Dress Up Your Business Card

Dress up your business card like you mean business.

Take a look at your business cards and see if you can make changes that can dress it up by considering:

1. You included your email address and web URL
2. Whether you should change your email address if it is:
- illogical
- hard to spell
- impossible to remember
- hard to type
- hard to read.
3. Your email address should be: @yourownURL.com.
4. Whether included a physical address.
5. Did you print your cards on cheap paper?
6. The Type on your card is too small to read without a magnifying glass.
7. Whether the background is too wild and text impossible to read.
8. Whether the design uses fonts too fancy for the type of business.
9. It includes unnecessary words such as:
- “email” before the email address
- “Website” before the URL.
10. Whether there is coating on both sides making notes on the back impossible
11. Did you use a vanity phone number such as 400-488-PHONE ?
(Don’t make customers have to work to call you, include the actual numbers).


Make sure it is not an ugly business card, and is dressed for business.

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PS: and I recommend that you consider using a photo of your smiling face to give a real people feeling to your card.
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Practice what you say with your business cards

When you are exchanging business cards many times you will only have a minute to mention what your business is about. It is a good idea to practice what you want to say so you have the points down in a statement that has a little polish.

Here is a short quote to help you think through what you want to say:

"In a nutshell, that's what we do and who we are. Let me know if we can ever work together,"

Practice with some coworkers and friends so you have your polished nutshell statement.

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At Galleria Ventures we would like to work with you to make a custom business card that makes a memorable statement about who you are and what you do.

Business cards for realtors - use photos ?

I just saw this interesting posting of question and answers on Yahoo.

Question:
Why do realtors have their photo on their business card?

Answers: (5)

1. so you know what they look like.
2. facial recognition - see a face remember a face- name comes after
3. Because we realize that many times people remember the face before the name and in any sales biz recognition is everything!
4. In addition to face recongization it helps while dealing with other Realtors and showing their listing(s). That way works as an ID as well a business card.
5. Realtors are like little franchises. They work "WITH" the real estate company, they don't work "FOR" them. That being said, think of the many times you may have seen McDonald's advertising in a newspaper or magazine. They never forget to insert their logo, a Realtors' face is his or her logo. This is because as they are building their businesses, they would like you to recognize their billboard/face if you passed them on the street. This way when they are on their own and no longer working with ABC Realty, you remember them as an individual agent, not the company they previously worked with.

It pretty much follows our line of thinking.
See more Realtor Business Cards

Click here to learn more about putting your photo on your business card.

Business Card "Partners"

Here is another twist on business cards. Create two business cards by using both sides of one card ...

Here is an actual example showing the front and back of one business card:


This two sided concept can apply to existing relationships - such as the sales rep and their office contact OR you can create joint ventures with another businesses in a vertical market for the benefit of both! I bought new carpet a year ago and when it came time to get a professional cleaner, I called the store for a referral. Sometimes related services can be included in the same business and a two sided business card points out the contact and benefits of each without trying to 'cram' both into one side or having to carry two seperate business cards. In addition, the total cost is typically less than two cards.

A partnership is an excellent opportunity to promote related services or related people. I like to add a photo to all of my business cards. It makes people remember the card and it stands out in a stack of business cards. Both sides can have a photo. A face shot of each person. A photo of a retail location and a photo of the service van. Also a photo business card is full photo color !

At Galleria Ventures, we have professional graphic artists ready to layout both sides of your business card
www.galleriaventures.com/bizcardweb

Success in Keeping Clients

One of the necessary characteristics in being able to keep clients is to be remember able. One of the successful tools for this is a business card that eye catching and allows the client to recognize and remember you. One of the best ways to make your card successful in this process is to use a photo on your card. The photo can be of you or of what ever you think might help the client remember you and what you have to offer.

Here plain business card without the use of a photo:



Here is the same business card now using a photo of the artist:



Which do you think is the most eye catching and remember able ?

To learn more about creating a business card with a photo of photos - click here.

Fill or Frame a photo on a Business Card

It is not always easy to fit a photo to the shape of a business card. A business card shape is 2"x3.5". Most photos are not of the same shape as a business card.

To make a photo fill the business card shape, one needs to overlay the photo and extend it beyond the business card area. This means that a small portion of the photo edge which extends beyond the business card edge will be cut off when the business card is cut. This can be a problem if important portions of the photo extend to the edge of the photo. If this is the case, then I would recommend that the business card be filled with a frame color and the photo be placed inside the business card area using the business card to frame the photo. In this way not any of the photo becomes cropped.

Here is an example of a photo being used to fill a business card area, and another example of a photo being framed on a business card:

The photo fills the whole card area, so parts of photo edges become cropped:



The photo is placed inside the business card area, using the business card to frame the photo. Nothing on the photo is cropped:



We work these layout issues for you at Galleria Ventures with free professional layout services for each card design.

More information and examples are available at this link.

What does your business card say about you ?

Everything about your business card design has a relationship to what it says about you. The colors you used on the card, whether the layout is clean, whether you used a photo, the quality of the printing, all have an effect on the impression it leaves about you.

Here is a card that focuses on the relevant information of what this person does and how to contact him. It leaves an impression that the person is an experienced professional highly interested in their trade. The use of the photo shows more about that trade than what you could print on the small space of a business card.



When thinking about your business card design, try to focus on the relevant differentiating factor that your customers value in doing business with you. If you can use a photo to help make this come though, then use one.