Business cards. The perfect representation of you and your business, and with many advantages. A simple and well-designed business card can send out a professional look, aid marketing and help you with networking. In this article I will cover five advantages of business cards for freelancers, what to include in a successful business card and recommend some business card printers/developers.
5 Advantages of Business Cards
1. The Personal touch
A business card given to somebody by hand has a much more of a personal touch than a logo of a website slapped onto a website when you’re searching for a developer of some kind . Place yourself in the shoes of a potential client. Think of the catalogue of worries that may arise when you first interact and are looking to potentially hire this person to do set work for you.
- “Is he/she reliable?”
- “What if they run off with my deposit?”
- “What if they do a shabby job?”
- And the odd one will think “What if I want to date her/him?!” (and no, I will not discuss that later as an advantage!)
Passing on a business card can help reduce these worries. Imagine a well-dressed, smart girl who walks into a office passively, offers her card to you for your potential custom after noticing an ad in the window.
Client: What do you charge…Sarah?
Sarah (freelancer): That would depend on the nature of the work, sir, however all of this information can be found along with my portfolio on my website mentioned on the card.
Client: Are you single?
Compare that to being on MSN Messenger and typing:
Max: can u make a site?
Sarah: ye, depend tho check me site man, its sickdesignz.com
Max: u single luv?
2. Sending the right signals.
Designing a business card is crucial as it leaves a lasting impression on the potential client. For example, I once met an accountant who gave me her business card. I never used her custom, but only because a very close friend of mine is my accountant (very reliable in dodgy bookkeeping, a joke, by the way) but I always kept her card. It oozed respect.
Looking the part can sometimes not be enough if you hand over a dull 1990′s style business card then as that, in their eyes, would mean you make shabby 1990′s style websites. If you’re a designer, then your business card should be able to speak volumes about you and could be seen as one of your key marketing points.
3. Highlight your message
A potential client can go on a freelancer’s website searching for past work, or trying to find what the designer does exactly, only to end up not knowing what’s going on.
For example when they want to commission a website to be created they may not know what ‘coding’ is and how it is different to the ‘design’ of the website. A card can help clear this confusion up, and if it doesn’t then they can just call you on the number which you have put on there and ask.
Remember people are unpredictable, someone may ring you and say “My company needs a thing on the internet”. A very vague statement, but a few simple questions and you could probably derive what he’s talking about (a website, maybe). This person may then go on to trust you when you explain jargon to them which they previously had no knowledge of. This may lead to further referral leads and a strong relationship.
4. Break the Ice
In intimidating situations when it may be hard to sell you services, a business card could do that part of the talking for you.
For example, if you were to meet the CEO of a company, it may be hard to say “Do you have a job vacancy for me?”. A business card could not only offer a good impression as discussed before but also break the ice in the conversation making it easier for you to ask when he/she says “So you are a freelancer, what do you do?”. Now he/she is asking you as opposed to you pitching to them.
5. ‘Viral’ Marketing
Similiar to an eBook you may publish online, or any kind of video or MP3 you publish, a business card has an opportunity of becoming some what ‘viral’. People do pass business cards around and they do keep them, so they are helpful for sustained marketing campaigns.
What to Include in a Successful Business Card
- Your name
- Your contact number
- E-mail and mail address (you could use a P.O.Box)
- Your website address
- Your Logo
- Your slogan
- Short summary of what you do
Recommended Sites
Hope you enjoyed my thoughts, ideas, and tips!
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June 30th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Very nice post on marketing. Hope to learn more from you.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Thanks for reading, please subscribe to our RSS feed if you haven’t already :)
June 30th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
A good arguement for a well designed and appropriately styled business card.
Another good article from The Golem.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:10 am
Title is misleading!
July 1st, 2009 at 8:03 am
May I ask how?
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
Thanks, Please subscribe to our RSS to keep updated ;)
July 9th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Thank you
July 13th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I found this article very important. Thanx,.
July 19th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Added to my RSS, Thanks!
July 25th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I myself want to freelance part-time and I’ve known a guy from my past job that handed out business cards to EVERYONE. It was about this travel agency where you save money, but the concept was to network on a global basis and pretty inspiring too. I think these tips are just fine, networking, marketing, and business all tie-in to selling and you just have to get over that fear. I say think of it as more conversational and less stiff and rigid. Let things flow and let the client know how passionate you are about your work and trust will naturally be relayed. The best solution is usually the natural one and not the forced.
August 5th, 2009 at 12:24 am
In addition to vistaprint printing business cards, 48hourprint.com does a nice job. Better quality than the others mentioned, fast too.
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Yep – I would agree with that.. Thanks for the line.
September 24th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Hello, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, Your blog looks good. Have a nice day.
September 24th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Hi. I read a few of your other posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links?
December 22nd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I completely agree with the “send the right signals” part of the text (the other parts too, buth this really got my attention). You can have as much experience and be the best possible graphic designer or copywriter or whatever. If you have a pack of dull business cards you’re planning to hand out, consider not handing them out at all. If you can choose between not making an impression or making a bad impression, I’d be happy to choose the first option.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:05 am
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March 20th, 2010 at 12:25 am
I think you could pick up that comment and use it as a blog post. What you wrote is great advice any way that you look at it.
March 20th, 2010 at 3:23 am
I was at a convention recently and was suprised by how many people put twitter and facebook logos on there cards talk about clutter
March 20th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thank you for this post. More often than not, the best tips originate from the blog posts you actually wouldn’t expect. Not long ago, I did not give whole lot thought to writing comments on web log posts and have left responses even less. Looking at your valuable post, will probably motivate me to do this more often.
March 28th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Informative article that you have.
April 5th, 2010 at 10:08 am
You got a really useful blog I have been here reading for about half an hour. I am a newbie and your post is valuable for me.
April 12th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Excellent post as always, thank you for writing so much helpful stuff on a regular basis.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
A very professional looking business card is really very important in promoting your business. It makes good impression among customers.~-,
May 20th, 2010 at 7:12 am
I loved your article.Really thank you! Fantastic.
May 20th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
It sounds like you’re making problems yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of searching at why their is often a difficulty inside initial place
May 25th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.
June 25th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
While using opportunity on this post we want to add our comment regarding logo design. We notice lately a share of men and women seeking for automatic logotype creation solutions. Some of them are software packages created for this reason or just random tips to help them create a logo set on their own. Even every website/business proprietor is the greatest person to know the actual needs of his business, we would want to encourage people to get specialist through design agencies and logo designers. The costs are extremely affordable plus the results stunning. The 1st look is very important and people should view it just as one investment rather than like a quick step they need to complete by themselves.
July 8th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
I agree on how a business card can be a very powerful marketing tool. Great post!
July 14th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
I have just socailsed this on faves.com
August 12th, 2010 at 3:13 am
i always make my own business card through adobe photoshop and ms word, they are satisfactorily made though-’;
November 4th, 2010 at 8:40 am
….You are absolutely correct..
So many people come to me asking that we can use simply a digital card etc..
but according to me, a good business card boosts up the intentions..
Really well put points..
November 7th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
you can always create great business cards by just using adobe photoshop and some other photoediting tools ‘
November 24th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
hey guys!
November 24th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
i have no clue what the hell una is talking about…
November 24th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
hello people
November 24th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I quite enjoy browsing business cards on the web, they are highly entertaining and quite delightful. please give me some links to some nice business card websites, as most are innadequit. thanks (:
July 11th, 2011 at 8:57 am
that was helpful,tnx