Business Magnets for Marketing and Where Each Type Keeps Working
Card magnets, flat fridge and cabinet magnets, and outdoor vehicle magnets do three different jobs. Here is the stock behind each one, the sizes we print, what they cost, and where each format stops working.
A business magnet is your marketing piece printed on magnetic stock, and the surface it has to hold decides which type you buy. Card magnets on 17pt or 35pt indoor stock go on a fridge and start at $19.68. Larger flat magnets go on cabinets, lockers and shop boards, and take a dry erase face if you want people writing on them. Vehicle magnets use a separate outdoor stock with a hi gloss UV coat, start at $47.50, and run up to 4 by 8 feet for a box truck panel.
Quick answer
Match the stock to the surface, then worry about the design
Indoor magnet stock holds on a fridge or a cabinet. Outdoor magnet stock holds on a vehicle. Nothing crosses over. Business card magnets print on 17pt or 35pt indoor magnet from 3.5 by 2 inches up to 5 by 7 inches and start at $19.68, which is close enough to a paper business card that the only real question is where the piece ends up. Vehicle work moves to outdoor magnet with a hi gloss UV coat, starting at $47.50 for car magnets and running to 4 by 8 feet on magnet signs. The specialist faces sit on top of those two bases: a reflective film for low light, a dry erase laminate for anything a customer writes on.
The Magnet Formats, and Where Each One Actually Wins
There are three places a business magnet lives, and each one rules out the others. Sort the format by the surface first and the design question gets much simpler.
The card magnet lives on a fridge. At 2 by 3.5 inches it slots into the space a household already keeps for numbers it might need in a hurry. This is the workhorse for trades, takeout, and anyone who gets called rather than visited. Business card magnets start at $19.68 and print in 3.5 by 2, 2 by 3.5, 3 by 4, 4 by 6, and 5 by 7 inches.
The flat magnet lives on a cabinet, a locker, or a shop board. Go bigger here, because the surface is bigger and nobody is competing for it. A 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 standard magnet can carry a service menu, a maintenance schedule, or a seasonal calendar. Put it on 35pt stock and add a dry erase laminate if you want the customer writing on it, which is the surest way to make a magnet part of a weekly routine rather than wallpaper.
The vehicle magnet lives on a door panel. This is a different stock entirely: outdoor magnet with a hi gloss UV coat, in one thickness, sized from 9 by 9 inches up. Car magnets start at $47.50, and magnet signs on the same base go to 2 by 4 feet, 3 by 6 feet, and 4 by 8 feet for a van or box truck. Removable signage is the point: a leased vehicle, a shared van, or a technician who does not want the branding on a weekend all argue for a magnet over a vinyl wrap.
Two specialist formats sit around the edges. Reflective magnets use a reflective film face and start at $29.00, which matters for a service van that gets loaded at 5am or parked on a verge. Save the date magnets are the same indoor stock aimed at events, and they work for a grand opening or a conference for exactly the reason they work for weddings: the date stays visible for months.
Sizes and Stocks, and What Actually Changes Between Them
Magnet printing has fewer variables than most print jobs, which is good news, because it means the two choices you do make carry real weight. Those choices are thickness and coating.
| Format | Stock and finish | Sizes we print | Starts at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business card magnets | 17pt or 35pt indoor magnet, UV coating, laminated, matte or silk | 3.5×2, 2×3.5, 3×4, 4×6, 5×7 in | $19.68 |
| Standard magnets | Indoor magnet, UV coating, optional rounded corners | 2×3.5, 3.5×4, 4×6, 5×7 in | $19.68 |
| Car magnets | Outdoor magnet, hi gloss UV coating, one thickness | 2×3.5, 3.5×4, 9×9 in | $47.50 |
| Magnet signs | Outdoor magnet, hi gloss UV coating | 9×9 in, 2×4 ft, 3×6 ft, 4×8 ft | $47.50 |
| Reflective magnets | Reflective film face | 2×3.5, 3.5×4 in | $29.00 |
| Dry erase magnets | Dry erase lamination over indoor magnet | 2×3.5, 3.5×4 in | $33.99 |
The 17pt against 35pt decision is the one people get wrong. The 17pt is thin and flexible, and it is the right call for a straightforward fridge card handed out by the box. The 35pt is roughly twice the body, comes out of the box flat instead of curled, and holds its shape after months on a shop wall. Anything with a laminate wants the 35pt underneath it, because a laminate on a thin base is the combination that curls.
Coating changes how the magnet ages in a kitchen. UV coating gives a hard gloss that wipes clean, which matters two feet from a hob. Matte and silk read as more considered and photograph better, but they show fingerprints and cooking grease sooner. For a vehicle, there is no choice to make: outdoor magnet comes with a hi gloss UV coat because it has to shed water and survive sunlight.
Rounded corners are cheap and worth taking on anything that gets handled. A square corner on magnet stock is the first thing to lift and the first thing to catch. Sizes are set in the configurator on each product page, and if you want to lay artwork out before ordering, start from a correctly sized file in the blank template library.
What Magnets Cost and When the Format Pays for Itself
The comparison worth making is not magnet against magnet, it is magnet against the paper piece you would otherwise print. Business card magnets start at $19.68 and standard business cards start at $17.57. That gap is small enough that the real question is retention, not price.
A business card gets sorted within a day. It goes into a wallet, then a drawer, and it is gone. A card magnet goes onto a fridge and stays there until something replaces it. You are buying months of visibility for a couple of dollars more on the whole order, which is why trades that live on repeat and emergency calls hand out magnets and not cards.
