Let’s talk about the pros and cons of those free business card offers that you see floating around the internet. We’ve all seen them and even being a Designer myself, I freely admit that I’ve been tempted too. When you’re first establishing yourself, the list of “to do’s” seems so long that being able to check off business cards as “Done” is reason enough to be tempted by the quick-fix a free business card offer provides.
Whether its the special offers for 100 free cards with hundred’s of templates to choose from to the more subtle offers that upsell you to death before you can even reach the checkout cart…the question becomes, is it really as a good a deal as it seems?
Well, before you hit the “add to cart” button there are a few considerations. We’ll take a look at some of them…
Before we do that, I first want to congratulate you on launching your new business. It takes a healthy dose of self-esteem and courage to disconnect from the proverbial rat race and hang out your shingle for business. You should be proud…heck, I’m proud of you.
Ok, so with that said let’s ask ourselves a few questions:
What is the image you want to present to the world about your business? It is very important to have a “calling card” for your business which is the purpose of your business card. You want to have a quick, efficient way to give someone your pertinent contact details including your name, location, telephone, web and email address. You also want to give the impression of professionalism so that a potential client has confidence in doing business with you. And a business card is the first step in setting this tone (after the handshake, that is). So just imagine receiving a business card and when you flip it over, “get your free cards from fast-and-cheap-printing.com” is printed on the back? Would you think this person was a professional? Would you think the person was invested in their business? Would you think they were serious or this was a fly-by-night operation? ?
Ok, so say we upgrade a step and there’s no advertising printed on the back of the card. Now we must navigate the hundreds of pre-designed templates that the printer has to go with their business card offer for the low, low price of $4.99. So we spend an hour or so sifting through the selections and find one that fits the theme of our business, health and beauty for example. We’ve found a great one and are ready to add our contact info and rock and roll. But hold on for a moment…if you like the template so much, guess how many others like it too? I once went to a networking event and gathered 6 different business cards from 6 different people with 6 different businesses all sporting the same business card template. That instantly diminished the impact of each of their businesses in my mind because now I have no visual reference for any of those businesses, they all become a blur in the sea of names and faces I met that evening.?
Lastly, you have to be careful with cheap printing services because the print quality isn’t always the greatest. Always test out a small order with any online company you’re considering before you commit the full dollars for your marketing materials. So I guess that’s where a cheap and fast business card offer would come in handy. You could later use them as gift tags on a promo item or something.
So when making the final decision whether or not to go with a free business card offer, first decide what kind of impression you want your business to have? Professional? Garage Start-up? Do you want your business image to look like everyone else’s? What’s going to distinguish you from the sea of cards that may be in someone’s rolodex? Now, for some, this may not matter much, it all depends on what you’re using them for, but if you plan for your business to stick around for the long haul (and we hope that you do) it’s best to go ahead and bite the bullet and put some time and effort in on the front end rather than going for the quick fix.
Even if you’re boot-strapping your start-up and can’t invest in a professional designer at first, use a distinctive font for your business name and go from there. You can access tons of free fonts from dafont.com to get started. And then later, as funds allow, have a logo professionally designed. Bite it off in chunks if need be…that’s perfectly okay. Just be sure to use quality as your benchmark. Until next time, To Your Success!
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