Business Cards: Do People Still Exchange Them?

I went to a business event the other day and was curious to see if people were still exchanging business cards with each other. I did bring a bunch of business cards with me, as I always do. As I was doing the rounds, talking with colleagues and with prospects, I wondered: did I really need to bring those with me? Do people still exchange business cards?

In a way, you would think that the digital revolution would have rendered business cards obsolete. These days, when you meet someone, it’s very easy to just pull out your smartphones and enter each other’s info straight into the phones, or – better yet – locate each other on social networks and start following and interacting with each other on those networks.

But my careful observation has taught me that business cards are still being used today, and in fact, people tend to ask for each other’s business cards first, and use their smartphones only if business cards are not available. Business cards are still an important marketing tool, and should still be used in combination with other offline tools such as brochures, and – of course – with online tools such as a website, a blog and social media accounts.

This means that business card design is still important, because if people collect hundreds of business cards, most of those will just get stuffed into some drawer and forgotten. If you want people to actually use your business card to contact you, you need to make sure it stands out. Which brings me to these business card design tips. They are basic, but important. Since the vast majority of business cards I see every day are boring and mundane, I guess many people still try to “save” on business cards by using cheap card stock and discount printers. Big mistake!

Business Card Design Tips:

1. Use a logo. Small business logo design is incredibly important, because a good logo can be used everywhere – including business cards, letterhead, brochures, and your website – and help you create a strong image and a powerful brand.

2. Make sure your business card is easy to read. The font needs to be large enough so that people can read it without straining their eyes, and you should never use light font on a light background or dark font on a dark background – those are very hard to read.

3. Make your card stand out. The best way to make sure your card does what it’s supposed to do – bring you business – is to avoid using a standard, boring design. Go for a heavyweight, high-gloss card stock and use bold colors, images and fonts. Flimsy or cheap-looking business cards can actually hurt your business by giving people the impression that you’re not a serious business. Boring, uninteresting cards will usually be ignored or tossed.

Of course, you shouldn’t only rely on your business card to market your business. Your goal is to use a wide range of marketing tools and to combine the power of offline and online marketing, so your business card shouldn’t ignore your online presence. On the contrary – it’s important to make sure that your business card includes not just an address, a telephone number and an email but also your website’s URL and, if applicable, your social media accounts’ URLs.

Small Business Design Resources