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Getting All Your Details On Your Business Card

Guest post by: Erin Ferree

Article Overview: What information should you include on your business card? This article breaks it down into "Must-Haves", "Flaunt It If You've Got It" and "It Depends..."

Getting All Your Details On Your Business Card

Must Haves: Your Name —You choose whether to include your middle name.

Title —This gives you an opportunity to tell your clients a bit more about what you do and to add personality. You can have a serious title (CEO) or a snazzy one (Midlife Crisis Prevention Specialist).

Address —Including your address greatly increases your credibility and makes your business appear established. If you’re working at home, rent a mailbox to keep your privacy. When signing up for a post office box, consider using a commercial mailbox vendor (such as the UPS Store) instead of a P.O. Box. You’ll get a real address, which looks much classier.

Tagline —If you’ve got one, it has to be here! If you don’t have one, consider making one up – it can really help your memorability.

Phone Number –Toll-free if you’ve got it!

Email Address —Use a branded domain name to use as your email—yourname@yourbusiness.com. Gmail just isn’t as stylish, and doesn’t help your brand. If you want the reliability of Gmail, you can get a branded email and route the messages through Google Apps. And, AOL and Hotmail are just plain out.

Flaunt ‘Em If You’ve Got ‘Em! Website Address —You need a website so that people who get your card have a place to go learn more about you. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but it does have to be accessible, professionally designed and informative. Better yet, have fun with it and design a site that’s full of personality and lets your brand shine!

Credentials –Ph.D? CPCC? CPA? Include as much of your “alphabet soup” as you need to establish credibility – or leave it off if it’s not important in your field.

Your Blog Address —If your blog lives at a different address than your website, include its’ address on your card.

A Link To Your Free Offer —If you have an amazing free report, free teleclass or CD offer, include a link on your card so that people will know where to access that information.

It Depends On Your Strategy License Numbers —Include your license number if you are required to display them by industry regulations (i.e., insurance or contractors), or if your being licensed is a benefit that you offer to your clients, or if it differentiates you from your competition.

Cell Phone Number —If you’re offering your cell phone as a special bonus to your VIP clients, then consider emailing it to them or writing it on the back of the card.

Fax number —If you need to receive faxes regularly. If you’re an occasional faxer (say, for contracts only), you can list your fax number on your website and contract letterhead.

Social Media Links —If Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube are a major part of your brand and marketing strategies, then include links to your profiles on your business card. You may need to use shortened URLs (like bit.ly) or customized URLS (buy a new domain name or create a domain shortcut and forward it to your profile) to make the links short enough to fit well. The back of the card is a great place to put these links.

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Article Tags: brand, business card, design, market, marketing, small business, stationery

About the Author: Erin Ferree RSS for Erin's articles - Visit Erin's website Erin Ferree is a branding coach, design genius and strategic thinker. She's been told that her right-brain, left-brain combination of creativity and logic is hard to come by... and that it's what small business owners need to be successful. She loves connecting the dots between passion and profit, mixing strategy and inspiration and shaking things up. She deeply enjoys working with entrepreneurs who want to help more people and look good doing it. Who want all of their branding and marketing to make sense and speak to their ideal clients. And who want an open, honest, inviting brand with integrity - instead of using icky, pushy, sleazy marketing tactics and trickery. She's branded over 450 small businesses in the last 10 years. She's been published in so many books and periodicals that she stopped counting. She's shared stages with some awesome people - like Michele PW, Linda Hollander, Lisa Cherney, Sheri McConnell and Kelly O'neil. In the rare moments when she's not obsessing about branding or design, she can be found hugging her corgi-dog Stanley, going for long walks, cooking improvisationally, or throwing parties so her friends can enjoy them. Click here to visit Erin's website More from Erin Ferree How To Brand Your Livestream

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