The nice thing about irregular-sized business cards is that they make a great impression when you hand them out and can even become a conversation piece. It’s an unconventional way to get someone engaged with you and your brand. But here’s the bad part… So now someone puts this card in their pocket and takes it back to the office and suddenly they don’t know what to do with it.

It can be difficult to file or scan as those tools are designed specifically for the standard 3.5 x 2 cards. I have a few odd-sized cards that people have given me over the years and so I’ve experienced this firsthand. Once I got a card from an art director that was absolutely remarkable. It was a perfect 3″ circle. Probably the coolest card I’ve ever gotten. But now it looks terrible because I had to file it away in my business card portfolio and it got all folded up in the process. And now every time I flip through my book, I don’t see a creative wonder in that slot, I see a crumpled mess.

A business card is definitely a branding tool and it helps make a first impression, but it also needs to be functional for the person who receives it. My recommendation is usually to get as creative as possible with the standard size card. Use a creative printing technique, round the corners. Maybe only round one corner. Do different versions, do something unexpected… But remember that the person who receives it may keep it for five or ten years so make sure it will stand up to whatever filing method your audience uses.

In todays newfangledy world of digital printers, online printers and bulk printers, you can get a thousand full-color, 2-sided business cards for less than $100. Sometimes considerably less depending on your source.

So why is this important? It creates a potentially valuable opportunity to make an additional impact at a low cost. Let me explain…

Many small business owners deal with several types of customers. Professional photographers, for example, often have both commercial and residential/consumer clients. And even within the residential segment, they may serve needs as varied as wedding photography, family portraits and baby photography. You only have limited space on the back of the card to showcase examples of your work (2-3 shots maximum). And there’s nothing worse than meeting a potential client and starting the discussion by explaining or apologizing for your business card because it doesn’t look like you’d be a good choice for their project. So what do you do?

Easy. Get several different versions of your card. One for commercial — because commercial clients don’t need to see any of your residential work, one for weddings — because brides know there won’t be a reshoot and want someone experienced, and one for families.

The same concept works for anyone that sells to several different constituents and helps you get the reaction you want when you hand someone your business card. And at a networking event, where you might meet lots of different people, shuffle the deck and hand them all out. It will be a testament to your versatility and make the experience of meeting you more memorable.

I have to shake my head every time someone says, “It’s just a business card.” That business card is probably the single most important piece of marketing material in your arsenal. Why? I can tell you in one word: longevity.

If you distribute brochures, most of them will likely end up in the trash within a couple of weeks and almost certainly within a year. Many direct mail pieces end up in the trash within five minutes of bringing in the mail. Promotional products can make a wonderful impression, but most of them will probably end up as a toy for someone’s kid. But the business card I give you today may stay with you for ten years and you will be reminded of the quality of that first impression every time you flip by it in your rolodex or business card portfolio.

Business people who carry a stack of cheap, templated business cards wherever they go are doing themselves a great disservice. Those cards are not likely to ignite or support a great first impression in any way… And the evidence of that failed opportunity may stick in your prospect’s files for years to come.

Don’t think it doesn’t matter or that people don’t notice… People will judge you on appearances, and your marketing materials play as much a role as your attire and demeanor. But your business cards will suffer the most scrutiny over time.

Remember also that no matter how much you spend on your business cards, they are probably STILL the cheapest piece of collateral that you will ever buy. There’s really no sense in trying to save a buck on business cards. Saving $50, $100 or even $250 on business cards just isn’t worth it when you consider what it could cost you in business in the long run.

This is a follow up to my post a few days ago about printing in small quantities. When my company hires printing on behalf of our clients, we’re usually doing one of the two things I described in that post… Hiring a “bulk” printer that prints many jobs at once on an offset press or using a digital printer. It is a rare occasion when will we even quote a custom job on an offset press. Most of our clients don’t see the value in this, especially if they are only willing to commit to printing small quantities and are running a simple job like business cards or a standard-sized brochure.

