Business cards are very much “In”
In the present world, it is all about networking. You have got exact three seconds to make a killer impression on the prospect, and if you fail to do so, it would require a great deal of effort to set up a connection with them. It is a fast tracked world in which people don’t really have time for all the details. The rule of the game is simple – either do your home work right, run along the fast paced moment of time, or else be left behind in the clutter. When one comes to think of it, Business cards surely provides the users with a lot of benefits, to run along the fast pace world, and register the right impression across the right set of audiences.
Business Cards are Very Much “In”:
The advancements in the field of science & technology may force you to feel that business cards online have turned redundant and are not really required now a days, but you must realize that business cards are the red wines of the business, they only get better with time.
The advancements of technology sure has given a lot of new ways to touch bases and stay in contact, but the same has lead the coldness and strangeness creep in the life and relationships of people. A lot of emphasis is being laid today to personalize the relationships. It is very easy to drop a text on a friend’s birthday but an hand written letter and a card still feels more special and distinct.
Similarly, with the business cards, you register an edge over your competitors through personalizing the entire process. Getting a business card gives the same underneath joy, as listening to an old classic song and owing to the advancements in the field of technology, you now have the power to make beautiful and impressive looking business cards, which will command respect and considerations from the prospected customer, instead of ending up in the dustbin, or even worse – being crumpled and deserted on the road side.
The Utility of Business Cards:
Consider a scenario in which you have taken a subway train back to your apartment and while on the journey you make acquaintances with another working professional. How would you make certain that you are not forgotten once you step out of the train? What are you really leaving behind to be remembered? A phone number? As if a person would really call despite all the awkwardness and no matter how weird it feels? However, if you leave with a business card, which by the way is designed amazingly, you not only leave a contact information which is too hard to neglect, you also leave your personality through your business card, in an up most professional and organized way. Leaving your business cards instead of your phone number to a random stranger you might down the road, on your way back home etc. gives an impression that no matter how strange and unprepared the meeting was, but when it comes to business, you are ALWAYS prepared.
Business meets, conferences, trade fairs, exhibitions etc. are the present day norm and while you are dressing yourself up to kill, mark an undeniable impression, it will be an intelligent idea to get a certain amount of business cards, put them in the card carrier and carry it along with yourself up to the conference or meet or similar events. When a profitable business opportunity comes down knocking your door, how do you really plan to embrace it? Would you like to just scramble down the contact information on the piece of paper, with half weird, half hopeful and half embarrassed smile and add a “hope to hear from you, soon” or would you rather elegantly reach out to your hand bag, carry out a sleek and impressive business card and hand it over to the interested contact?
It is a Clutter Out There!
Exactly, it is no fairy tale that you just hand over the business card and the purpose is done, the next thing you know is you are rolling in the money coming from all these contacts – never going to happen!
It is a lousy clumsy and chaotic world out there, and for now you are only a fish in the ocean. At such exhibitions and meets, people get to have a dozens of business cards, some are down rightly rejected, thanks to their awesome (read – filthy) quality and rest just forms the part of the pile. The prospected contacts only end up contacting a bare minimum of all the cards and the rule of the thumb says, better the design, more are the possibilities of getting the call!
How to Make Them Call You?
This surely is the crucial part. There comes a point, where your business card does all the talking. Even without uttering a single word, it has the power to make the customer call you or (in most of the cases) never consider you ever again.
And thus here are a few techniques and tips, a few essential points that your business card must have, in order to make sure you get the call from the prospected clients.
Unique Design:
Be different and out of the box. Working day in and day out, caged under the oppressive and dull walls of the office, the professionals are a sucker for creativity. Anything that is out of the box, impressive, unique, in short – “never seen before”, becomes a darling of the business whiz. Your business card carries within itself and communicate with the potential customers, your potential to innovate, create and prove to resourceful. And if by God’s grace you are a designer yourself, you just have to be creative and though provoking.
The clarity matters:
After all business card has some serious business to cater to and is not a photograph. Creativity should not cost the clarity of the information being provided in the business cards. An impressive design is a must, but along with that ensure that the information provided is clearly visible and readable and does not cause any sort of strain on the users, what so ever.
Different fonts – Use different font styles and sizes, but (again) never at the cost of clarity and understanding. The name of the business must get a distinct attention, the contact information must be mentioned in the right hand corner, as it has been scientifically tested that people respond favorably if the information is on the right side and images on the left hand side, so utilize this information in you favor!
Evolving times – evolving modulus operandi:
Modulus operandi, or the entire sum total of methods and processes behind ascertaining the customer call from your business card has changed! The way people do business has undergone a complete overhaul now. Earlier, the traditional means of personal selling, product selling etc. used to of supreme importance, today the same has been carried out effortlessly through the ecommerce websites. Earlier, the middle men used to indispensable to the business, now people are contacting each other through social networking websites, or business websites etc. and have by passed the traditional routes.
So the point is, it is no longer enough to display the contact information in your business card. You surely need to provide the name, the logo, the functional phone number, address etc., but beyond that you must also enter the following –
You Website Address, mention a crisp website URL.
Your email Address, it must be completely professional, no personal email ids please.
People, at times more comforting and less unsettling to make the contact through websites or email, and calling might be intimidating to them.
Leave your personality in the business card:
Only if you can. If the business card design permits, include a crisp, witty and smart tag line, which completely confounds your business and what it stands for. You have better chances of getting the call, if you tell others what you stand for and what sets you apart, in a way that would tickle their intellect and humor bone at the same time.
The Quality Matters:
And sure as hell, it does! If you have all the other ingredients in the business card, yet the quality of the material is low and placid, you can be assured to never get a call. The users touch and hold the business card, thus you have to have a quality which will tantalize their sense of touch. A sleek, sturdy and strong paper material goes a long way in ensuring the call backs. Besides, never forget, your business card represents you and what you stand for, to the prospects and the existing clients.
The Business Card Design Software:
Sounds like music to the ears, no? There are highly competent and effective design software available for you to design the business cards exactly the way you want. Listed below are the top 5 design software, available for free, or you may have to invest a little to acquire them, which efficiently lets you design the business card that you aspire for.
- Card Works – free business card software
- Business card designer pro
- The business card and logo creator
- Business Cards MX
- Business Card maker
[Pictures purchased from Fotolia.com]
About The Author
i want to try card and logo making software