Business Card Lessons

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I’m stitting at my desk and under my monitor there is a small pile of business cards.  I’m sure most people that interact with others in a business setting end up with a similar pile of business cards.  Over the years seeing all these business cards has taught me a few things.  Here’s my list of business lessons gleaned from a business card. 

  1. Why make it hard to find the information I really care about?  What I want from a business card is contact name, phone number and email address.  If I want all your address information I’ll use a piece of software to extract contact details from emails and put it directly into my address book.  If your business card doesn’t clearly communicate its intended message then I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to either. 
  2. Business cards are boring, as they should be, so why do people try and make them exciting?  Vertically oriented business cards suck!  Don’t ever make these kinds of cards.  The only message you are conveying with these kinds of cards is that you don’t care about conventions and you’ll do it your way regardless of how that impacts your operation.  Don’t believe me?  Just try flipping through your stack of cards to find a number and having to turn it to get the number from a vertically oriented card.  Worse it is if you actually put your cards in a card binder.   
  3. I know I’m in for an ego trip the minute I see the title Founder on a business card.   There is nothing in the title Founder that hints at what that person’s role might be.   Having founder as a title also tells me your business is too small to have a staff big enough to have defined roles.  Is that the message you want o convey when you give someone their business card?  I do my best to avoid doing business with people who list their title as founder. 

This is a pretty short list of business lessons I’ve learned from business cards.   Feel free to add a comment with what you’ve learned from business cards.

  • http://www.dreiden.com Dreiden

    “Vertically oriented business cards suck!”

    That’s a little harsh. While browsing through that small pile of business cards look at how many of those look the same, you will have a variety of colors and logos but I’m willing to bet most of them look the same. The business card is one of the most powerful marketing tools in a business’ arsenal and they have to stand out.

    Going through my own pile of business cards stacked under my monitor, it’s the cards with rounded corners, satin finishes and offset alignment that stand out.

    I understand your point about the card binder, and would love to hear your opinion on over sized and folded cards.

  • admin

    Let me start by saying I love satin finished cards. That finish does not diminish the utility of the card but it makes a statement about quality. I can’t get enough of the satin finish!

    Folding cards? Not bad as long as they have the right form factor.

    Oversized cards? They are worse than vertical. That doubles their suckage factor.

  • Simon Clark

    Wow, you’re gonna hate my card. I’ve actually had to post a youtube tutorial on how to use it – zebraspot.com/3Sides – Remind me not to give you one at the next democamp :)