A Business Card Says A Lot

So I would consider myself a business professional. I work in as a full time web designer as well as handle freelance clients (which I have put on hold because I am currently very focused on my career) and I also do some promotional work in the music industry. I am around people all the time. And I really enjoy talking. I enjoy it so much that sometimes when I lay down to go to bed I have to relax my throat because it is so sore from talking all day. I just have a lot to say, that’s all.

Before I get too far into this post, however, I want to tell you a background story about why I am the way I am when it comes to networking.

I went to Marian College for two years to play golf when I exited high school. I had applied to many colleges across the country and my main focus was golf. Which is ironic that golf became the least of my issues the further I got into college. I enjoyed the practice and the overall feel of playing collegiate golf, but it just wasn’t for me.

Anyway, I moved into the dorms early as we started practice the week before school started and I was quickly introduced to all the guys on the team. My roommate, Kyle Matson, went to high school with another one of the guys on the team who was a little older than us. Josh Culverhouse was his name.

So we get introduced, play some catch with a football, and just start getting to know each other, get settled into our rooms, and be happy with the fact that we were now college athletes. And later that night we all decided to head out to dinner. Josh wanted to go meet an upperclassman friend of his on the other side of town and we all rode to dinner together.

So that night we were talking and I was just being a sponge with everything I heard as it might relate to my career as a college student. And I asked him (and if anyone knows this guy’s name without me having to research please let me know) what was one piece of advice he had for me as a freshman and he being nearing his masters. He thought about it or a few moments and then said, as if he had written it on the inside of a Hallmark Card. He said, “The one piece of advice that I have for you is learn how to network. Network with anyone, everyone, and always carry a stack of business cards with you everywhere you go. You never know who’s hand one will find itself in.”

Ever since then I talk to everyone I can. I tell everyone whatever I can to get them to take an once of interest in my career. And I always carry a stack of business cards with me. I actually change my business card design every time I run out of a set. I feel like, sometimes, I pass them out like Halloween candy to little kids. (And no, do not trick or treat on my door step on Halloween. I will not answer.)

So that is what leads me to the story I am writing about here. There was a listing of the top 40 creative business card designs released today and I just wanted to talk about a few of them. I want to discuss why they are effective from a design standpoint, how they could benefit the overall look and feel of the card, and how the heck they can afford to print some of these business cards. So take a look through some that I was really excited to see and jealous that I did not think of the design.

This is a great design for someone that wants to set themselves apart from the rest of cards on someone’s desktop just for the pure fact it tells you exactly what kind of person he is. You see his style of dress, his antics with the glasses, and gives you exactly what you need with the content on the back of the card. This is simply, clean, effective, and creative on more than one account.

This is an idea that I actually got some price quotes for earlier this year. I think this idea, especially with the craze created from the ‘Get Strong’ bracelets put out by Lance Armstrong. You get all the information to the client, you allow them to have to put it somewhere other than their wallet, and you show them you are a little more creative than the rest. But, the only downfall, besides for the price, is the fact that you would have to wear a bunch of bracelets on your arm whenever you went somewhere.

This business card is extremely practical and will last with someone longer than to read the information and toss it on their desk. It is, however, only practical for women. But this is creative on a practical sense. Very clever and I think would be well received.

This brings me to another topic that revolves around business cards. The fact that they can serve as conversation starters. If you hand someone a card that was printed by someone such as Vista Print the chances are, unless the design and colors are out of this world, it is not any different than the last ten cards that person had received. But, if you dig a little deeper, and hand a card to someone that has functionality, like the bracelet concept, then you have created intrigue as well as the seaway (which can sometimes be awkward) into conversation.

This is an incredible design because it creates a sense of comfort. You have all seen the the ‘My Name Is’ tag before. You all know that you can learn something about a person if they write more than just their name. So they have created the curved edges and the feel (even though not the cliche colors or red) and given you something to relate to when you see this.

Just look at the picture and read what the person who owns this card does. Enough said.

I just hope you think a little bit more if you are in the market for some new business cards or if you are handed a stack a day like more people. There are plenty more out there. I would love to see some links to some you have seen or have come across.

A business card is the first opinion someone receives of you and your business. Think about that.