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Business cards are still an essential business tool, and is something you ought to have if you are serious about your business. It is easy to pass them to your clients and prospects at every touchpoint instead of having to exchange contacts, which is seen as a bit informal. Although a business card is critical, it does not mean that you should be working with any kind of card. The better the design on your card, the easier it will be for people to take you seriously. This goes a long way in attracting more business to you.
Generic vs Custom Business Cards
When it comes to business card design, you have two options to work with. You can decide to go with the generic or custom way. Generic cards are ready-made and all you have to do is pick from the different templates available, and then add your logo, contact information, and other details. On the other hand, custom business cards provide you with the opportunity to use a professional designer to create a unique design that has never been used before. This provides you with the chance to add in your own personal touch. Let us have a look at the pros and cons of each.
Generic Business Cards
Pros
Generic business cards are quite cheap, as the design has already been done for you. All you have to do is select a template that suits you, add your details, and you are done. This does not attract high costs of hiring a designer to have your card professionally done.
Since generic cards are easy to do, you can have them done quite quickly.
Cons
One main problem about generic business cards is that they are not unique. Your business card may resemble another person’s card.
Your prospects and clients may have already seen a similar card. Therefore, they will not take your business seriously.
Custom Business Cards
Pros
A custom business card is unique and has never been used before. Passing such a card to prospects and potential clients helps you leave a good impression about your business.
Cons
At most times, you have to hire a designer to do your custom business card. It may also need special printing. These actions can end up being very expensive to you.
Due to the personal touch that needs to be added, creating a custom business card can end up taking a very long time to do. Therefore, a custom business card might not be the best option for you when you urgently need one.
The Importance of Business Card Design
Many people overlook this but business card design is critical. Here are some benefits of good business card design:
Having a proper business card design helps to set you apart from the competition. You want people to look at your card in a different way. You would want them to use a general design that resembles that of your competition. The only way you can actually show your clients and prospects that your business is unique is to go for a professionally done and custom-made design.
You want people to look at your business card and see your attributes and those of your business on the card. The only way you can achieve this is to go for a custom card, which provides you with the opportunity to add your own unique features that will appeal to your clients.
Business cards are an essential element of any business. The only way people are going to take you seriously depends on the way you present yourself, and a business card helps you greatly. Nevertheless, this should not mean that you use any kind of business card. A generic card might be easy and inexpensive to make, but might leave a bad impression to your prospects. This is because they might have already come across a similar design somewhere else. A custom business card can solve this issue for you because it is not only unique, but also appeals those you pass it to. This can go a long way in attracting more business for you since people will take you and your business more seriously. Despite this, a custom business card can be a bit expensive. However, it gives you the most value for your money.
This site makes it easy to find and customize a stylish template. The prints are consistently the best we’ve seen. And a free design review just might save you from sending an embarrassing mistake to your nearest and dearest.
In our busy, digital world, a tangible holiday card may provide more meaning than ever before, and Simply to Impress is the best service for creating and sharing holiday cheer.
If you need last-minute cards, this is the best option for getting decent (but not great) prints in less than 24 hours.
This service delivered cute holiday cards that were comparable to cards from our top pick. It provides double-sided printing and has a terrific app, if you want to create a holiday card directly from your phone.
This service has fewer options than top competitors, and the site is harder to use. But no other service we tested offered such high-quality cards for such a low price.
With Simply to Impress, it was easier to create a beautiful, custom holiday photo card than with the other services we tried. This company offers an exceptionally wide selection of designs, with filters that efficiently narrow the results, so you won’t spend ages scrolling. Once you’ve found the right one, you can customize it with simple editing tools and choose from ample paper, finish, and trim options. Turnaround is brisk, and there are various options for shipping speed. And if you’d prefer, the service can do the work of addressing and mailing your cards (at extra cost).
If you’re on a tight budget, the holiday photo cards from Nations Photo Lab look nearly as good as those from Simply to Impress. The site offers fewer customization choices and photo-upload methods, and it has scant photo-editing tools. Also, Nations Photo Lab has neither an addressing service nor a card-mailing service. But the company’s per-card prices were about 70¢ less than those of our top pick. And shipping is free on orders of $79 or more, so this one is an especially good value if you’re ordering a significant number of cards.
This service delivered cute holiday cards that were comparable to cards from our top pick. It provides double-sided printing and has a terrific app, if you want to create a holiday card directly from your phone.
Mixbook
If you don’t need your holiday cards shipped out for you, as Simply to Impress will do, you may find a better deal through Mixbook. This service offers free double-sided printing and an app, unlike our top pick. It also stocks some creative card sizes and has a minimum-order option as low as one. The quality of Mixbook’s cards is on a par with the ones we got from our top pick. But we thought the plethora of design choices and being able to have your cards mailed for you gave Simply to Impress an edge.
If time isn’t of the essence, go with one of our other picks. But if the holidays sneak up on you, or you’re stuck with a last-minute assignment from your boss, Staples provides the best mix of quality templates, ease of use, and quick turnaround at a reasonable price. Our Staples cards looked almost as good as those from Simply to Impress, with comparable sharpness and color fidelity (albeit slightly darker and on slightly flimsier paper). These cards are not the best, but they’re definitely good enough for display on a fridge.