But at the same time, business owners need to understand that there are serious limitations to what we provide without going to a custom print job. One of the biggest is paper/finish selection. If you print bulk, you will get little or no paper selection (they may let you select weight if you’re lucky) and your pieces will likely HAVE to be finished with some type of varnish, whether it is matte or gloss. Why? Because applying the clear finishing coat allows the pieces to dry almost instantly, allowing the bulk printers to cut and package them faster and move the product out faster.

With digital printing, you will be able to select from a variety of paper stocks… But as of this writing, still a fairly small variety. If a job hinges on a custom paper stock, there is no guarantee that your digital printer will have access to it — or anything even close for that matter. As a rule, digital print stocks also do not run as thick as traditional stocks. My digital resource told me the other day that they are modifying their equipment so that it might be able to handle a 100 lb. uncoated sheet. The technology is catching up, but it’s still a long way away from being a true alternative to offset printing.

Our rule of thumb would be to tread carefully and manage customers’ expectations. A customer asked us recently if a particular type of paper might be available for his small quantity print job. We spoke to our vendor and found an acceptable digital alternative to the stock he requested. Halfway into the project though, he changed his mind and says that he wants a different type of specialty paper. This one looks like a no-go.

In the end, when it comes to printing in small quantities and on small budgets, tradeoffs need to be made somewhere. Although many of us would like to see the digital printers fill this niche someday, there still isn’t any “have your cake and eat it too” solution for small business printing.

Unfortunately, small businesses printing in small quantities have very few affordable options and are forced to make a trade-off somewhere… Either giving up control, paper selection and personal service with a bulk/online printer or sacrificing some print quality and the ability to print on thicker cardstocks by going digital.

I’ve been through this a few times and so I’ve got some tips to help you mitigate your risk if you’re considering going with an online printer.

1. Order their sample pack. It should be free.
2. Read their reprint/return/refund policy. Even under the best circumstances, you’ll need to go through this process at one time or another if you’re using a printer consistently.
3. Contact their customer service department as if you were a real customer. Do it via phone and email and check out their response/hold time. If you wait on the phone for half an hour before you’re a customer, you’re likely to have the same problem when you are a customer.
4. Get references. Find out who you know has been using these resources and what they think. The last time I was looking for an online resource, I narrowed the field to my two favorites and then asked my entire LinkedIn network if they had any experiences. The feedback was valuable and helped me make my decision.
5. These printers are usually cheap and allow you to order a box of business cards for only a few dollars. Doing a trial run is low-risk and will give you a real look at what it’s like to be a customer.

For anyone out there interested in running the online printer gauntlet, I wish you luck. Prepare to be frustrated and prepare to be disappointed, but I promise, there are some decent options out there.

You’ll get a better overall experience with a local digital printer… Personal attention, an eye for detail and a company that is likely very interested in preserving their business with you. The drawbacks? Digital machines just aren’t able to achieve the kind of quality that you get on a real printing press and while you get a better variety of papers to choose from, you’re not going to be able to get a really thick cardstock for business cards.

If you want to get EXACTLY what you want, unfortunately the only way is to spend a lot more money and have it printed at a local offset printer. They will meet your expectations in print/paper/service quality and give you the ability to customize your job however you like, but you will pay for it. The cost won’t be so bad at very high quantities (say in the 10’s of thousands) but will be cost-prohibitive for short runs of a few hundred to a few thousand.

Special thanks to my good friend Ryan for turning me on to Springwise.com. For those of you that haven’t experienced this online beacon of entrepreneurial hope, please click through and check it out. This Netherlands-based web site sends its agents out to scour the globe for the most unique and innovative new business ideas. If you’re an idea-junkie like me, once you dig into this site, you won’t be able to leave your chair for hours.

