The self sufficient business owner can quite easily take it upon themselves to create their own stationery and business cards to save money and to put some of themselves into the brand. There is a lot to be said for this if you have the design skills to back you up. A design oriented businessperson can make quite a statement when creating their own brand. There is often a warmer feeling about it and it often feels a lot more authentic than an agency created one.

If you have a copy or Word, Photoshop, Illustrator or any of the myriad of other design packages out there you can make business cards. Whether for yourself or to sell as templates or brand designs. There are even free programs out there from which you can create half decent business cards with if you spend some time learning the program.

Doing it yourself will ensure you put a piece of you into the design. This will show up in the finished article and if you’re lucky, be noticed by your intended audience. It will also be original. Unless you are modifying someone else’s design for your own needs then chances are nobody is going to have a card the same. If you are using the same ideas with the rest of your company branding then you have the beginning of a completely original business identity.

In an increasingly global marketplace, originality counts for a lot. It makes you memorable, desirable and valuable. This is especially true if you are a creative oriented business. A good business card or stationery design can act as a mini portfolio and show prospective clients exactly what you are capable of.

For those of us with slightly less creative abilities there is still the option of using one of the programs to modify or create a template for a card or stationery. Just because we can’t draw or paint doesn’t mean we can’t make business cards. We will just have to work that little bit harder to be able to do it.

You can vary the shape, texture or material as much as the design to add that little something extra. Although chances are you won’t be able to print them yourself using a normal printer, the design itself can be quite popular as it’s another way to stand out from the crowd.

Whatever you choose to make or pay someone else to make, ensure that it is going to be original and eye catching. As Oscar Wilde said ‘The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about’. If people aren’t talking about you, they aren’t thinking about you, which means they aren’t doing business with you.

There are supposedly several million colors available to print. I’m sure the human eye isn’t even capable of telling the difference between most of them. Color attracts the eye and makes a statement. As many discussions over art is about the use of color, rather than the technique or subject matter it stands to reason that color is important to us. We are all attracted to one color or other depending on our personalities and moods. It can reflect our feelings, desires and innermost thoughts, while expressing our sorrow or anger better than words ever could.

When all this is taken into account it stands to reason that we should harness all these emotions and try and use them to influence people. Clever use of color can alter the mood or decisions of people.

Now I’m not sure how much more mood changing or decision influence a color business card can do over a plain white one, but I’m certain when it comes to attracting attention, color wins every time. A little glimpse of a rich red or purple when a decision maker opens his contact book is going to make much more of an impact than the usual slip of white. It makes sense to utilize every advantage you can when trying to attract someone’s attention.

A color business card may cost a little more than a standard print or design but the return on investment will be much greater as a result. Even a single extra contact or client due to an eye catching card can more than pay for the whole batch of them in no time at all.

You or your card designer should choose a design that not only you like, but what says what you want it to say about your company. Certain colors are synonymous with companies since they used them in branding. Ford black, Coca Cola red, Pepsi blue, McDonalds red and yellow. They evoke immediate recognition through clever use of color and the companies don’t miss a trick to get them in front of you in a positive light.

Setting your brand up with a specific palette from the off can help you to build a coherent brand, and as long as you don’t go changing it, one that people will associate with you and your company for a long time. This is an essential step in building a recognisable brand and even though starting with a color business card is a small step, as long as each step leads to success its worth taking. Anything that keeps you in the mind of your audience is a good thing in any kind of business.

Website and business card design are two of the most important elements of any corporate brand. They are normally the first two pieces of literature or material that anyone sees about you. It should shout reliability, quality and trust me, without shouting into people’s faces. Unless you are lucky enough to be the CEO of a huge multinational or an established company, these are all things you need to consider when creating your own brand. It is much easier to get a professional in to do it for you, but not everyone has that kind of money laying around.

Let us concentrate on the humble business card for a moment. Its size and stature belies its usefulness and importance in the business world. They are the corporate equivalent of the hastily scribbled phone number from that hottie you met last night. The possibility of making a new connection and seeing what you can both do for each other.

An innocuous piece of card it may be, but a very influential marketing tool if used correctly. If the business card design is good enough, original enough and interesting enough, people are going to remember it, and think of you every time they see it. To be on the mind of a decision maker is the holy grail of anyone in business. That little piece of card could be the doorway to much more business and should be given the thought that it deserves.

The design should complement, not copy your overall brand, either taking an element of it or modifying it slightly to fit a card. You have to get as much information as you can while still retaining a design and not overcrowding it. If you have a logo or a design element that makes you stand out from the crowd then use it on your card.

If you want to experiment with different materials instead of card then there are many options. There are companies that make them from steel, plastic and even wool. Depending on your line of business, it may be worthwhile exploring this avenue of expression. Be aware that it will incur a cost of some kind as it will take extra effort for the printer to produce them.

Ensure that whatever you use will remain useful and useable. There is no point spending a lot of time and money on a shape or texture that renders the card impractical. If it doesn’t fit in a card holder or inside a wallet, chances are it will be thrown away when you aren’t looking.

