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What Goes on a Business Card Today?
Allen Stern - September 25th, 2007
As I go from conference to conference and interview to interview, each business card I receive seems to be a bit different in what information it contains. I thought it might be an interesting topic for discussion as to what you have on your business card today. When I first began working professionally as an accountant we had teletype or telefax (I forget) and cards were almost always standard in content. Here are some of the common things I see on cards today:
- Name – duh
- Company – usually with logo
- URL – needed
- Address – nice to have
- Position – pretty typical
- Phone – needed
- E-mail – needed
- Fax – why does anyone still put this on their card? When was the last time a tech person received a fax? And if you have received a fax, tell me the last time the person sending the fax didn’t ask you for your fax number via email?
Now we get into some of the others that I think are more interesting:
- Mobile/Cell - almost commonplace today
- Skype address
- IM address – some of them are interesting! (aim/msn/gtalk/etc.)
- MySpace address
- Facebook account
- Delicious handle
- Digg/Reddit/Netscape – not always all 3 but some have 2!
- SecondLife handle
- Update: Shannon Clark has Twitter on the card
Sponsor: This post brought to you by CloudContacts — for business card scanning and transcription.
Read More: Insights
My wife says that a photo of yourself on your business card is cheesey and egotistical, unless you are the product. (like a realtor, attorney or model for instance)
Lot’s of great comments and ideas here but I have to jump in and share my business card.
I actually have cd business card – I call it DigiCard and along with standard content- phone, name, fax, web, title etc I have entire video presentation about my business in 2 languages – English and Spanish.
Talking about handing out one to your prospects – instantly creates number of questions and great conversations.
If any of you guys would like to see my card – I can mail it to you… just let me know via email at info@digicarddesign.com
I’ll be glad to send you one over :).
We are based in India and are exporters of Indian Handicrafts. Whenever we visit people in the US, we end up exchanging cards. We do not have a telephone number on the card, it has:
Name, Designation, website (www.kashand.com), email, Company Name and our tagline (Quality Handicrafts since 1965). I personally do not see the need for putting out a telephone number as no one hardly calls long distance, and no one has asked for it when we handed over the card.
I’ve written books about business cards – I think that for many people and/or businesses, the address is unnecessary, at least if someone can call you or go to your website to get it. And I believe they’re underutilized as marketing tools – a call to action (“Visit my website for Today’s Special Deal”) is a good use of space.
Great post and to share a little of what I have done that is grabbing peoples attention;
On my Calling card ( I use Moo.com calling cards in place of business cards )
The Photos are from the miscellaneous set as appropriate.
The text on the back includes.
Nicholas Butler
07713 241956
http://www.loudmouthman.com/contact
http://www.twitter.com/loudmouthman
and My picture
Ive had better retention and discussion and value from those 100 calling cards than I have ever had before.
Thanks for posting something which we all need to consider every few months.
I found cutting the space down by using moocards gave me a more focused approach.
I have
Name
What I do
email
Telephone
Mobile
Because its a moocard my logo which has my web address are on the front and my name and contact details are on the back.
Moocards were a lot more cheaper than the quotes I had for business cards and also the quality of the print is top notch. I have a gradient red and it’s come out how it should and traditional printers were not sure how it would come out.
Also with Moocards because they are about half the size of a normal card people mention it and therefore should remember you.
Another tip for using a moocard, don’t bother with headed paper, just attach the moocard to the top.
now can moo pay me a fee for all that loving :P
Darren – this past trip to San Francisco, a bunch of people gave me moo cards – I found them to be hard to keep track of because they are so small – they fall out of the rubber bands and are easy to lose.
But they are interesting in terms of marketing as you noted.
ahh what you need is one of the boxes you get when you order a load of them. Who knows maybe they will offer larger ones in the future.
any drop shadows? :)
Mine shows photo, name, email and url.
Oh, and it has rounded corners :-)
Well, great case in point: Our business cards are our most important Personal Brand marketing material.
What we have on there, how it’s designed, and how it’s presented (not too eagerly) reflects on us.
I actually used my own business card and pointed out the design reasonings on my blog: http://www.personalbrandmarketing.com/2007/06/13/tips-from-my-new-improved-business-card/
~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com
I first noticed phone number domains in China, Hong Kong included, but I can’t say if they were the first to have this, but it’s more prominent there than in the States.
I can’t remember who to credit for this, but I thought it was a cool idea for freelancers. Get the domain of your phone number, then just put “matt@5555555555.com” on the card. With that one line people have your name, email, and url (which you’d forward to your real site).
Interesting idea Matt!
Personally, I stick with the usual stuff listed at the top. I only bother with mediums that I control. To me, it seems more professional.
I pay more attention to the design of the cards. They have to be appealing so people hold on to them. I definitely recommend checking out some of the groups on flickr. Here’s one I found quickly: http://www.flickr.com/groups/bizcard/
–
MentallyRetired.com | WackyLabs LLC
A picture. After a conference, I have a pile of cards, and usually can’t remember which one belonged to what person. Pictures aren’t common, but for someone like me, they make the difference if the design isn’t distinctive enough to jog my memory.
Like the photo idea (i would put someone good looking on mine!) – because even looking at photos I take at a conference, it’s hard to figure out who is who or whom is whom.
Is phone number still a requirement?
I say leave the phone (and cell#) for personalization. If you take out a pen and write it on the back for the person you are giving it to that makes a statement.
Likewise, if you don’t provide one you are telling the people who are just giving away schwag that you don’t want a phone call.
maybe have two cards – one with number one without – so the without goes to the annoying? :)
Good call on the picture. Never thought about that.