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Published: 12 October 2020

So you think you need to save a few Rands on your next business card order? You don’t need to buy an expensive business card to look good, you only need to avoid a business card that looks cheap.

First Impressions

We have all learned how important first impressions are. We are often obsessive about our actions during a first meeting (firm handshake, eye contact, pleasant cologne) while paying little mind to all the underlying details. A nice business card, just like a solid website and a good follow up phone call, is what separates the men from the boys (and the women from the girls)

A Nice Business Card

You don’t need to have a fancy business card if It is not your style or brand. What you are aiming for is an effective business card. If a fancy business card that wins design awards is your goal, awesome, add that to your list, but design awards are not the goal of most businesses.

Your business card is NOT an advertisement for your products, it’s an advertisement for the quality of the business relationship you are offering. You want to be a luxury brand of business relationships, regardless of what you are selling. And visually, a layout free from distractions implies luxury. Busy, crowded layouts imply cheap. Give your information to some room to breathe. It’s easy to get excited about social chiclets and pretty fonts and a big photo and your mission statement and and and and… Don’t get distracted from your main message: The establishment of a great relationship.

Branding and Design

Whether they know it or not, every person and company has a brand. Even plumbers and landscapers need to demonstrate a high level of trustworthiness and quality. Your card is a physical representation of your business. Is your business cheap, flimsy, and hastily put together? Well, maybe it is, but no one needs to know that, least of all the person you’re trying to build a relationship with.

No Pre-Designed Templates

There is no way to use a pre-designed template without compromising your brand. To a template designer, successful templates are measured by the number of downloads. They are by definition, designed to be as generic and broadly appealing as possible, the brand equivalent of vanilla ice cream.

High-Quality Printing

You have poured a lot of TLC into your business card design, don’t go cheap now! Your goal does not need to be expensive. The goal is to not look cheap. Just like you would be wary of the cheapest contractor or supplier, you don’t want to go to the cheapest printer. They are the cheapest for a reason, where do they cut their costs?

Paper
You can save so much money on paper if you don’t mind ordering from an Asian sweatshop mill. They grab any cheap, clear-cut rainforest tree they can get their hands on. The cheap paper goes out the front door and awful chemical slurries get pumped out the back. Any respectable printer, orders papers from exclusive paper mills, whose trees are chain-of-custody certified and gave come from responsible, well-managed forests. The earth is more important than saving a few bucks.

Customer Service
Certain printers are proud of how robotic their print shops are. Digital orders come in, computers prep the files, digital printers spit them out, and a robot boxes them for shipping. It’s literally a really fancy office printer that ships to you instead of sitting in the closet next to the break room. You’re paying for experts who notice that your text is too close to the edge and might get cut off. Experts who notice you accidentally linked a lo-res file before printing. Experts you can call on the phone and talk to.

Quick, Not Quality
Cheap printers find ways to cut corners on your files. We won’t bore you with the technical details but what it means is that they have optimized their print process to what’s quick and efficient for them not what looks best for you. Improper rasterization leads to a fuzzy type that is hard to read. The crappy line screen means what you see the ink dots on your prints instead of smooth colours. Rick blacks makes fine details look blobby. You are better than blobby business cards.

Conclusion

When you introduce your brand, artwork, band, passion or small business to a new customer or fan you want to instill confidence, quality, and longevity. Sure, your business cards may be a small detail, but it is part of your first impression. How do you want to be remembered?

At Foxx Design, we keep to all guidelines to ensure you have the best business card, and we have also perfected the process that it does not cost you your entire salary. Get in touch with us and we will guide you.

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Published: 21 September 2020

The impact of a high-quality business card cannot be overstated and there is a reason why they remain popular even in today’s digital age. They are a great networking tool and can be used to impress anyone that you meet, but in order to get the most out of your business card, it needs to have a good design and a good business card size.

The Science of The Perfect Business Card

There is actually a science to the perfect business card and business card size and it is important to be aware of what works and what does not – a study revealed that 40% of people had a negative perception of a company because of the quality of design on their business card. As you might expect, different industries and professionals had different ideas of what made a great business card so you need to keep this in mind when designing your own.

There are a few tips to keep in mind though which can be applied no matter what industry you work in, they are:
• Less is more
• Use an easy to read font
• Space out text
• Only include important information
• Logo no larger than 25% of the business cards

Business Card Colour

Colour is a very important decision to make. It is hard to go wrong with white as a background because it is crisp, classic and professional, plus the mind processes colour before words or shapes so it is good if you want people to focus on the text as quickly as possible. Other good colours for a business card are yellow (optimistic), deep shades of green (prestige), peach (peaceful) and blue (classic, trustworthy and versatile)

Designing Your Own Business Card

It is a good idea to use a business card printing specialist, as often these places have design templates which can make it quick and easy to create professional-looking business cards. They also give you the ability to try different designs and you could then ask for feedback to identify the best option.

