We are all familiar with the humble business card. It contains essential information to attract business and should be designed to facilitate this; all very straight forward, which is why I was surprised to come across a competition for business cards. There are categories for best design, worst job title, funniest company name and so on. In marketing terms, the business card is actually a very important item, and the presence of a competition could highlight what makes a business card successful.
Obviously, some of the winners in the competition are getting acknowledgement for creative thinking when it comes to coming up with a catchy name for a business. An accountancy business called Many Happy Returns for example is a witty use of marketing magic that will set one business apart from another. By being memorable and using humour, a potential customer is more likely to remember Many Happy Returns when they want an accountant than a company with a more generic name. However it could be argued that the name is also geared toward a certain clientele.
In light of this it has to said that business cards need to reflect the type of client they want to attract, so a humorous business name is not going to attract corporate clients. Other marketing tactics that can be used on business cards are eye catching graphics. Another winner of the business card competition won thanks to a unique design on each card. This was representative of its business and the unique products they made, tie dye tee shirts. Each card was sprayed with dye prior to printing to create a tie dye effect. The attention to detail reflected the company ethos and attracted many more clients than a generic card.
Another category was the 'hardest job title to decipher', with the nominations consisting of convoluted job titles that made the recipient wonder what on earth the business was all about. I suspect this category was furnished with nominations from people that had received the cards rather than the actual businesses themselves. Business cards need to be clear about what service or product they actually specialise in, and a vague or indecipherable job title will leave a potential customer baffled and unlikely to make an enquiry. This category obviously reflected how not to do it.
It isn't just business cards that get judged either. It has become more common for people to create calling cards to use for social networking. These are likely to be designed to reflect the persons personality, their hobbies and the type of people they are hoping to meet. Email addresses and phone numbers are the most common pieces of information to have on a calling card, after all it is not wise to be handing out a personal address to people that you don't really know.
Competitions for calling cards judge cards on design merit, unique finishing touches as well as audacity and humour. Some of the slogans are brazen attempts to attract members of the opposite sex and resemble the cliches that can be found on tee shirts and seaside hats. Although the intention is for expanding a social network, calling cards are not unlike business cards in the fact that their purpose is to create an impression that beats the competition. They old cliche, 'don't judge a book by its cover' is not applicable to calling cards or business cards; a bit like wearing your heart on your sleeve they are designed to be an accurate representation of the person, company or business that is handing them out.
Author Resource:-
Dom Donaldson is a marketing expert.
Find out more about Business Cards and the printing options available for business stationary at Need A Print.
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