We encourage clients to think about business cards as marketing artifacts, not just a throwaway piece of cheap cardboard. When you hand out your business card to someone, what do you want them to do with it when they get back to the office? They will usually do one of three things:

a) throw it in the bin without looking at it
b) throw it in a draw
c) scan or copy the details into their contacts or CRM app and then throw it away or file it

But what if there was a 4th option? What if they walked around showing it to people in their office? Their boss? The manager of the department that you really need to be talking to? What if they kept your business card in their briefcase to show other people?

Believe it or not, this 4th option is a reality – *if* you take the time and effort to design a card that is interesting or memorable or somehow worthy of attention.

My own business card is carefully designed to hit level 4. It’s a weird shape, it’s made of wood, and it doesn’t have my details on it, only my domain name. I spoke at a small business event last night and one of the attendees asked me for my card. I gave him one and then watched him show it to other people “hey check this out”.

So take your business card seriously. Don’t treat it with contempt. Treating it with contempt is treating your brand with contempt.

Here are some good ideas to get your brain ticking.

Author:
Cameron Reilly of Motherlode (Marketing Consultants Brisbane).