This year has seen several changes. People are more apprehensive of touchable brandings, such as business cards, as a result of the rise of social distancing. Nevertheless, many influential people still view business cards as the pinnacle of professionalism and flair, despite claims that they are becoming extinct.
Business cards are a well-established custom and vital introduction tool in some nations, like Japan, across all spheres of social life. They are also highly prized as conversation starters and icebreakers in professional settings.
And while it’s true that many business cards are thrown away, if they are designed well, they can be a crucial tool for extending your brand recognition and aiding in your ability to stand out in a sea of emails or social media posts. Business cards still have a function of giving you that extra edge when meeting people, similar to a sharp, well-tailored suit. Additionally, if you use your imagination, you can find numerous other uses for them.
You will learn how to maximize the use of business cards from this tutorial. From essential design advice and creative ways to use them to the ideal business card size and proper distribution protocol (internationally and during 2022 social distancing).
How to Use Business Cards in Innovative Ways
Using professionally made, personalized business cards, there are many excellent ways to raise your brand’s image around the globe:
E-commerce deliveries
Add a lovely business card to the shipping package to give your clients a bit of extra class. But being graceful is only one aspect of it. Providing consumers with your customer support information goes a long way toward fostering brand loyalty. You may add “Let us know how you like our product” and include a social networking link along with the question “How can I help?” This might be a practical tool for increasing ratings.
Open for Business
If you have a physical location, send out a chic mailer with business card printing that includes directions and/or reservation information to welcome them back after the lockout. The card might also double as a 10% discount coupon for their subsequent visit, which is a great method to ensure that clients keep the card and come in the door.
Events
Let people know you’re hosting an event at your location by including a registration link on your business cards as an invitation. For instance, restaurants may host a cook-off or wine tasting, while cosmetics companies could offer complimentary makeovers.
Loyalty Program
Each time a customer walks in for a purchase or an appointment, divide the back of your business cards into four or six blocks and stamp them. Giving customers a discount when all blocks have been stamped is a fantastic way to entice them to keep coming back. Additionally, if you operate an online shop, you might put a code on the card that customers can use when checking out.
Giving a few of your finest clients’ business cards so they might distribute them to appropriate acquaintances is another choice from our list of business card suggestions. Give your devoted ambassadors a significant discount for each new customer that schedules an appointment or makes a purchase from your store.
In-Store Appointments
Write the date and time on the reverse of your business card to help customers remember their appointments. a useful strategy to decrease missed reservations.
How to Make Yourself Stand Out
Poorly designed business cards will be soon forgotten and thrown away. Let’s examine how to ensure that they leave a positive impression for all the correct reasons:
Tips Information
Here are some suggestions for the details you may incorporate to make business cards more unique and intriguing before we discuss design best practices:
Social Proof –
A high-profile client quotation or your Trustpilot rating can be added to your business card to increase brand appeal and trust.
Accreditation –
Another excellent technique to establish credibility is to put the logos of accreditations or trade organizations on your card. This significantly boosts credibility during discussions in many nations.
Faces –
Personalization successfully distinguishes your business from the competition. Moreover, consumers buy emotions, not stuff, as any marketer will attest. On the back of your business card, you may include your picture or perhaps the names of four members of your core staff. An icebreaker is a welcoming face with a smile.
Magnet –
If you provide a regular or essential service, such as those of a hairdresser, plumber, or electrician, you should think about including a magnet on one side of your business card. To avoid visiting your competitors’ websites when consumers need your service, they can always have your phone number close at hand.
Discounts –
Everyone enjoys a good deal. To let clients know when to visit your store or website, you may design a business card with your main Sale dates on one side.
Bilingual –
If a significant portion of your clientele speaks a different tongue, such as French Canadians or Latin Americans, printing one side of your business card in that language will help you build rapport with them.
To avoid having the text on your business card cut off during printing or having it look crushed, it is recommended that it be no more than 5mm from the trim edge. Other details, like bleed, dpi (dots per inch), pixels, hex palette, file formats, spot colors, and the CMYK color model, are also important. However, all of this is immediately completed for you when you use a high-quality business card maker.
The Advice you should remember
More harm will be done by a subpar or unprofessional-looking business card than by not having one. This was demonstrated by a survey that revealed that 72% of people rely on their judgment of an individual or business on the standard of their business cards. The following are the important considerations:
Keep It Sleek
Don’t overstuff your business card. To instantly distinguish your business and increase brand recognition, you must have a cool logo. Of course, you’ll want to include your most crucial contact information, such as your work email and cell phone. It might be a good idea to include your social media accounts as well if they have a lot of positive social proof of your abilities. But avoid merely adding social media platforms for their purpose. The idea is that a business card is for providing vital information and leaving a quick but lasting impression, whereas a website or print brochure is for full information.
The greatest design error you could make is to create business cards that are overstuffed with content, straining the viewer’s eyes. Keep it practical by using a simple font; while beautiful handwriting may appear fashionable, it is challenging to read in small text.
The same applies to using excessive design and color. The best approach for making a classy impression is to keep things simple and subtle. And always use 16pt cardstock or other high-quality paper. Anything less will seem impoverished.
Strong Brands
Every customer touchpoint, including your website, social media accounts, business cards, and any other printed touchable branding like t-shirts and pens, must consistently feature your logo and brand colors.
