Business Cards Land

Most savvy marketers keep a “swipe file” – samples of their favorite marketing ideas, sales letters, headlines, classified ads, and so on.   That way they’ll have plenty of inspiration and ideas for their own marketing.

A smart business card user will also keep (or at least note) clever and appealing business cards that he or she runs across, too.

But that can lead into the sticky situation of copying someone else’s work.

For example, I know a gentleman who found a business card with a drawing on it that he liked.  He asked his designer to come up with something similar, but the designer copied it exactly.  Uh-oh.

I have another friend who just couldn’t find what he wanted, so he thought of “copying something off the ‘Net” or just using an image he found online.

It’s simply not cool (or legal) to use someone else’s work without their permission and you certainly don’t want to be sued for copyright infringement.  So what should you do?

In the first situation, sometimes you can simply contact the owner of the original business card and ask permission to use the artwork.  If the owner doesn’t see you as a competitor, he or she may be quite willing to grant that permission (and impressed with you for being honest enough to ask!)

And while it’s true that the Internet is a great source for images and clipart, not all of it is fair game for your own use.  It’s best to look for something that’s distributed under a “Creative Commons License” or patronize one of the many websites that offer royalty-free clipart and images.

Even more convenient, however, is simply using an online business card printer such as OvernightPrints.com that offers a wide variety of pre-designed business card backgrounds.  There are no legal hurdles to jump through, you know that the image proportions and resolution are just right for your business card, and there’s a wide selection of really nice images and photos.

True, the business card design will not be exclusive to your company – but the odds of a direct competitor in your home town ordering the exact same business card are pretty slim!

Rather than copying someone’s business card design, I think it’s important to copy what WORKS.  And most business card templates do.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Possibly Related Posts:

• The Conversational Business Card
• Colorful business cards
• Hand made business cards
• Great Spot UV Card Examples
• Glossy Business Cards versus Matte Business Cards