With the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic having faded in recent months, you could, as a business owner, once again feel comfortable with the idea of meeting potential clients up close and handing them a physical card as a reminder of your company and how to contact it.

However, one statistic shared by Real Wealth Business suggests that about 90% of all business cards distributed are thrown away within a week. So, the onus is on you doing what you can to make sure your card not only catches the eye but also keeps it for as long as possible.

Go for a colored business card 

You might not have realized that a colored business card lasts ten times longer than a standard white business card before being discarded. 

Hence, it’s worth taking the time to be creative with your card’s design — especially as, according to another statistic, sales grow by 2.5% for every 2,000 business cards given out.

Remember to include the relevant contact details 

While opting for a minimalist look with your card might make it stand out in a sense, you should be wary of stripping away too many elements. Designer and illustrator Sam Hampton-Smith advises in an article for Creative Bloq: “You’ll typically want to include at least a business name, phone number and email address.”

He adds that, depending on exactly what communication channels your business has, you should probably also include a website address, a physical address and social media handles.

Make your business card ‘dual-purpose’ 

Depending on the industry in which you operate, it could be both wise and clever for you to design your card in such a way that it can also serve as something other than a business card.

Whatever that second purpose is, verify that it is genuinely relevant to your company and its target audience. A card for a drinks seller, for example, could also constitute a bottle opener, while an eco-conscious company could make its business card a packet of seeds.

Give your card a custom finish 

That way, the person you give the card to could quite literally feel the difference as soon as the item touches their hand. You only get one chance to make a good first impression, as the saying goes…

The various custom finishes from which you could choose include foil blocking, metallic and spot-UV finishes. While adding custom finishes to cards can inflate the cost of creating them, you could allow for long-term savings by buying your own print finishing equipment. 

Thoroughly spell-check a card before printing it out 

Imagine how your heart could sink if you printed out thousands of cards only to realize a silly spelling error sticking out like a sore thumb on each of them.

Hence, before printing business cards in any design, you should repeatedly go through its text with a fine-tooth comb and potentially also ask someone else to check that copy for you, lest you end up having to reprint the entire batch of cards.