If you’ve ever Googled ‘business cards’, you will have been inundated with offers of business card design for £9.99 or less – sometimes even free – with a super fast turnaround and free delivery. If it all seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. If you’ve tried one of those cheap offers, you’ll know what we’re talking about. If not, let us enlighten you so you can understand why buying 100 business cards for £9.99 is never a good idea.
Cheap and cheerful or penny dreadfuls?
Every time you hand over your business card to someone, you’re putting it on the front line. It represents the vanguard of your corporate image, in some cases the first sight a potential client might get of your company. So why sabotage your efforts with a shoddy calling card that undermines everything you’re trying to achieve.
Bargain business card might seem like a good idea when your business start-up has no budget but creating a poor first impression will cost you money in the long run.
Here are just a few of the problems associated with an ultra cheap business card:
- Bargain cards are designed to a template offering no hint of individuality. Imagine how embarrassing it would be to swap business cards with someone only to find they had used the same template.
- It’s important for your corporate image to maintain consistency; cheap printing, however, may distort the colour of your logo or blur some of the fine detail. Small text may not be as crisp as you would expect it to be and it may make reading telephone numbers and email addresses problematic.
- Be prepared for your cut-price business card to vanish in the crowd. With nothing interesting or unique about the design, your card won’t be memorable or stand out from the hundreds of other business cards your customers may receive. If a potential client remembers your card because it was unique in some way, that client will remember your business. But it’s not going to happen with a £9.99 calling card. You simply won’t get the option of having die cuts, interesting paper stock or customised illustrations.
- Cheap cards are printed on cheap paper and it shows. Your card won’t be weighty and tactile, smacking of good quality, it won’t be embossed or embellished; it’ll seem light, cheap and, dare we say it, probably a little bit boring.
- Investing in a cheap business card may limit you to one or two colour printing. Not much good if you have a multi-coloured logo.
- And if you’re tempted to go from cheap to free, you find an advertisement on the back of your business card for the printing company. After all, why else are they going to give you a business card for free?
But employing a good quality graphic designer will cost an arm and a leg!
You’re right that using a proper designer will cost you more than £9.99 but, depending on your requirements, it needn’t be that much more. The main thing is you’ll have the freedom to specify what you want from your card – it could be die cut, printed on luxurious stock, foiled, an unusual size, folded or printed on an unusual material such as wood, metal, cork or plastic.
Of course, some of these options will be expensive but at least you have the choice. Your card will truly reflect your business and it will be unique. An experienced graphic designer will be able to present your company logo and detailed information in the way that suits you, rather than having to follow a preordained template with a limited choice of colours, sizes and fonts.
Don’t be disappointed
Go for the £9.99 option and when you receive your new box of business cards you might feel a bit deflated. On the other hand, take the time to source and interact with the right designer – who will also be able to design your company logo and other essential elements of corporate stationery – and you’ll receive exactly the business card you want.
First impressions count and your business cards act as the aide-memoire of your first encounter with a potential client. Do yourself a favour and get a card that’s worthy of your business.
(c) All rights for this post belong to Alchemist Logo Design – leading London graphic design agency specialising in high quality branding, logo design, stationery design and printing. If you would like to discuss your logo or stationery – contact us today.