Printing & Marketing
Why Business Cards Matter in Miami
A meditation on the humble business card, and why this small slip of pasteboard still wins Miami clients long after the handshake is forgotten.
A meditation upon the humble card
Reader, there are in this world certain small things whose importance stands in exact inverse proportion to their size, and chief among these, in the commerce of Miami, is the business card. Behold it: a slip of pasteboard, three and a half inches by two, which a man may carry in his waistcoat and a woman in her purse, yet upon which, as upon a hinge, whole fortunes have been known to swing. I do not exaggerate; I merely observe.
Why the handshake is not enough
The handshake is a noble institution, but it is writ in water. Scarce has the hand been released, and the name spoken beneath the music of some crowded Wynwood evening is already gone, dissolved into the general murmur of the hour. The card alone endures. It travels home in a stranger's pocket, and there it waits, until some quiet Tuesday when need arises and memory fails, and the finger, drawn to that small rectangle, dials. Of all the instruments of professional networking in Miami, I know none so cheap, so portable, or so patient.
On the matter of quality
Let no one suppose that the material is a trifle. A thin and sorry card proclaims a thin and sorry concern, whereas a sturdy 16pt or 32pt stock, finished in matte, gloss or soft-touch, speaks of a house built to last. Beneath this southern sun, where the damp air bends the feeble and the August sweat spares nothing, a well-made business card keeps its edges and its dignity. Print upon it thy name, thy trade, thy telephone, thy website and a QR code besides, for these are the whole of thy testimony.
Of design, and of restraint
In design, as in character, restraint is the mark of strength. A clean layout, a single memorable color, a faithful typeface and a generous margin will carry a card further than any quantity of ornament. Set the name where the eye first falls, and the number where the thumb may find it.
How many should one order?
Prudence counsels abundance. One hundred cards will serve the beginner; five hundred, the professional who attends every ribbon-cutting from Doral to Coral Gables; one thousand reduces the cost of each to a mere pittance. With custom business card printing in Miami, the larger the order, the lighter the price of every card, and the lighter, too, the heart.
A final word
Whoever thou art, with a name to establish or a trade to extend, go and order thy cards. Let them be designed with care, printed with honor, and carried everywhere, for opportunity, like the tide upon Biscayne, keeps no appointments and will not wait for the unprepared.