The Business of Business Cards

Last week I spoke at Communitelligence’s “Rethinking Corporate Communications 2009″ conference just two days after the GrowSmartBiz conference. GSB was a veritable smorgasbord of networking and ideas, with Steven Fisher’s presentation on killer business cards definitely a highlight.

So when I met Mahmoud Arafa of designframe at RCC and saw his business cards, I couldn’t but help think of Steve’s presentation. Check them out.

And this is the back.

The idea is that having a choice of cards for someone to pick from is a conversation starter, which will make his firm stand out from the crowd. I liked the use of colors, textures and fonts, so I asked Mahmoud to tell me more about his cards.

How did you come up with the idea for your business cards?

Your business card and website are extremely important for your business. It’s part of your persona and who you are. People judge you from your business card and website. It’s the calling card to start a connection.

Our aim was to design stationery that meets the following goals:

• Raises curiosity, so the recipient asks questions and start a friendly conversation
• Stands out and challenges clichés
• Says something about what we do
• Reflects diversity (in the type of industries we serve and the cultures we come from)
• Sends a message to our clients that you can have many colors in your identity while maintaing a strong distinguished visual identity.

The cards come in six colors, and Mahmoud says they’re all equally popular.

So does the color a person picks tell you something about him or her?

That’s the hidden tactic, sometimes colors say something about the card recipient. [This is what I've seen] from personal experience:

• Blue: Conservative, more on the corporate side of life
• Green: Nature lover, cares about the environment, and his/her health
• Orange: Vibrant and energetic
• Yellow: Sometimes happiness and sometimes indecisiveness!
• Red: Passionate and strong character
• Purple: Mysterious person

Are there any colors your business cards don’t come in?

Yeah, there are more than 24 million colors out there we used only six! Actually  that was purely for aesthetic reasons since we wanted to use colors that can work with our earthy brown.

Has this approach to your business cards resulted in more business development meetings for you and, ultimately, more business?

Absolutely. As the business cards create interest, they also trigger people to check our website. So when I follow up with them, they [are] familiar with what we do; then I take it a step further and [ask] them for a meeting.

I collect a fair share of business cards, as I suspect you do. In most cases, I’d be hard-pressed to connect a face with a card if I’ve just met them fleetingly (again, as I suspect you would). I’m not going to forget Mahmoud in a while, though. All because of a clever use of paper and color that are doing exactly what business cards are meant to do – open a door for you that will, ultimately, grow business.

With so much noise out there, this is an interesting approach, don’t you think? What steps do you take to make your business stand out from the crowd? Have they worked? I’d love to know. And if you’d like to learn more about Mahmoud’s work, just visit his site.

Filed under Business, Communication | Tags: communitelligence, grow smart business, mahmoud arafa, steven fisher | Comments (8)

DC Conference Mania

There are two great events coming up in DC next week that I’m really looking forward to. Here’s my not-so-subtle pitch for you to come and be a part of them, if your schedule and wallet allow, because I think they’re smart conferences for smart people to attend.

The first is the Grow Smart Business conference on Tuesday, Sept. 29 (you’ll have noticed my blog’s been sporting the badge recently). I was lucky enough to be invited to it and I can’t wait to hear from Chris Anderson, Sen. Mark Warner, Bob London, Jill Foster (I’ll finally get to meet her!) and so many others. I’m also going to be helping to staff a “learning center” that will be open throughout the day at the conference, so if you’re planning to attend, please do stop by and say hello.

I’m chuffed that IABC/Washington (y’all have heard enough about how I’m involved with them, no need for me to go on about it, right?) is a partner of the conference; with a significant number of our members at or owning consulting firms, this is a golden opportunity to learn from some real movers and shakers. So if you’re an IABC/Washington member interested in attending the event, you can get $100 off the conference registration fee ($299) by using the code IABCGROWSMART here.

The second is Communitelligence’s Rethinking Corporate Communications conference, immediately following GSB (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1). There are some really interesting speakers lined up, including Mark Weiner, David Henderson, Jack Holt from the DoD, my friends Mark Phillips, APR and Ned Lundquist, ABC, and many more. Yours truly will be part of the measurement panel along with both Marks (MarkyMark?) on Oct. 1.

IABC/Washington is also supporting this conference, which is built around delivering value in a tough economy; again, if you’re a member, you can get $300 off the standard registration of $900/$600 (depending on whether you work in a corporate or government/nonprofit setting). The details are on our website.

There’s always a lot going on in DC and no doubt I’ll be wiped after next week, but I wouldn’t miss either of these for the world. I hope I’ll see you there.

Photo: brianjmatis

Filed under Career, Communication, Speaking | Tags: bob london, chris anderson, communitelligence, david henderson, grow smart business, iabc washington, jack holt, jill foster, mark phillips, mark warner, marke weiner, ned lundquist | Comments (5)