Last post I discussed blending social media into your business cards, now let’s get into those biz cards again. With Pubcon and other conferences coming up, a lot of business cards will be being dished out. Stay on top of your social connections and utilize some of these resources.
Creative Business Card Ideas
MOO minicards are smaller versions of the classic business card format. They allow you to print 100 different images on the fronts. This can be great with promotions or coupons.
Here is a great business card Flickr set of inspirational, beautifully designed business cards. Also check out the Business Card Group Pool at Flickr for some more creative ideas.
Humor can be a great way to capture someone’s interest and keep in memory. It also serves as an icebreaker of sorts and can easily get a conversation moving along.
Virtual Business Cards
Some are advocating a paperless business card world, but the technology (or acceptance of this technology) isn’t there just yet. Sure, it’s cool to ‘bump’ your iPhones and share contact information (or maybe you would rather shake?), but not everyone is carrying an iPhone and this makes virtual cards unstable.
There are also hundreds of sites that offer services to make a virtual business card. Card.ly and Contxts allow users to make a “tiny” portfolio online in which they’ll be able to integrate into networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) or share via SMS.
Although I think the main idea and green aspects of a paperless business card are commendable, I won’t be jumping on that anytime soon (much like how Kindle hasn’t make the paper page go the way of the dodo yet). I recommend recycled paper for card, as the environment matters. The one big advantage printed business cards have over any virtual method is that they serve as a reminder. Once information goes into your phone or PDA, how likely is it you’ll remember to look at it again?
What to Do with All Those Business Cards You Have?
CloudContacts is a service that scans all of your business cards that you have gotten over the years from conferences and networking events and transcribes and connects your business cards on social networks, email services and CRM systems. This allows you to access your business card contacts from anywhere in the world. Or you could just throw them all away…
Personally, I have a bin of business cards that I have gotten or collected because I met the people or I just saw the card and thought it was visually appealing. Some are beautifully designed and given such personal touch, while others are clean and classic. Whatever the reason that I saved these cards, I like the tangible aspect of them- hard proof that they are out there doing business! These cards are more than just information about how to contact someone; in a way, they are a piece of each person.
Making the most out of your business cards can sometimes be the difference between making a connection or breaking one. By using some creative ideas and utilizing other networks, you can be sure to stick out of the stack of cards.
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27 Responses to “Get Busy with Your Business Cards”
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I've gotten flak for saying this before, but the only value for business cards is to send out the omnipresent LinkedIn / Facebook connection request & find the person's Twitter account to follow. They have absolutely no long-term value since the "Rolodex" is online.
Yep, that's mostly true Todd but until all of someone's information can simply be 'passed' electronically (like we're starting to see with some of the iPhone apps but not everyone has an iPhone) – they still maintain a pretty important purpose IMO….
Great post, I'm actually waiting for my new cards, should be ready tomorrow afternoon. If you're at pubcon next week in Las Vegas,, I should have my new cards. Just had to add Twitter on there.
[...] post: Get Busy with Your Business Cards 05 Nov 09 | [...]
Cool, can't wait to see them (and you, of course
) !
Great Bill, thanks for commenting. I will not be at Pubcon but some of the fine folks I work with will be for sure. Glad that you enjoyed the post and best of luck at the conference
Are you still using the old business card type?
Forget the old business card type – A domain will stay, but your job will probably change over time. See how it can look like: http://tinyurl.com/y8e4xlx
I love those MOO minicards, but unfortunately they can't be here intime for pubcon. But I am definitely ordering some.
This is a great post!
I'm a post-grad student and have started networking at events lately and recognized the need to have business cards even before I have a job.
I'll definitely consider some of these aspects when I design my business card for the transition from school to the workforce.
I kept forgetting about doing my own business card, perhaps it's because I think that I don't need one, the world wide web is a huge market…but then I agree with you you…I should have one…thanks for the links provided. I would go probably with this advice on business card design:
"Humor can be a great way to capture someone’s interest and keep in memory. It also serves as an icebreaker of sorts and can easily get a conversation moving along"
nice cards. my company has a standard card, for all of us.
Thanks for including CloudContacts – please never throw away your business cards! Something I've been thinking about a lot lately — when you spend so much time at an event, conference, etc. and then throw away the cards you collect, why go to the event in the first place?
Loved the examples! You just saved me from another run of useless business cards.. I needed a bit of creativity!
NIce Collections. For fully Free Business Cards, Logos, Letterheads and Certificate Templates and Free Customize.. http://www.gbgbu.com/studio/
There is one more great online business card service
http://www.thebcard.com
Nice. New trend we see for business cards is that most new cards are used for advertising products and services. The old traditional logo, name, address does not do anymore. Check out http://www.wymprint.com
Wow Michelleanovel, what a novel way to market your services. I didn't know there was such a thing as 'expert CT SEO'. If you want to learn more about how to properly market your business online start reading this blog and quit spending your time with useless spamming.
Sorry, I diverged. This post reminds me of the days when guerilla marketing(any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources) was all the buzz. I love seeing creative business cards because exchanging business cards is a typically boring excercise. Nice article.
I still use the old business cards. People still like to have them on hand, even though they can keep their contacts online. I guess many people haven't been up to date on the internet.
I couldn't even imagine that there are so many variations of business cards!
Great Article – thanks!
Useful article. And Thank Mr. John. for suggesting a website (gbgbu.com) What a website is this !!! Absolutely Free Business Card Designs.
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Hi,
Amazing article! Thanks for sharing.
Hi
Good information about business card and there are many people like this post.
Business card is help for us about marketing.
An excellent business card will add some additional points to your business image, but a bad one can spoil all your business look – so it's better not to have a business card than to have crappy cards!
Also checkout WYMPRINT.COM. They are the best out there…
While many of use here will be wondering about these business cards, it might be prudent to note that they are so important. Indeed, if they were not around ,who would be able to find you?