Is your business changing and growing?
Lately I’ve been getting lots of requests from small business owners to update their business cards. One client is getting greater clarity about her target market so wants to change her tag line. Another client, Kevin, added a new employee a few months ago who’s making service calls and is handing out Kevin’s business card. Kevin thinks it looks unprofessional, so wants his employee to have is own card.
If someone has been in business a short while, they’re surprised to learn it takes me 2-3 hours to update their business card. Shouldn’t a professional graphic designer be able to do this in under an hour? I mean, their first business card was done by their son or daugher, spouse or a friend. Or, they may have gone to an online business card site, filled out a few form fields, pressed a button and …shazam! Their card might look like everyone else’s, or didn’t look that professional, but at least it was done. It’s just a business card. Right?
Your Business Cards Is Important…
…so it needs to look important—and not like the another business “down the street” who may be in an entirely different line of work.
It’s what you leave behind with a prospect.
People hold onto your business card. My BNI group holds onto other members business cards so we can refer our colleagues to our friends and clients we meet who might need their service.
My Graphic Design Workflow for Business Cards
1. Request my client’s logo, background (300 dpi), name of their typeface
2. Confirm their tagline.
— If my client doesn’t yet have a tagline, I review their other marketing materials and send suggestions.3. Reproduce any files they may be missing so they are suitable for print
— a.k.a. high resolution of 300 dpi or better @ 100% of final design size4. Setup their business card design in a layered file format: Adobe InDesign or Illustrator
5. Print out their business card design and check for type, position, size and hierarchyProof for spelling errors, including calling the phone number
— learned that one the hard way6. Send a PDF proof to my client for their review and sign-off
7. Prepare a print file for output
— if their cards are being photocopied, I set them up, 8-up per one 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheet paper8. Send their digital file off for printing with instructions to the printer including quantity, billing, delivery date and location.
9. Email my client all their job files for future printing needs
Walking In Another Man’s Shoes
The most common refrain I hear is, “I didn’t know one little change would involve all that.” It may be one little change, like adding a tag line, or a different name to an existing design, but it’s important to look profession so you can grow your business and get out there in a big way.