4 Rules for Business Card Printing

1.      Do Not Be Lame
There are literally millions of plain black and white business cards out there.  The last thing you want to do is add to that number by producing a plain Jane, boring card.  Make your cards interesting.  Put interesting images on them.  If your business has to do with animals, put colorful pictures of animals on your business cards. 

In fact, it is almost always a good idea to use pictures that relate to your company in some way.  That helps the customer remember who you are (and what you are selling) with just a glance at your business card.

2.      Do Not Be Stingy
As strange as it may sound, many people have hundreds of business card printed up, but then get stingy with them.  They don’t want to hand them out to too many people because they are too expensive to make (which is not true).  The next time you design a business card printing project, you should do so with every intention of using every card you can. 

You should never go anywhere without a supply of business cards on hand.  Hand them out to everyone you meet.  Obviously, you want to focus mainly on your target customers, but business cards are so inexpensive that you can afford to hand them out to virtually anyone.

3.      Get Creative
There are more ways to distribute your business cards than you may realize.  You can do much more than simply hand them out to people that you meet.  You can include them in letters or other things that you send through the mail.  A friend of mine even includes a business card when he sends out his bill payments.  You can also post them on billboards in grocery stores in libraries.  Another good idea that my friend gave me is to leave a business card with the tip when you eat at a restaurant.

4.      Get Strange
Just like you want to avoid designing black and white business cards, you also want to avoid using the traditional rectangular shape made out of paper.  Consider going outside of the normal range of thought when you plan your next business cards.  You can use an unconventional material such as wood or metal.  You can round your corners or use embossed text. 

You can even get really drastic by turning your business cards into something unusual.  Some companies have made cards in the shape of dog tags or road maps.  There really is no limit to the types of things you can do with your business cards.  The more creative you get, the better your cards will perform.  The idea is to make them stand out.

Katie Marcus writes about the business card printing technologies used by businesses for their marketing and advertising campaigns.