There was a time not long ago when business cards had almost talismanic qualities for lawyers and other professionals. They were professionally designed and produced. Expensive. Markers of legitimacy, status, taste, authority, seriousness of purpose. An essential one-to-one marketing tool. Business cards were distributed liberally, and retained by recipients in Rolodexes, Filofaxes and drawers.
Enter Outlook, Google and LinkedIn. We no longer need micro-billboards to help contacts log, organize and retrieve our contact information.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Although they no longer command attention and respect, we still need business cards for utilitarian purposes like:
- Demonstrating you are prepared.
- Quickly and easily passing along basic contact information.
- Helping participants in large meetings keep track of who’s who.
- Conducting business in Asia.
- Placing in fish bowls at restaurant host stations for a chance at a free meal.
And yet, certain myths about business cards endure and cause lawyers to over-think and over-spend on what is now a low-value commodity.
- They make you look professional – Having a business card isn’t rare or special anymore. With online services like Moo and Vistaprint, anyone can get a veritable lifetime’s supply of high-quality, customized, color-image, double-sided business cards for less than the cost of a business lunch.
- They are necessary for a good first impression – If someone asks for your business card, you’ve already made a good impression. And if you haven’t noticed, it’s now rare for anyone to do more than glance at a business card before putting it in a pocket or handbag. Just being prepared and having a business card readily available makes a strong first impression. The craftsmanship and composition of the card is mostly irrelevant.
- Adding a QR code to a business card makes you look techno-savvy, and it will drive traffic to the linked landing page, webpage, microsite, etc. – Ugly, cryptic, space-eating, pixelated squares are just as likely to look gimmicky on a professional card. Indeed, other than novelty, there’s no compelling reason for recipients to access the code’s content on a mobile device when they have the information they need in their hand already.
Better Options for Optimizing Your Contact Information
- Add useful personal and company links to your e-mail signature.
- Create personalized landing pages through services like Flavors.me and About.me.
- Invest in Google search curation tools like Vizibility.
I know that lawyer coaches, graphic designers, printers, and the irrationally image-obsessed, among others, still venerate businesses cards, so I hope to hear some lively counterpoints.
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