If You Don’t Want More Business, Then Throw This Card Away

Is Your Business Card Working For You?

A couple months ago I started to run out of business cards. The last time I designed my business cards, I rushed through the process and they didn’t provide the greatest return. This time I wanted to really think about what the best way to market what I do would be:

The Heading

It’s a call to action, but it makes your brain stumble. You have to stop and think about it for a second. That means I got ’em :). And I figure, that’s what you want. It also provides a reason to talk about the card, and it’s a reflection of how O.C. Search does marketing.

Why I Chose Black With White Text

I like the high contrast. It makes the message bold, and for me it’s easy to read. I do notice people reading it as soon as I give it to them, and then they give a little chuckle afterwards. So I know it’s working and people remember it.

The Personal Introduction

It’s like the fact that the card is speaking to my prospects now. Instead of it being some boring piece of cardstock with your typical information on it. The card has a personality, and like Jules from Pulp Fiction says; “Personality goes a long way” (that’s from the scene when Samuel L. Jackson is talking about why he doesn’t eat pork).

Only Two Forms Of Contact

I don’t see the need to have my address, suite number, and fax crowding my card and adding noise. If you need to get a hold of me, you are either going to call or email me. Those are the two most important pieces of information I need to distribute to the people I network with.

The Notes Section On The Back Of The Card

Unfortunately, I would rather have this on the cards I get from people. But it provides a space for them to write down what we talked about. I purposely instructed the print shop to keep the back side not glossy, so that people can write on it. People get hundreds, if not thousands of business cards. It’s helpful for them to remember what was unique about meeting you.

Here is a weird side story to process of the card creation.

I originally had my Google Voice number on the business card artwork. It happens to be a 714 area code which ties in the fact that I work with “Orange County” Search Consulting. However, when I called my Google Voice number to check on my greeting, it still had my test greeting. So I tried to update the greeting to “Hi, you have reach Sean and OCSearchConsulting.com, please leave your name, message and email address”. But for some reason that recording just wouldn’t stick. Google Voice kept reverting back to the original “test” recording which just wasn’t suitable for business. I spent about 2 hours trying to get that old recording off, and there was no such luck. Thanks to Google Voice, I had to call the print shop in the middle of the printing of my cards to have them change the artwork to reflect my old 310 number. I guess you really do get what you pay for (Google Voice is free)….

I would like to thank DesignPros-Inc.com for printing the cards, the great deal and being there during the phone number change emergency!