You want the appropriate impression of you and your firm to be given right away by your business card. A Mexican restaurant, for instance, might employ lively colors, whereas a consultant or financial expert would keep it subdued in blue, black, or grey, which conveys serious and trustworthy professionalism.
When creating your business cards, have a look at this additional helpful design information: Making the Best Font and Branding Color Selections.
Business Card Guidelines
If you want to leave a lasting impression, exchanging business cards is not done the same way everywhere, not just in modern times.
Social Distancing in 2022
To distribute your business cards in the current scenario, follow these steps:
- Show off your new-looking business card while claiming to have had it designed. This demonstrates to them that you are a stylish, established business.
- Ask the person if they would want to take your card by hand, leave it on a nearby surface, or take a picture of it. It is best to let each person determine their level of comfort.
- Hold the card out, making sure the photo is visible if they desire one.
- Request a photo of both sides so they can see your company’s information and logo.
- Exchange cards as usual if they say no issue and hold out their hand.
- Ask them where they would want the card placed if they agree to have it left on a surface. If they are seated at a table and agree to have it left there, place the card in front of their seat.
The exchange will be just as successful in breaking the ice as the conventional business card exchange if you perform all of the above while grinning broadly and saying something along the lines of, “what a world we live in right now.”
Tips to Make a Good Impression in General
This is how to exchange business cards with style, kind of like knowing which knife or fork to take up first when dining at a posh restaurant:
- The exchange rules differ depending on the country.
- Put a few cards in a classy cardholder. Taking a few scratched cards out of your pocket won’t make a good impression.
- In some nations, the protocol for exchanging cards is more formal; cards are distributed at the outset as a formal introduction and a signal that business has begun. But in the West, playing cards can be done before or after a meeting. Find the moment that feels the most natural by assessing the circumstances. Also, keep in mind that card exchange is done rather casually in the West, so avoid making a big production out of it or you can come off as snobbish.
- Always present a multilingual card with the recipient’s language facing up out of respect.
- No matter where you are—in the West or more formal nations—taking a moment to look at a business card you receive and if you can, complimenting it will always make you look good.
- Keep in mind that different countries have different standard business card sizes when purchasing a print run for a trip abroad. It is 88.90 x 50.80 mm (3.5 x 2 inches) in the US and Canada and 85.00 x 55.00 mm (3.5 x 2 inches) everywhere else (3.35 x 2.17 inches). This is important if you want to keep your cards in a cardholder or arrange them neatly.
Norms that apply globally
Here is a guide to proper behavior around the world because you wouldn’t want to offend anyone on a significant business trip abroad. The first thing to keep in mind in nations with stricter regulations is to always read the card before stowing it away, preferably in a cardholder rather than your pocket:
- Africa –
Use just your right hand to offer the card, especially in South Africa.
- China –
You should hand someone your business card before requesting theirs. When passing it over, use both hands and turn the writing upward. Red and gold letters are seen as fortunate colors in China, so keep that in mind when creating cards expressly for your vacation there.
- France –
Once the initial encounter is over, trade business cards. Printing one side in French is crucial since it demonstrates a professional’s attention to detail. Specify any advanced degrees you have earned.
- Germany –
Business cards are distributed only if further contact is desired since they are considered a more private and personal type of information transmission. They should not be distributed carelessly.
- India –
Ensure that your card is printed with any academic credentials you may have, including any honorary titles. The social hierarchy is significant in this society. Always deal and receive cards with your right hand. There is no need to print one side in Hindi because English is widely spoken.
- Japan –
A long-standing custom that is considered essential to appropriate social interaction is the exchange of “meishi.” They signal the declared desire to proceed. After graduating from college, Japanese people get personalized business cards produced and keep them on hand at all times, not only for meetings. When giving your card, use both hands and, if the situation warrants it, do a small bow at the waist.
Title and rank are significant information to have on your business card when attending meetings. Maintaining the cards you’ve been given on the table in front of you until the meeting is over is also seen as courteous. To make it easier to remember names when there are many individuals present at the meeting, match the cards with the seating arrangement.
- Middle East –
Give out your cards using your right hand at all times.
- Russia –
print Russian on one side and English on the other. Including any advanced degrees, you may have will offer you more clout.
Conclusion:
Without a question, business cards are still useful in today’s society. They are fantastic ice breakers in more formal environments and express established expertise with added elegance.
There is a lot more useful for business cards than meetings if you apply your imagination and the suggestions we provided in this post. Examples include letting people know that your brick-and-mortar location is once again available for business, emphasizing customer testimonials to increase brand trust, providing loyalty programs, and making it easier for people to find you with an accessible map.
Follow the guidelines we provided to conduct face-to-face interactions in a stylish manner that ensures everyone is at ease in the socially distant world of 2022. Additionally, keep in mind the international standards we discussed to avoid accidentally offending anyone.
Even if creating business cards using a good program is now much simpler, quicker, and less expensive, you shouldn’t overlook our Top Two Design Tips. Keep it sleek and sophisticated, and employer branding that is immediately recognized and memorable for all the right reasons. To put it another way, avoid over-detailing to avoid making things look crowded, stick to simple fonts and colors, and make sure your logo is streamlined to fit your type of business.
