Size Matters

Since I live in the heart of "downtown" Brisbane (the CBD), there are frequently people on the sidewalks handing me flyers, free newspapers, coupons, that sort of thing. On Fridy night, there were two young women in traditional Japanese costume handing out business cards for a hair salon / fashion boutique.

I was stunned when I finally looked at it to see how much information they had crammed into a 2 inch x 3 inch space!

When I taught business practices at PMTI, we talked about business cards as part of marketing. They are generally inexpensive to produce so there's no good reason not to have one. We spent a good bit of time in class talking about the practical challenges of a business card.

From my perspective, a business card exists to let a person know (1) who you are, (2) what you do, and (3) how to reach you. You can include a few other things but the challenge is normally to resist the urge to put everything about yourself on your card. It's not a resume. It's not an autobiography. It won't sell people on your practice by its lil' ol' self.

There needs to be enough on it to remind someone why they have it in their wallet when they pull it out again in 2, 4, or 15 weeks. Its design conveys, subtly, a general feel for your practice but you can't even take that too seiously. From my perspective, its purpose is to transmit basic data and facilitate contact.

From my perspective, the biggest mistake you can make with a business card is to not have one. (On you, at all times. In the immortal words of Kitty Southworth LMT "I will leave home without my underwear before I leave home without my business cards!")

But, yowsa!, the Ryota salon seems to have not gotten the message that "less is more". And there was more on the back of the card!

In contrast, I've laid their card next to a card I picked up at the recent AMTA conference from a publishers' rep.

When I pull either of these cards out of my wallet, I'll remember why I have them. But I won't get an eyestrain headache trying to contact the publishers' rep!

I think the salon would have been much better served with a 4x6 or 5x7 postcard (or maybe even better served with a simple brochure). Then they wouldn't have had to resort to 2 pt type.

Yet, everything I need to know is on there, including the name of the salon mascot, Lolly the dog. But at what price? This is a full color (though not glossy) card with 9 photographs! Not cheap.

I won't rule out cultural differences either. Perhaps there is a segment of Japanese culture where this kind of card is both common and expected. Except, of course, they're not handing these out in Japan. They're handing them out in Brisbane where business cards tend to look just like they do in the US.

Are they wrong to use this business card? Well, they certainly got my attention and I will remember them. But mostly I will remember it as an irritant and an example of what I wouldn't recommend.