then your name, contact info, and the website address will provide the information they need.
How to Design a Business Card: Use the Finer Details
Now that you have seen an in-depth guide on how to design a business card that generates excitement and action, be sure to use these tips to your advantage.
Remember, the end goal is exposing people to your brand so that they will begin their customer journey with you and your company.
Be sure to browse our website for more articles on business card design, as well as many other helpful topics.
