Home Based Business Card Blunders
You’re at your kid’s baseball game and you find yourself talking about your home based business with another parent. After the game, she asks for your card. Your face flushes, your stumble over your words, you pull out a pen and a scrap of paper and jot down your info.
Not the best impression, right?
A personal business card is one of the best tools you can have for your home-based business. To get it right, avoid making these common blunders:
- Tiny Print ~ If the print on your card is too small (or in weird cursive or amateur looking) people usually just pitch them. Make your name, phone number, e-mail, address and Web site easy to read. Don’t get fancy – just be practical.
- No Physical Address ~ There’s a chance you won’t want to give your physical address because you’re the owner of a home business. Unfortunately, holding back on contact information is harmful and hints that your business is not well established or reputable. Consider getting a post office box or asking a colleague if you may use her business address for your mail.
- Slick Texture or Odd Size ~ Sometimes it’s recommended to have a business card that feels different from or is larger or smaller than everyone else’s so it stands out. Think again. Slick cards can’t be written on and larger ones don’t fit neatly into a wallet (smaller ones tend to get lost). Again, keep it simple.
- Blank Back ~ The back of your business card is prime real estate. Utilize it and print a coupon for your home business, offer a special report or complementary consult. This also gives people a reason to hold on to it.
- No Photo ~ Not a cheesy used-car salesman photo, but a nice, clean one. Placing your picture on your card makes you more memorable and instills a stronger sense of connection.
- Incongruence ~ If your home business is a web design service, make sure your business actually has a site and that you list the address. Seems like a no-brainer, right?
- No Tagline ~ Create a catchy phrase that expresses a benefit of your home based business or states the type of service you’re offering.
- Not Unique ~ It’s true, the best thing is to keep your card simple. That doesn’t mean it can’t be unique. Try attaching a magnet to the back so it can be displayed on a fridge. Get a little creative.
- Home Jobs ~ No matter how hard you try, a homemade business card simply can’t compete with professionally printed cards. They just look cheap and will lessen your impact. You’re a home business owner…not a homemade business card distributor. Get a professional to help.