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Pros & Cons of Unique Shaped Business Cards

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When you have a business that is competing with other businesses, you need every advantage that you can get. There are a lot of ways to make yourself stand out among your competitors. You may be able to make yourself stand out by the products or services that you provide, or you may be able to make yourself stand out by offering lower prices. However, both of these can be difficult to manage, and so you have to rely upon marketing strategies that make you rise above the competition. One of those marketing strategies may be uniquely shaped business cards. A business card with a unique shape can definitely have some advantages over other types. They can also have some disadvantages as well. Let’s take a look so you can decide whether you want to use this particular marketing strategy or not.

The Uniqueness Factor

business card

One of the best reasons to use business cards that are uniquely shaped is to stand out. Business cards are all pretty much the same standard size. If someone hands you a business card, you are expecting it to be a certain length and a certain height. That’s just the standard business card size. You are also probably expecting several different factors to be present such as printing on one side, the inclusion of the person’s name and title, the company logo, contact information such as address, phone number and email and various other factors that have all become standard with business cards.

But when your business card has a unique shape, it definitely stands out from the rest. If you put a uniquely shaped business card in a pile with other business cards, it is going to be instantly recognizable no matter how big the pile is. This can work to your advantage, but it can also be detrimental in some cases. It all depends upon your product or service and what type of business you have. For example, an accounting or law firm may wish to stick to standard business cards because uniquely shaped business cards will make people think that you are not going to take their finances or legal cases seriously. This is one of the downsides of unique business card shapes.

The Expense

However, you do want to be aware of the potential expense of making uniquely shaped business cards. The thing about uniquely shaped business cards is that they have to be cut. You could order several hundred of them and then use a pair of scissors to cut them into the right shape, but they would all come out looking a little different and unprofessional. A much better option is to have them professionally cut. The problem is, unless your unique shape has straight 90 degree corners, this is extremely difficult to do. For example, if you were creating business cards and the shape of an elephant for a new zo, you would have to create a specific cutting tool die in order for the business cards to be cut in the shape of an elephant every time.

This can be a pretty expensive proposition. For one thing, you will have to order a great deal of business cards at once to make it worth creating the die tool and you will probably have to pay for the creation of the cutting die yourself. There are some companies out there that create custom shapes based upon dyes that they already have, so you may want to consider that as an option instead. Of course, the disadvantage with that is that you only get a limited number of shapes to choose from and you may get a business card that ends up looking like someone else’s somewhere else in the world. However, going with an online company will ensure that your business card is unique; at least among local circles.

The Difficulty in Carrying Them

The only other thing to keep in mind is that it is more difficult to carry uniquely shaped business cards. Standard business cards are made to fit in a wallet. They are the same size as your credit cards or debit cards, so they easily fit into a wallet pocket. But if you have uniquely shaped business cards, they may extend over the wallet and end up getting bent or damaged. This can mean that you spend a great deal of money on business cards for nothing. At the very least, you will have to buy something to keep your business cards safe and that will keep them from getting damaged. This may make it more difficult for you to carry them around.

Of course, the way that you can combat this is simply by choosing business cards that are the same approximate size as regular business cards. For example, if you have business cards that are the same basic width as a standard business card and only a little higher, then you will be able to fit them into your wallet or pocket with no problems. You should also make sure that there are no parts of the business card that are flimsy or able to be bent easily. For example, really intricate designs may have parts that will not stand up well to being carried around in a wallet.

basicinvite business card

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that uniquely shaped business cards really are advantageous when it comes to making your business unique and memorable. When you give someone your business card, you want them to remember you, and that is the job of the uniquely shaped business card. However, there are some disadvantages to having them as well. They may cost more than standard business cards to produce, and they may be more difficult to carry around because they are more prone to cracking or breaking and will not fit in the standard wallet or where you normally store your business cards. You will have to decide whether or not unique shaped business cards are worth the extra effort for your company. Basic Invite is one of the top companies out there providing these cards, and right now they are offering 15% off by using the promo code 15FF51.

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