Business cards are still one of the best ways to get your details into the hands of as many people as possible. Small, easily tucked away in a wallet, purse or pocket, and cost-effective, you should be handing these out to everyone you meet.
Business cards do a lot of heavy lifting for a small piece of board. They need to point your potential customers in the right direction and give them the information they need to look you up and contact you. Plus they need to look good while doing it.
If you’re on a budget, odds are you’ll be designing your own cards. Here’s what to keep in mind.
Choose a simple logo
On a small space like a business card, simpler is better because it’s easier to read. From a customer point of view, it’s also easier to remember. There’s a reason some of the biggest brands in the world have very simple, effective logo designs. Customers that can’t remember your logo don’t remember your business.
Simple logos look great in colour, and just as good in black and white. For the small business on a budget, that’s important. You’re going to use that logo on any promotional goodies you give away, and colour printing can get expensive in a hurry.
Choose the right font (and stick to just one)
The font you choose is as important as your logo. Avoid comic sans or anything that looks like it on your business card if you want customers to take you seriously.
Stick to a single font on your card. Playing with bold and italic versions will draw the eye and make sure your card isn’t boring. Helvetica is one of the easiest to read, and is available for most printing jobs.
Make sure your customers can reach you
You need your name, website, phone number and email address on the card. If you have social media accounts for your business, make sure they’re on there.
Make sure your job title or business is on the card. Someone cleaning out their wallet will look at a business card with no business information on it, shrug, and dump it in the trash.
It sounds obvious, but double-check any phone numbers, email addresses, and website URLs before you hand them out. Nothing hurts more than a wrong digit on a business card: your customers can’t reach you, and you’ll be sitting next to a quiet phone, wondering what happened.
QR Codes can be brilliant marketing tools
If you’ve got a bit of extra cash in the budget, a double-sided business card opens up some extra space for you. The reverse of your card is perfect for a QR code.
You can usually get double-sided business cards for not much more than the cost of a single-sided print. Use a QR code on the back and send your customers to your website, video link, or blog post straight from their phone.
You can get free QR code generators from a number of different sites on the web. Sending customers to a 10 second video showing happy animals during your work day is well worth the time and trouble in marketing terms.
Business cards don’t have to be cards
Instead of sticking to the usual cardboard rectangles that take up wallet space, step it up a bit.
Most of the places that do cards will also do small goods like fridge magnets for your business. You can get the same information on one of those, and your potential customers will see it every time they open or close their fridge door.
When customers need your pet-sitting services, it’s a lot easier for them to look at the fridge door and call you than start a Google search.
You can also look at promotional items with your business details on them that are pet-specific. Chew toys and food and water bowls are a couple of great options, and if you want to give the humans some TLC, mugs are always a favourite.
Keep these five things in mind while you make your cards up, and you’ll end up with cards you’re proud to hand out.