How to Align Your Business Cards with Your Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Align Your Business Cards with Your Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Business cards may seem extremely outdated in today’s technology-driven world. However, they are actually an important part of your brand. Think of business cards as a portable version of you and your brand â€" one that you hand out to other people to remember you by. Design matters An eye-catching design can say a lot about you and your brand. Check out these before and after designs. So, take the design process seriously, and just like every other part of your brand, think about what you want the design to say about you. Do you want to be sleek and successful? Dark and mysterious? Size matters A lot of people are into the small business cards these days. To me, they are quite annoying and easy to lose. After all, you want me (I assume) to be able to contact you at a later point. Sure, they’re cute, but these days, you have a lot of information to fit in an already small space. There’s no need to make your business cards smaller. Content matters Make it easy for your contacts to connect with you. Becoming completely elusive after meeting someone does not look good for your brand. If you’re always on Skype, include your Skype username. If you frequent Twitter, include your Twitter handle. Same goes for all the other social networks and possible means to contact you. Oh yeah, and you probably want to include three to five words about your brand somewhere on your cards. For example: “Gen Y author, columnist mentor.” Use your cards not only to provide contact information, but also to make a statement about your brand. Digital matters Let’s say someone lost your business card (small or otherwise). If you don’t have an online portfolio, you should at least have a digital business card. There are many options out there, and more seem to pop up every day. Make sure your digital design and content are consistent with your print business cards. What other elements of a business card are important to your brand? Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.