How to Make Your Business Cards Stand Out From the Stack

In the professional world, business cards are all but ubiquitous. Almost anyone you meet with will have their own personal or company business cards to market themselves and the services or products they provide. But because business cards are a marketing tool, they're not useful unless they provide your information clearly while also being distinctive and memorable. Think of it this way: You want anyone you meet at a networking event, business meeting or interview to stop at your card when they're flipping through the stack of dozens more on their desk. So how do you make your business cards stand out? Here are a few ideas:

Consider Visuals Carefully
It's always a good idea to include your company's logo on your business cards, since you're using them to market your business to others. However, don't be afraid to use colors, textures and graphics to turn the logo into something interesting and eye-catching. Even if you use visuals that aren't your logo (like pictures, graphics or effects), folks flipping through a stack of cards will be more likely to stop if there's one that inspires curiosity or takes a minute to understand fully.

Choose a Vertical Format
The vast majority of business cards are horizontal, so a vertical format can help your card distinguish itself. In fact, if someone's riffling through several cards at once, a vertical format will require them to stop and take an extra minute to rotate it, which means your card will have more time to catch the person's attention and interest. 

Use Colors
Many business cards have a combination of colors on a white or light background. That means that black or vividly colored backgrounds will automatically stand out from the crowd. Use a color for your background that appears in your logo or signifies something for your business. For instance, blue is often associated with water, sky or technology (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Skype all have blue logos).

Don't Include Everything
You should absolutely provide a great deal of information on your cards – enough that people can easily find a way to connect with you. Contact information should include all of the basics, like your name, title, company name, phone number, mobile number (if it's different), address and email. However, these days providing social media information is an important addition as well. But think of how cluttered your cards will look if you try to include all of the basics along with several social media URLs. Choose one or two of the most important platforms for you or your business (LinkedIn is a good bet), or use an aggregating service like Google+ that will put all of your social media profiles in a single place.

Add a Photo
Though putting a photo on your business cards may bring real estate agents or bankers to mind, it's a very effective way of helping people remember who you are, where you met and even what you talked about – especially if you hand them out at networking events or conventions where you're meeting tons of people. Adding a photo will provide an association between your name, your face and what you do.