Print & Out-of-Home
Print advertising is not dead, just pricier
Circulation has fallen and cost per contact has risen. What has also risen is the attention a printed page receives, and that changes the sum.
2 min readNov 2, 2025
Print & Out-of-Home
Business cards and stationery
The cheapest brand touchpoint you own and the one most often left to whoever ordered it last time.
Key points
- A business card is judged by touch before it is read.
- Consistency across every document matters more than the design of any one.
- Invoices and quotations are seen more often than any advertisement.
Business stationery is the advertising you produce without thinking of it as advertising, and every customer sees it.
The card is a physical object
A business card is evaluated by feel before the text is read. Weight, finish and edge quality communicate before any design does.
Practical minimums: 350 gsm or heavier, a finish that is not glossy, and printing on both sides. The difference in cost between an adequate card and a poor one is a few pounds per hundred.
Nobody ever chose a supplier because of the business card. Plenty have formed an impression from one, and the impression arrives before the conversation.
What belongs on it
Name, role, direct telephone number, email, website, and the business name and address. That is all.
What does not: a list of services, a slogan, three social media handles, a QR code that leads to the homepage, and a photograph unless the sector expects one, such as property or personal services.
Leave the back for one useful thing: a short list of what you do, an appointment reminder space, or nothing at all.
The rest of the stationery
| Item | Frequency seen | Usually neglected |
|---|---|---|
| Quotation | every prospect | yes |
| Invoice | every customer | yes |
| Letterhead | occasional | no |
| Email signature | constantly | yes |
| Delivery note | every delivery | yes |
| Vehicle documents left with customer | often | yes |
The quotation is the most important document most businesses produce and is frequently a plain spreadsheet export. It is read carefully, compared against competitors, and shown to other decision makers.
A quotation that is clearly laid out, correctly branded, and includes what is and is not covered wins work against a cheaper one that is confusing.
The email signature
Seen more than any other branded item and usually inconsistent across a team.
A standard: name, role, direct number, company, website, and any legally required company information. No images that arrive as attachments, no long disclaimers, no quotations.
Set it centrally rather than asking people to configure their own.
The legal requirements
Business correspondence in most jurisdictions must carry specified company information: legal name, registered form, registration number, registered office and in some cases directors' names and VAT number.
This applies to letters, invoices, order forms and, in most interpretations, email. Non-compliance is a common and easily avoided exposure.
Consistency over design
The value is not in any individual item being well designed. It is in all of them looking as though they come from the same organisation.
One template set, held centrally, used by everybody. That is the whole discipline.
Frequently asked questions
Are business cards still relevant?
In trades, professional services and any business with in-person contact, yes. The card is handed over at the moment of highest interest.
What weight of card?
350 gsm minimum. Below that the card reads as an economy and everyone can feel it.
More from Print & Out-of-Home
Keep reading
Print & Out-of-Home
Newspaper ads: cost and reach
The rate card is a starting point, the position matters more than the size, and the readership figure is not the number you should plan with.
2 min readOct 31, 2025
Print & Out-of-Home
Advertising in trade magazines
Small circulations, high cost per thousand, and almost no waste. For business-to-business advertisers this is frequently the most efficient channel available.
2 min readOct 29, 2025