Monday, May 19, 2008

Business card mistakes

Nine months ago marketing expert and author Seth Godin listed seven business card mistakes.
  1. Don't print your own cards.

    I confess that I was obsessed with self-printing business cards for a number of years, mainly because digital color printing advanced faster than did commercial color lithography. Once the price of 1000 professionally printed color business cards dropped below $75, the incredible chore of producing good quality do-it-yourself business cards lost its appeal.

  2. Don't use big type for the address and contact info.

    I take this one step further and suggest moving the contact information to the reverse side of the business card. Double-sided printing is a minor additional expense

  3. Don't buy those color business cards with your face on them.

    One good reason not to put your mug shot on a business card is that's what everyone's business card has.

  4. Don't go with metal business cards.

    OK. No problem. This is not a fad that made it across the mountains alive.

  5. You might think it's a great idea to do a full color card with a big (lousy) picture on it. It's not.

    Photographs are popular because they are easy. Well, lousy photographs are easy.

  6. I like rounded edges.

    I like rounded edges too, but not necessarily on business cards.

  7. Margins matter.

    Seth Godin's design preference consistently runs to the minimalist. Sometimes pushing the margin is a useful design option. For another example of the style of business card Seth likes, look here.


1 comment:

jen M. ;) said...

Awesome list! I think the natural thing to do is add to the list.

NEXT TIP: Hand out your business cards fast and print more!

Don't stop at printing beautiful full color business cards. I truly believe there's a technique to handing out your business cards. The general idea is.. hand them out to everyone you know! Also, to really stand out from the rest, you guys should really look into getting 16pt business cards with foil printing, spot uv gloss and textured cards.

The other week I did a Google search for 16pt business cards and I came across a printer called 4FocusFX (or 4FocusGraphics)... I placed an order for 1000 business cards and they charged me only $49 (pretty good considering the fact that they were full color front and back)... the cards were pretty nice.. thick, glossy, etc.


Recommended site:
http://www.4focusfx.com