Business Card Marketing, Part 2

Real Estate Business Cards - Lessons Learned (Continued)
© 2009, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Printing Real Estate Business Cards Online

Here's the step-by-step process that takes place when creating your cards. Once you understand this process, you'll have a much easier time navigating your way through it.

For starters, you will either need a business card designed already, or you'll have to design one online as mentioned previously. Many web-based print shops offer design tools, such as fill-in-the-blank templates, stock images, and the like.

After the design process, you must proof your real estate business card before the company will print it. Once again, this is where the Internet makes things incredibly simply. In most cases, you can simply view the design online as a JPEG image or a PDF file.

Once you have given the design proof a "green light" your business cards will move into the printing phase. Obviously, you won't see this process take place, nor will it involve you in any way. The printing company will either use a digital printer (which allows for shorter runs but typically has lower quality) or an offset press (which offers the best print quality). Offset printing is commonly used for real estate business cards because it's cheaper with larger quantities. This means you'll get a price break for bigger orders.

Once the business cards have printed, they may be inspected by someone within the printing shop. Actually, this will depend on the quality of the company you use. A reputable printing shop will inspect all orders prior to shipping them out. A "low grade" print shop will ship just about anything, regardless of design / printing errors.

Here are some other things to keep in mind when obtaining real estate agent business cards:

If you are paying more than 20 cents per card, you are paying too much. The last time I ordered business cards I paid $45 for a quantity of 500 (one-sided design).
If you design your own real estate business card, be sure to read the printer's requirements regarding color mode (RGB vs. CMYK), resolution, size, etc. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should have a graphic designer help you (or use a print company that offers online design tools).
Choose a medium thickness card stock. The super-thin kind is cheaper, but it feels cheap when you hold it too. The thickest stock is overly thick and therefore a waste of money.
Limit your design to the essentials -- a catchy image, your name, specialty, contact info and website address. There's no need to have any more than that. A real estate agent business card with too much info crammed onto it is likely to get tossed. Don't make people squint!

Business Card Marketing Ideas

Lastly, let's talk about some of the ways you can use your business card for marketing purposes. Sure, it's a simple, low-tech approach to real estate marketing. But it can also be effective in generating phone calls.

Remember, the more ways you market yourself the better. It's like financial investing ... you want to diversify your portfolio. Search engine marketing, direct mail, seminars, handing out business cards -- these are all good ways to generate business.

Why not have cards printed with property listings on them (in addition to your regular business cards)?

Why not conduct a free home-buying or selling seminar and give all the attendees an informational guide with your business card attached?

Why not give a handful of your cards to business associates in a position to refer business, such as home inspectors, mortgage brokers, etc.

These are just a few examples of how to use your real estate business card for promotional purposes. Use your imagination and you'll come up with a dozen more of your own.

Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed this guide to real estate agent business cards (and the printing companies who create them). Like I said, the Internet makes it really easy to obtain cards these days, and the fierce competition among print shops keeps pricing down. There is no reason you cannot get 500 or more high-quality cards for somewhere around $50 these days. Good luck!