A business card is a great way to establish rapport with a potential client … or scare him away. Business cards should represent your brand image; they should entice readers to contact you and learn more.
Traditional paper business cards are limited to a smaller audience, more expensive than digital versions, and susceptible to loss. A large opportunity can easily disappear if someone loses your paper business card after you hand it over.
So maybe it’s time to consider these four alternatives to the traditional paper business card.
1. Atypical print cards
The paper business card is not yet dead. Many company owners are shifting gears and moving away from traditional designs. Graphic artists and innovative business card companies have breathed new life into business card designs.
Unusual card cuts, intriguing artwork, and witty catch phrases can quickly set your card apart from the others and stand out in your clients’ memories. Consider revamping your current business card design so it reflects your company’s culture and services better. You don’t necessarily need to do this with text. Card shape, color, and weight can send a clear message to people who take your business card.
2. Digital contact card
Many mobile phones allow users to trade contact information. Apple users are familiar with the vCard, which they can share from the Contacts app on Mac computers and iOS devices. A vCard is much more dynamic than a regular paper business card, since it provides fields for a current photo, address, multiple phone numbers, street and postal addresses, and email address.
3. Online portfolio
An online portfolio can be shared with an endless array of users. It’s hard to measure the reactions and buying potential of people who look at traditional business cards.
However, an online portfolio can be tied to powerful analytics software to track how many people view your work each week, the common search terms they use to find your web presence, and how long they visit your site.
4. FlashBind
Imagine being able to exchange electronic business cards with people, based on vicinity. Systems like FlashBind allow you to easily exchange contacts at events. The ease of these electronic systems can alleviate any awkward moments, such as when you forget to bring paper business cards to an important event.
These cards can be filed away and organized for later use. Since they are stored on the cloud, you can pull up an important contact swiftly from any computer or mobile device with Internet access.
Originally posted on July 31, 2013 @ 6:24 am