Leave the stuffy old business card ideas behind if you want yours to be noticed

What is a business card? A small rectangle of paper, imprinted with a name, address and a few other details.  Usually black and white.  It may be embellished with a bit of clip art, but beyond that it seems that creative business card ideas are few and far between. It doesn?t have to be that way.

You can create a business card that will stand out from the crowd and tell prospective customers more about you than any words on a plain black and white rectangle could ever manage. Here are some tips to get you started:

Add some art ? Forget the books of clip art.  Forget the ho-hum line drawings.  Boring! Get out your pens, paints, markers or even crayons and create something original.  If you?re blessed with talent, create a photo-ready piece for your new business cards. If not, take your business card ideas to a professional designer or artist to turn them into a usable bit of artwork.

Dare to dream in color ? How many blank on white printed business cards have you seen in your career?  How many of them were memorable?

One of the simplest ways to make your business card stand out is by using color.  Skip the deep blues, browns and burgundies as a solo color.  That?s just replacing boring black with boring fill-in-the-blank color.  No real improvement.
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Go for colors that say something about your business. Or about you as a business person.  Be daring.  You want to stand out?you want your card to catch peoples? eyes.  Safe colors just won?t cut it, especially in this tight and competitive market.

Think outside of the rectangular box ? Who says business cards always have to be the same size and shape?  If your business is such that clients will carry the cards in their wallet, choose a size and shape that will fit easily within the standard card holder.  Going slightly smaller, more square or having a curve to an edge are all changes you can make, while still having a card that can fit in a wallet.

But if your business cards are more likely to live on bulletin boards, counter tops or desks, feel free to break completely out of the rectangular box. Round or free-form cards, folded or rolled cards, puzzle cards, larger than normal cards, cards with textural embellishments, metal brads, hand-painted illustrations or ribbons are just a few creative business card ideas that will transform an ordinary business card into a work of marketing art.

So why does it have to be white paper? — Remember the plain white paper business cards?  Now forget it! There are dozens of choices in card stock and hundreds of colors to choose from ? go crazy! Play around with colors, textures and ink colors until you get a combination that works for you.

Feeling really daring?  Try other materials like plastics, stone, thin metals or a combination of fabric and paper.

Remember, you want the cards to stand out, and convey something meaningful  about your business. Look for creative business card ideas that will show prospective clients why your business is the right one for them.