The humble business card used to be one of the most effective weapons in any businessman’s armory. Is it still true today?
Business meetings are becoming more and more virtualized as companies try and save time and money. Having employees on the road is an expensive activity for any business, and in these harsh financial conditions, every dollar counts. With the advent of video conferencing, web meetings and other online collaboration tool, the traditional face-to-face meeting seems to be going out of fashion.
There would be the classic scene where two businessmen would both reach into their pocket like a quick draw and pull out a business card to give to the other. A whole industry sprang up around them in business card holders. Some of the designs were a little scary, and others just rubbish. A sleek black or silver case, or a wallet compartment would have done the job.
A quick look on the internet shows that there is still a plethora of companies offering business card services, from design to printing. If there is this kind of supply then there must be a demand.
The designs available have moved on a lot since the days of the door to door salesman or traditional bank manager. The little white rectangle with simple black writing was generally the only form it took. Some companies went a little further and added a company logo to add some color, but that was it.
So although they aren’t that expensive, are business cards still relevant today? I have been in business for myself for a little under a year, and I have only ever handed out one card. But them I’m a writer so I don’t get out much anyway. Some businessman colleagues of mine still use them on a regular basis. They view it as the quickest and easiest way to swap contact information. They work much better than a scribbled number on a post-it note, or on random pieces of paper. They are also much easier to identify than random numbers in your phone.
There is evidence that business cards and moving with the times too. There is a new version called ‘Social Networking Cards’. These contain all of a person’s social media contacts on one card. So instead of your business email, phone number and fax, is contains your email, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or other social contact details. I think this use is ideal. Say you meet someone at a festival or in a bar. Rather than trying to find a pen and writing a number on your hand in lipstick, you can swap cards. You don’t then wake up and spend ages trying to figure out what the digits where when they have smudged during the night. Might be difficult to give someone a false number if you are trying to avoid seeing them again though.
So I do think business cards are still relevant today, and their cousins, the social networking cards will carry the mantle for a long time to come I think.
Filed under: Business Cards
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