My wife and I got hooked on this site this weekend and scrolled through more than a year’s worth of cool businesses. She found one from last spring that was especially interesting… There was an article about Dashing Diva, the Starbucks of nail salons and possibly the first chain of nail salons in the U.S. Here’s a short excerpt from the Springwise article:

“The United States has approximately 58,000 nail salons, most of which are “mom and pop” stores owned by Vietnamese and Korean immigrants. Claiming to be the first branded nail chain in the United States, Dashing Diva hopes to become the Starbucks of nail salons, creating a strong brand and offering customers an experience that’s different from other nail salons. While most nail places sport a hygienic but basic look, Dashing Diva has invested heavily in design, making it a marketable venue for bridal showers and Sweet Sixteen and birthday parties.”

It’s just another instance where an otherwise “white-bread” type of business has managed to use design as a major part of their unique value proposition. As Starbucks has shown us, design can go a long way towards establishing a premium price point and a memorable experience. How many times did you spend $4 on a cup of coffee before you went to your first Starbucks? Would you have ever considered giving your daughter a party at a nail salon? Probably not unless you have a Dashing Diva in your neighborhood (which is unlikely as there are only about a dozen of them so far).

The truth is that design is one of the cheapest ways to upgrade your brand/product/service. Dashing Diva isn’t really reinventing anything about the manicure process (though they are a subsidiary of an acrylic nail manufacturer)… They’re just putting it in a prettier box.

No one should extend themselves beyond their practical means to redesign their business, but think about the ways that you can easily improve on what you already have. For example, if you have a retail location or office, you COULD just keep your walls white. Or you could spend $20 on a can of paint and do an accent wall in one of your brand’s colors. Everyone needs a logo and business cards… Does it really cost you anything more to get nice ones? If anything, we’re talking a couple of hundred dollars for an upgrade that could ultimately define your entire business.

By the same token we also need to remember that there are costs involved when we ignore design… After all, as the article points out, there are about 58,000 nail salons in America… But so far there’s only one Dashing Diva.

First of all, business cards are important. Very important. Often times it’s the first piece of printed marketing collateral we give out and it’s also the piece with the most longevity. The business card I give you today could end up in your rolodex, business card binder or file for years. Postcards and brochures don’t last that long. It’s probably the most important yet under-appreciated tool in your arsenal of printed materials.

A distinctive business card, one that reflects thought and effort, shows that you care about how your customers perceive you — that you want their respect and that you want to impress them. Cheap business cards — I’m talking about flimsy paper with no company logo, perhaps a “templated” background from and online printer and with or without that gunky raised type — don’t impress anyone. The classic rebuttal: “But I want to get noticed for the quality of my work NOT because I have a fancy business card.”

Consider this… Let’s say you were a CPA. Your target audience — business owners and entrepreneurs — know LOTS of CPA’s. I can think of four that I know just off the top of my head. If I went back into my file, I wouldn’t be surprised to find four more. So let’s say that I was in the market to hire a CPA. Purely hypothetical in case my actual CPA reads this. The first thing I’m going to do is go back into my file and pull the cards for all the people I know. I’m not saying that I evaluate people strictly on the quality of their business card. I don’t. But the business card does reflect on the quality of the business and how much they care about what other people think of them. It will always play a role in a decision-making process whether consciously or subconsciously.

The same principal would apply if someone asked me to refer them to a good CPA. If I’m going to hand out someone’s card on their behalf, I’m going to choose one that reflects well on me. If the card doesn’t look professional, what does that say about me when I give it to someone else?

So step one in having a great business card is to decide that it’s important to you and that it will make a difference in your business. The next step is to partner with a designer or firm that is going to show you at least two options on design in the first round. Be sure to request that at least one of your designs be a little “wild.” Let the designer get creative. It’s always easier to start with something wild and reel it in a little than it is to start with something conservative and then try to push the limits.

There is no reason NOT to go with a two sided card. It’s only a small investment in design and printing to do the second side and it makes a tiny piece of paper (just 2″ x 3.5″) twice as big. There is also no reason NOT to print your card in color.

The front of the card is for information. Keep it clean and simple. Easy to read and — if your audience is corporate and likely to use business card scanners to track their contacts — easy to scan. For example, I learned the hard way that most scanners don’t like white type on dark backgrounds. If you want to be scanner-friendly, go with a dark color on a light background. You don’t have to do black type on a white card if you don’t want to, but make sure you’ve got a lot of contrast.

