Assuming you have been in the market for good quality business cards, chances are you’ve come across some online search results telling you that there are great business cards near me deals to get the cards printed at a discounted price. And then when you click the link, you’ll see a list of some companies you have never heard of before; although the information provided doesn’t offer too many details, the website relentlessly encourages you to try and buy the suggested local print shop services anyway.
While the price is always an important consideration in the printing industry, getting business cards from the cheapest shop is most likely a terrible mistake. Business cards should be an investment, with which you are trying to impress potential clients and eventually convince them to purchase goods & services from your company. Because there will be a time when you have to exchange business cards with prospect partners too, the worst thing to do is give them generic blurry business cards seemingly designed by using free templates downloaded from high school student’s blog.
A major problem with local print shops is the misleading marketing technique claiming that they can help you create quality business cards when in reality all they do is printing ready-made designs. The shops are filled with people who operate printers and photocopiers. Professional designers are nowhere to be found because they have better things to do: work at an online printing company and offer their expertise to a much wider target market. This is not to say that business cards printed by all your local print shops suck; it is just that most of them probably are.
Designer Matters
The absence of a designer makes all the difference between your casual local print shop and reputable online companies offering business card printing services. Although is it possible to just use a design of your own creation and get it printed just about anywhere, the assistance and guidance from a professional are worth the extra cost and then some.
Professional graphic designers do not simply use someone else’s layout and insert your names to it. They can do that, of course, but only if you want them to. In many (if not most) cases, you are welcome to ask for recommendations based on various factors for example what industry you are in, how long has the company been around, your specific field of expertise, target market, and certain personal preferences.
For non-designers, those factors may seem irrelevant indeed but that is only because they are not trained to make use of the variables to come up with appropriate design ideas. They don’t have the eyes to tell whether certain business card designs complement or negate the company’s (or owner’s) profile. Without those variables, you may end up using the same exact design as your business partners, and that is potentially disastrous. It demonstrates the lack of creativity, which may hurt your business in the long run. What you need are unique high-quality business cards everybody is happy to keep.
Online Printing Service Benefits
Two of the biggest advantages of getting business cards from reputable Internet-based printing services are flexibility and cost-saving. As previously mentioned, a designer can help you create a business card from scratch, ensuring that you get the best possible unique layout and logo based on personal preferences and company profile. They offer dozens of ready-made designs that can be further customized for special finishes, materials, typeface, thickness, size, and so on. When it comes to cost-saving, the biggest factor is the absence of a brick & mortar establishment; therefore they have lower overhead expenses. In turn, they can charge less to customers. Of course, they have mailing addresses, but it does not mean there is any physical shop. Everything is done online from designing to placing an order.
Before you choose an online business card printing company, do a proper comparison between shortlisted services. You should notice that true professionals have invested time and money to come up with unique designs, layout, equipment, and customer service whereas others offer nothing but stock logos and templates. Serious business-people who care deeply about their brands and reputations will not use stock templates. It is better to spend a little bit more on a professional’s services for uniqueness, creativity, and ingenuity.
Business cards are ordered in relatively large numbers. The more you buy, the more affordable the price is. Just like any manufacturing company, bulk production allows for higher savings on materials. This where your local business cards near me deals usually come from. However, you must understand that “printing” should not be the only service provided because you also need the “designing” part. If a local vendor has nothing to offer in terms of professional-design, it is just a waste of money.
The business cards printing process requires extensive customization from paper thickness, finishes, dimension, and layout. Method of printing also counts; chances are your local print shop offer digital printing technique. It is indeed cheaper, but the quality is nowhere near an offset printing can produce. Offset produces more crisp colors and more accurate details, meaning the business cards will look exactly the same as the drawn design.
Not every online printing company offers offset printing, but you should look for one if you are serious about getting quality business cards. Print Peppermint comes highly recommended if the professional design and offset printing methods are what you’re after. Here are just a few of the variety Print Peppermint offers:
- Embossed
- Folded
- Spot UV
- Silk Laminated
- Magnetic
- Holographic
- Die Cut
- Layer Sandwich
- Letterpress
- and many more
Thickness starts from 16 to 60 pt, and you have professional designers ready to provide assistance regarding any difficulty you may have in the process. In case you need a custom business card design, the company also offers a Premium Card Builder option where you can choose your own size, finishes, paper material, and artwork. One of the best things is that Print Peppermint also offers a 100% money-back guarantee in case you are not happy with the business cards you receive for any reason.
