Business Cards: When They Make Sense, and When They Don’t

July 1, 2007 By Matthew Paulson

The church I attend has a discipleship group for those in their twenties and thirties on Tuesday nights, and as part of promoting it, we ordered a nice big stack of business cards to share with people. We talk with new acquaintances about the group, and hand them a business card with our website, a phone number, an email address, and some back information about the group. So far the group has picked up several new members because of this, and in our case it’s been very successful.

Business cards don’t work in all cases though. They will only work as well as you do. If you don’t tell anyone about your business, service, or organization, and just leave your business cards around, they’re not going to be worth it. They’ll go unused and most likely discarded. If you hand someone a business card as part of having a conversation with them about the business, your business cards will go much further.

Business cards do a few different things for you. They let you jot down some notes on the back of the business card for the person you’re giving it to read. If you had a computer consulting company, you could write down a few things for the person to look for when buying a new scanner or digital camera. Now they have the business card with them and a very specific reason to look at that business card again, which will only reinforce the initial contact that you had with them.

In addition, business cards create a means to show others what you have to offer. They should some basic information as to the service you offer or the organization that you’re a apart of as well as enough information to get a hold of you should they want to make use of the service. It’s a great way to make sure that people remember who you are.

If you have a positive experience with the person that you hand the card to, they’ll probably think of you in a positive light, and when they see your card again, they’ll think positively about it as well. Sometimes it’ll lead to more business or a new contact, and sometime’s not, but it’s better than no opportunity for potential business at all.

If you provide a service that you want someone that you’re talking with to remember at a later time then a business card is well worth your initial investment. If you do consulting, sell anything, or have some sort of blog or website than you want to promote a business card is a great way to help accomplish that goal. You’ll want to have some sort of logo on it, the name of the organization, basic contact information, and a slogan that you want them to remember. Have a couple of other people look at your design before sending them into be made, nobody wants to be handing out an ugly business card!

They won’t directly save or make you any money, but they will set you up brand-recognition for your business and set you up for longer term success as long as you make good use of your business cards.

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