Business cards remain highly effective for all professionals, but you need to take your time with the design and this could have a huge impact on your success.

At Foxx Design, we create the perfect business card, with the perfect business card size. Our high-quality business cards will surely leave your client with a smile. Trust us with your business card printing.

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Published: 05 October 2020

Whether you are running a business or changing careers, you’ve likely been to at least one networking event. And like any attendee, you found yourself walking away with a handful of new contact and a pile of paper business cards. But in a world that is going digital, are printed business cards still relevant? Will virtual alternatives, like mobile apps and nameplate websites, replace or complement their paper counterparts? Here is a closer look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of paper and digital business cards.

Paper Business Cards

Benefit: Printed business cards give you an opportunity to communicate your brand with people you’d like to reconnect with in the future, starting with the first impression. In the age of visual content, these cards are a great visual reminder of who you are and what your business is all about.

Drawback: Did you recently update your phone number, email address, or website address? Are you changing your business name or undergoing a full-scale rebranding? Any changes made to the contact information provided on paper business cards calls for a new batch to be printed.

Benefit: Paper business cards come in handy at conferences, trade shows, professional lunches, and other in-person networking events. When someone asks for your cars, it means they want a reminder of who you are and how you met. Jotting a quick note on your printed business card will help them recall this information when following up with you later.

Drawback: Quantities are finite, as you can only pass out as many business cards as you bring. You need to make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get them printed and shipped when you are running low.

Digital Business Cards

Benefit: Mobile Apps like SnapDat, One Card, and Handshake, allow you to share your electronic business cards with other smartphone users. You can create a personalized virtual business card (vcard) and easily send your contact information to other app users via their username. These apps also allow you to email your vCard to non-app users.

Drawback: Digital business card sites are hot one day, and gone the next. Contact sharing tools like Bump, Card.ly, BeamMe, and My Name is E was recently popular but are now defunct. Plus, not all mobile options are available on both iPhone and Android, and some free versions require both users to have the app installed on their smartphones. Other mobile apps only work if both parties are on the same WiFi network, which makes sharing information difficult if the connection, is poor.

Benefit: Web-based business cards can help you maximize your online networking and generate opportunities to be found online. Professional nameplate websites, such as about.me, re.vu, icon.me, flavors.me, allow visitors to discover more about you, learn how to reach you, and see some of your best work. Once your page is created, you can link yo your email signature and social media profiles for extra exposure.

Drawback: Want to link your vCard to a custom domain? Some nameplate websites allow you to link the two, yet often considered a premium feature. While more than affordable than designing a traditional website, you’ll be required to pay an annual fee (or essentially, rent the web design).

Better Together

Even in a tech-focused world, there is still a place for classic paper business cards. Here are a few easy ways you can merge your real world activities with your virtual presence.

• Add digital elements. Use a QR code on your printed business card to making visiting your website or vCard easy.
• Leverage social media. You are particularly active on a couple of social media platforms, include their icons and your handles on your paper business cards so new contacts will know where and how to connect with you socially.
• Manage contacts efficiently. Instead of logging all you’re now contacts by hand, use scanning programs to digitize paper business cards. These programs will import the information directly onto your Smartphone’s contacts list and save you the hassle of entering all the data manually.

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Published: 15 September 2020

We all want to cut costs wherever possible with our marketing expenses, and getting the best deal on printing is an obvious place to start, especially if you have a lot of prints planned for the year.

Are the savings you can obtain with a cheap printer worth it? We at Foxx Designs don’t think so as we know that delivering value represents more than a box of freshly-inked papers.

If you have a good printer, you can say “yes” to these points. If there are too many points that are no, we would suggest finding a new supplier.

I Can Count On Getting My Quote Request back Within 24 Hours

Once a printer fully understands what you want to accomplish, it’s a matter of plugging in numbers for materials, equipment, and time. Writing a quote is easy for an experienced printer to do. There is very little reason to wait more than a business day for a quote (if it is not a very custom request).

I know I Can Always Call and Get My Print Questions Answered. If They Are Not Sure, They will Call Me Back with an Answer within A Few Hours

When you call your printer with a question, it should be easy to access a knowledgeable person who understands your print job. A print company should have a well-oiled process for managing the customer experience. Instant answers are nice to get, but it’s reasonable to expect them to provide you with a confident answer within a business day.

I Know My Printer Is Available With Suggestions To Help Me Get The Correct Product.

If you cannot talk directly to a printer or experienced account representative for printing recommendations, stop right there. If you proceed any further with submitting your order, you are accountable for what is printed. No one will help you when something is wrong, looks funny, or isn’t what you expected.