Vehicle magnets sit in a different bracket for an honest reason. At $47.50 to start, a set of car magnets covers both doors of one vehicle, and it is the cheapest removable branding that exists for a van. Compare it against a vinyl wrap and the magnet wins on flexibility, not on longevity: you can take it off for a lease inspection, move it to a replacement vehicle, and swap the design when the phone number changes. A wrap survives longer and looks better on a curved body, and if the van will never change, that is the smarter money.
Order in one batch. Magnets are a printed sheet like anything else, so the setup work is the same for two hundred pieces as for fifty, and the per-piece cost falls hard as the run gets longer. If you run multiple crews or locations, print the shared design once at volume rather than a small run per site. Live pricing for every quantity sits in the configurator on each product page, and the magnet printing collection lists the formats side by side.
Designing a Magnet Somebody Actually Keeps on the Door
A fridge door is a competitive space. Your magnet is up against a school calendar, three takeout menus, and a photograph, and it survives by being the easiest thing in that group to read from across the room.
Give it one job. Trade, phone number, and if you have room, one line that says what makes you the right call. That is the whole brief for a card magnet. Web addresses, social handles, license numbers, and a list of six services all take millimeters away from the number, and the number is the only element anybody will ever use in a hurry. Set the phone number at the largest size the layout allows and check it from four feet back before you approve the proof.
Color does the finding. A magnet that is white with black type disappears against a white fridge door, so use a solid block of your brand color behind the type and let the panel do the work. Keep the artwork bleeding to the trim, because a magnet has no border to hide in, and any misregistration on a thin white margin is obvious.
Vehicle magnets follow signage rules instead. The reader is moving, or you are, so the useful content is a name and a phone number set large enough to read across two lanes, with high contrast and no thin strokes. Skip the detail entirely. Our guide on making magnetic signs for vehicles covers the placement checks, and car decals against magnets and bumper stickers sets out when a removable panel beats an applied graphic.
One limit to plan around: a magnet cannot be personalized per recipient cheaply, and it will not fold, perforate, or carry a tear-off coupon. If the campaign needs a redeemable offer, print magnet postcards so the piece mails flat and the fridge gets the keepsake, or run a straight mailer and keep the magnet as the leave-behind the technician hands over at the door.
Wally explains business magnets
Fridge, cabinet, or van door, and the stock changes with it
Wally hands out a 17pt card magnet for the fridge, keeps the 35pt for the shop board because it stays flat, and saves the outdoor stock with the hi gloss UV coat for the van doors. He puts one phone number on the card magnet and nothing else, because that is the only thing anybody reads while holding a pan. On the van he sets the name large enough to read from two lanes over, checks that the panel is flat steel with no trim in the way, and takes the magnet off once a week to wash the grit out from underneath.
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Common Questions
Your business magnet questions, answered
What is a business magnet and why does it beat a business card?
A business magnet is your printed marketing piece on magnetic stock instead of paper, so it holds itself onto a steel surface. The advantage is not the printing, it is where the piece ends up. A business card goes into a wallet, a drawer, or a bin within a day. A card magnet goes on the fridge or the side of a filing cabinet and stays in the room where the decision gets made. For a plumber, an HVAC company, a locksmith, a pizza shop, or anyone whose customer calls in a hurry, that placement is the whole value of the format.
Which magnet size works best on a refrigerator?
The 2 by 3.5 inch card size is the default because it fits the space people already reserve for takeout and trade numbers. Go up to 3.5 by 4 inches when you need a short list, such as a service menu or a set of hours. The 4 by 6 and 5 by 7 sizes read as calendars or planners rather than contact cards, and they compete for prime fridge real estate, so they need to earn it with something the household actually uses. Standard magnets at 4OVER4.COM cover 2 by 3.5, 3.5 by 4, 4 by 6, and 5 by 7 inches.
What is the difference between 17pt and 35pt indoor magnet stock?
Body. The 17pt is the thin, flexible magnet most people picture when you say fridge magnet, and it is the cheapest way to get the format into a customer's kitchen. The 35pt is roughly twice as thick, sits dead flat instead of taking a curl out of the box, and has enough substance that it survives being handled and moved around a warehouse or shop board. If the magnet has a job beyond the fridge, or if it carries a laminate, pick the 35pt.
Will a car magnet damage my paint?
Not on its own, but dirt underneath will. The magnet holds by sitting flush against a flat steel panel, and any grit trapped between the two grinds against the clear coat every time the vehicle moves. Take the magnet off at least once a week, wash and dry both the panel and the back of the magnet, and put it back on dry. Never leave one on through a car wash, and never stick one over a body line, a molding, or an aluminum or fiberglass panel where it has nothing to grip. Our guide on how to make magnetic signs for vehicles covers the panel checks in detail.
Can a car magnet stay on at highway speed?
It can, if it is full outdoor magnet stock, if the panel is flat steel, and if the whole edge is in contact. Failures almost always start at a lifted corner, and a corner lifts because the magnet was placed over a curve, a seam, or a strip of trim. Check the edges before every long drive, and if you see any daylight under an edge, move the magnet to a flatter section of the door. A card magnet or any indoor stock has no business on a moving vehicle at all.
Are magnets worth it for a business that does not send technicians to homes?
Sometimes, and the honest answer is that it depends on whether your customer has a steel surface you want to own. Restaurants, clinics, veterinarians, schools, real estate agents, and any trade that gets called back all benefit, because the customer keeps the number visible. A business selling one large purchase that will not repeat for a decade gets far less out of the format, and the money is usually better spent on a mailer. Magnet postcards are the middle ground: they mail like a postcard and end up on the fridge if the offer is worth keeping.
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