How many real estate business cards have you seen in your life? How many were over-crowded, unattractive and ultimately forgettable? How many briefly crossed your palm on the way to your garbage can? How many beautiful business cards have you seen? How many did you keep? How many made you stop and re-evaluate your own cards?
Best Style for Your Business Card
You can spend hundreds of dollars on specialty papers and embossing and foil, but the best business card for the beginning real estate agent is one that is striking and simple on the front and offers additional information on the back. In real estate you want to concentrate on the SERVICE portion of your business, not the money-making end. Classic style rules. Simple lines are best. They exude confidence and control.
Photo or No Photo Style?
I hate my photo as much as you probably hate yours. But, you need one on the business card. You need the face recognition. You need your personality to shine — and it should NOT be a photo from a previous decade. One of your first business expenses should be securing a great professional portrait set. You will need them. If you want some tips on this, visit our Portrait Photography Primer blog. Don’t worry, if you pick the right photographer, it can be fun!
Not a Mini-Billboard
Resist the common urge to show how important you are with all the contact info you can stuff on the front of your business card. It will only serve to make you look disorganized. The idea is to hand a potential client the short cut to reaching you. It should only contain your email, website and direct phone number. Some brokers will require additional information, like a brokerage main number and physical address. Add those only if you must. Avoid adding any information that is not absolutely essential. If you want a quick. high-tech way to get them to your website, consider adding a QR Code.
Phone Numbers
If you must list the brokerage main office number (which is required by many brokers) make sure you only have one number for yourself and mark it “direct.” It doesn’t matter if that number is your cell your a home office number. It needs to be the number that makes it easiest to reach you. If they have to make a several decisions — before they can even talk with you — they will become frustrated. Potential clients don’t need to sift through an 800 number, a main office number, a home number, a direct number, a fax number, a cell number and an alternate number. Nor do they need a list of your qualifications, a couple email addresses, several mini logo symbols, a physical address or two and additional information on your social networks. That is too much information. Your card will be crowded, visually overwhelming, and unattractive.
Website/Email Addresses
This is the digital age. The idea behind the modern business card is to get face time or voice time with an individual interested in buying or selling a property. The other information is important, but should find a home on your website. Your website has the room to expand on your qualifications, social network, and additional modes of contact and links to make it easy to direct traffic to other resources. Remember the goal of the simple business card: The idea is to get them to call you, email you, or peruse your website. That’s all. It’s old school to over-fill the front of the business card and it’s counter productive.
Blank Backs on Business Cards
In some cultures, it’s considered an insult to write on the back of a business cards, in the American real estate business, it’s done often. You may want to use this space for something more powerful than blank space — like a message that defines your area of expertise, useful tools like rate calculators, or additional information you want to share without cluttering the card face. No matter what style of business card you want, or what brokerage you represent, we have the card for you at economical prices, especially for the real estate agent. Visit BestPrintBuy.com and use our design tool to create your business cards today!