You want a printer who works directly with you when making the final selection on paper, ink, and other customizations. If they are local, you have the advantage of reviewing samples to their office and perhaps even see their equipment and meet the staff. The personal interaction also builds rapport, which is important for all successful business relationships.

I Get My Proof within 24 Hours

You are sent a soft/digital proof before full production begins. A Proof is produced in the first stage of printing called set-up. The printer translates the files you have provided to work with the presses. Because of well-accepted printing standards for ink colors, most proofs are now digital. That means a printer who has all the files and specifications for a job can quickly generate the proof.

There is little reason why a well-run printing shop can’t turn this around to you within two business days. A delay in this step can indicate what may also happen with the entire print job. Perhaps the shop is not managed well, understaffed, or very busy. If it is the latter, then you should be notified up-front to when you can expect the proof.

My Proof Is the Right Size, Cut and Folded With No Errors

A good printer aims to provide you a proof without any errors. Sometimes there are errors in the content, like typos and missing information. Other errors can happen during the production of the proof during setup. The printer has to ensure what you’ve designed in the file sent to them is accurately translated to the orienting press’s language so it will produce the printed version that you want. Small things like a slightly different font type or size can affect the text wrap and push the bottom line of the text of the page. A printer should catch that on a proof before forwarding you. However, when you sign off on a proof that means you agree to all of it your mistakes and the printers.

When I Approve A Proof I Know That It Will Go Into Production Immediately

A printer isn’t necessarily “holding” the presses and their breath for you to return an approved proof. They have however placed your job into a production schedule, so when the proof is returned the print run can quickly begin. Because of a printers' schedule, it is important to respond quickly to proofs. Significant delays in this step could mean losing your “slot” for printing. A proof that is one day late can push the original run into the following week. A printer may juggle jobs around to fit yours back in, but that is not the norm.

My Printer Knows My Personal Print Quality Requirements

Opening a box that contains a new print order feels a little like Christmas. You know what’s inside the present, but you’ve waited and for so long it’s what to want. The feelings of pleasure or disappointment soon follow.

Everyone evaluates the quality of a print differently. What looks great to one person can look awful to another. A good printer wants to make sure the right person is satisfied.

My Project Due Date Is Not Considered a Suggestion, It’s A Real Due Date

Timeliness is huge for marketing on many levels. There are moments optimal for action, and when pieced don’t align at that time, the opportunity is lost. If you’ve worked hard to create an integrated marketing strategy that incorporates print, getting what you need on the agreed-upon date is not a suggestion. People rise to the level of expectation you set for them. An expiation that’s good for any time-sensitive and critical task is to ensure the doer understands the deadlines and the consequences. If any hesitation starts to leak our when discussing this, look for another printer.

If Something Goes Wrong With My Job, I Know I Will Be Contacted Promptly And Given Options To Resolve The Issues

Have you ever thought your print order would arrive shortly and then a week goes by and then another, you call the printer and find out, there’s a problem? The first thing that pops in your head is why didn’t notify you. As a customer, it’s not your responsibility to solve your printer’s problems, but you should be informed about them if it changes the status of your job. A good printer will notify the customer of a delay is even possible and what they are doing to address it. If it’s something they cannot fix themselves in a reasonable amount of time, they should have options for you to consider. If could be using a different printer they recommend or altering a custom element they can do instead. Problems or setbacks will happen, both with good printers and cheap printers. It’s the number of problems and bow they deal with them that make all the difference. A cheap printer tells a customer, tough luck. A good printer has backup systems, options, and resources so the job continues forward with little delay.

When My Job Is Completed, I Will Either Be Called to Pick It Up, Or It Will Is Delivered.

The simple gesture of notifying a customer their order is ready speaks volumes. A print shop that is proud of its work wants the customer to see it as soon as possible. The approval at this stage marks the job as complete. It should not be a mystery if the order is ready. Also, it should be clear if you are picking it up or if it’s being delivered. You need the right person to review the print products promptly so if there are any issues with it, the print shop is notified immediately.

My Job Is Boxed Correctly For Delivery. Version Are Separated, Packed Appropriately, and Is In a Good, Sturdy Box.

Similar o notifying customers' order is ready, how the documents are packed for transports says a lot about the care the print shop takes in serving you. Any printer that asks you to supply your own rubber bands, boxes, or delivers your materials in a used plastic bag is way off-base. Good printers have standard boxes with lids designed to handle the most common dimensions of documents in the print order.

Finding a good and reliable printer can take a lot of weight off your shoulders. You can be confided the job will get done in the timeframe you need, with little hassle. What is the value of piece-of-mind to you? The difference in cash you might save with a cheap printer may not add up. At Foxx Design we strive to ensure that all points mentioned are met.