The back of the card is for “wow.” Add your marketing message, add some great imagery, or maybe just call attention to your URL if your web site is important to you. The back of the card is also a great way to address different market segments. For example, if your business was event planning and your business was split between weddings and corporate events, you could do one card back that addressed brides and one back that focussed on corporate. For a fairly minimal expense, you could have business cards that directly addressed two very different audiences without alienating either.

Here are some business card “don’ts”:

• Don’t overcrowd your card with information. No one wants to be overwhelmed with text or have to read 6 point type.
• If you have to put your picture on your card, try to do something creative or artistic with it. If you’re in real estate or insurance or another industry where its common to have your photo on your business card, imagine how much more your card would stand out from the crowd if it had a creative element to it and didn’t just look like a drivers license.
• Don’t go for “gimmicky” cards. Rounded corners are OK, but squares, circles and odd sizes present problems for people that store cards in a business card portfolio or folder. It makes a GREAT presentation when you hand it to someone, but they are hard to keep. I got a business card from a design firm once that was a perfect square. It was cool and innovative, but got folded and mangled in my book. Now it looks like trash.
• Don’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with. You need a card that you’d be proud to hand out to anyone you meet.

What started out as a quick post about great business cards has turned into a manifesto of sorts. A sprawling scrollfest of text all about the ins and outs of 7.5 square inches of paper. But they may be the most important 7.5 square inches in your entire marketing toolkit.

Maybe this is an unlikely scenario but we all know what would happen if you took the used washing machine. It wouldn’t last a year. In fact, it’s almost a sure bet that over a period of a few months you’d spend more time and money dealing with and swearing at this old broken-down appliance than it would cost to get one that you could depend on — brand new. There are very few people I know that would take that deal expecting that it would make them happy in the long-term.

So here’s my question… If you won’t take your buddy’s useless washing machine, why would you be suddenly interested when he says he knows a fairly competent designer or web developer who works on the cheap? It may look like a money-saver on paper but no one ever factors in the costs of wasted time and energy spent managing this resource and the money you’re virtually guaranteed to spend re-doing this person’s work one day soon.

But there are plenty of small business owners out there — people who, in their personal lives, would never settle for an inferior appliance, a car without dual airbags or a carpet without stain protection — who willingly accept poorly designed business cards, web sites and marketing materials. Nothing good ever comes from settling for mediocrity in any aspect of life and we certainly shouldn’t settle when it comes to our businesses.

I’ve had this conversation with business owners many, many times. Many don’t realize that they have better options or can afford better. That’s really not the case.

The truth is that doing design right from the beginning only creates positives for a growing business. It doesn’t really cost anything extra. In fact, buying good design can save you significantly in the long term as you can spare yourself the vicious cycle of hiring cheap freelancers, firing them, scrapping their work and starting fresh with another. Additionally, it shows that you are serious and committed to your business, it creates conversations and selling opportunities, it gives you additional confidence when you are in sales or networking situations and it makes you look bigger and more established than your competition.

I had a meeting this morning at my favorite coffeehouse. Outside the restroom there’s a big wall-mounted rack full of business cards from local companies. Not a one stood out or said anything positive about the people that had put them there. Just row after row of broken appliances: things I wouldn’t want to use and that aren’t worth passing on to others. But you can do wonderful things with a business card if you just make the decision that you want something really special and won’t settle for anything less. Keep that in mind when you see the box you keep in your desk drawer start to run low.

Obviously, I have an interest here. It just so happens that I own a company that designs business cards among other things. But honestly, I’d be thrilled to see some better looking business cards at my coffee place and better web sites end up in my inbox even if we didn’t have a hand in making that happen.

Good design is just good business practice plain and simple. But neither your attorney nor your CPA, the people you hire for “serious” business advice in starting and maintaining an enterprise are likely to discuss these topics. I wish they would though.