Business cards are a vital accoutrement, regardless of the size of your business. In fact, the online edition of ‘Entrepreneur’ suggests that “you should have a pocket full of them at all times”. However, business cards are particularly important if you’ve just set up a small startup business. This is because they can be given out in a wide variety of settings, which gives you the opportunity to cultivate a network of contacts and potential customers very quickly.
If you’re in charge of a new business, you need to rapidly develop a strong consumer base and a set of valuable business contacts so you can start making a profit and carving out space in the market. Business cards allow you to do this very efficiently. But how can you ensure that your new business’s cards are effective?
1. Conveying information
Owners of established businesses may choose to put just a few key pieces of information on their business cards in order to give them an elegant, minimalist look. However, this isn’t appropriate for startup businesses. Remember that many of the people you give your cards to won’t have heard of your business before, so they’ll need more information than a brand name and a contact number.
We urge you to make sure you provide details such as your business’s web address, physical address and the types of products and services you offer. You should also include a catchy tagline or slogan to introduce recipients to your business.
2. Visualising your business
Because your startup isn’t widely-known yet, it’s important to make sure that your business card design catches viewers’ eyes, reflects your brand and reinforces the card’s textual information. We suggest foregoing subtle, subdued colour schemes in favour of visually striking ones.
You should also include a small image that hints at the products or services that your business offers. This will help ensure that customers who see your business card will remember what your business does and think of you when they need a particular product or service. As startup owner, you shouldn’t be afraid to be bold with your colour and image choices.
3. Demonstrating professionalism
Did you know that the thickness and finish of your business card printing can have a huge impact on how members of the public perceive your business? We believe that, as a startup owner, you should invest in thick business cards made from top-quality material. Thicker, higher-quality cards won’t become creased or damaged as you carry them around. People who receive those cards will therefore get a favourable, professional impression of your business.
We also recommend that you opt for a glossy, highly-visible finish. As we explained in point two, it’s important to make your business cards ultra-visible. Glossy finishes are more visible than matte ones. What’s more, they generally look highly professional.
4. Sizing your cards
Finally, we would like to suggest that you opt for larger business cards. They’re harder for recipients to lose than smaller ones and are much more striking. While well-established businesses may favour smaller cards because of their subtlety, you should prefer larger ones because of their boldness.
Check out one of our previous articles before you start your business card printing: Make Your Business Cards Stand Out
When you’re ready to start designing business cards for your startup, check out our range at PrintUK.com