Creativity is great as long as you don’t compromise the purpose of the card achieving it.

For most traditional designs using light weight cardboard it is entirely viable to you to create a design in word and then format them so they cover an A4 sheet and print them all off. Most desktop printers will be able to print onto the cardboard as long as it isn’t too porous. Caution should be taken with the printer settings though, to ensure that porous paper or cardboard is selected. That will stop smudging and help keep the lines and edges sharp.

Don’t forget to specify double sided printing either, says the voice of experience. Don’t waste a whole sheet of full colour 400 weight cardboard because you forgot to set it up for double sided and didn’t line it up properly for the other side to match exactly. Make sure you line the card up EXACTLY so each card is printed both sides. The tolerances between cards is very fine and even a slight miscalculation can render the whole sheet useless.

Much easier to get a printer to do it for you. A professional job will almost always show through. It’s much better to spend even a little money to get a reputable printer to do the work for you. If you have one near you at least you can see examples of their work before giving them your money. Online is slightly harder to judge and you should only deal with a reputable firm.

Most printers online or otherwise will be happy to print business cards for you either to your own design or to one of theirs. They tend to prefer you to provide your own designs electronically in a .psd, .pdf or .doc format so they can format it for printing. The turnaround is pretty quick for a print job of a few hundred cards, generally within a couple of days, some within twenty four hours. Be prepared to pay a premium when wanting them in a hurry though!

Professional printers are the only viable option when wanting to play with different textures and materials. They will be able to select the proper ink settings for each one and ensure you get a good result.

Some companies like the inimitable Moo.com has made their entire business plan around business cards. There are plenty of other companies too, who offer similar services. Just Google business cards or something, you will get plenty of results for companies who specialize in them.

I can’t attest to their quality having never used them. Personally I prefer giving the work to my local printer. Local work for local businesses and all that. He in turn gives me work if a client of his needs copywriting. I win both ways! I get a good product for a good price and can discuss any issues face to face. I also get a local recommendation from a known company in my town.

There are many vendors of business cards that let you design and buy them online. They have automated as much of the design process as possible for within a few minutes a prospective buyer can upload, or design their own card, fill in the details and then order them printed. I bought my business card online and have used it ever since.

Most of the websites have a three or four step process. First you choose the design you like from a selection, or from a business type menu. They can be grouped by business or type or none of the above depending on the size of the site.

Once you have chosen the design it is normally here that you input all of the information a business card should include. Definitely a name, phone number and email address, maybe a cell number website, Twitter or Facebook address or other detail you want to carry. There is a choice to be made between overloading the card with information while keeping it readable, or keeping it as clean as possible with the minimum of information.

Given the general laziness of people, I tend to include as many ways to contact me as possible. I think this can only be for the good by spreading your bets across all social networks, chat clients and such. Most online savvy people know who MSN, Gmail, Twitter and Facebook are. Some if not all will be users of one or the other of them. It’s much more convenient to contact someone on the same network than join a new one just to meet them.

Most online business card vendors offer the option to print a single or double sided card. Here you can choose an option based in the design you are using. If it’s a stock design then chances are a plain reverse side will be fine. If you have a bespoke design then maybe a double sided card would be best.

That’s pretty much it as far as designing the card goes. Preview you choices and once you are happy you can get down to the details. The paper type, rounded edges, and whatever other options the website offers. Bearing in mind of course that each extra option will cost that little bit more in the end.

It is worth spending the money if you can when buying your business card online, as like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. First impressions last, so your card had better say what you want it to about you.

The online versions can take the form of Facebook invite cards, to LinkedIn and other business oriented networking sites. It is simply an electronic version of the trusty piece of cardboard with your work details on it. These are becoming increasingly popular with the increase in reliance on email. Microsoft Outlook allows you to create a business card and enclose it with emails. There are even Office templates for them. I know there are other third party applications that will help you create an online business card.

Depending on your cell provider and phone, you can create and send electronic business cards via your phone. They are encoded so that they can nestle nicely in your contacts folder in them. This can be a quick and discreet way of swapping details. There isn’t much to designing these kind of cards though. The technology is still in its infancy to the options are limited. I think there will be some useful applications coming soon that will breathe some life into this, especially as the phones themselves are getting increasingly sophisticated.

Buying a business card online is the other option. A quick Google of business card or any derivative of it will present you with an array of vendors who let you create an online business card for them to print for you. I have found that uploading your own design is by far the most effective way of creating a quality and original design for you card. Using a stock design or template is definitely not the way to go as far as I’m concerned. You don’t want to look cheap, tacky or have a design that someone else already has. Originality counts for a lot when discussing business branding. You may be a small business now, but it doesn’t mean it will still be small in ten years time.

A company can of course be rebranded but it costs time and money, and a surprising amount of effort to get your existing clientele used to your new identity. It isn’t something any company does lightly.

So if you are setting up a new company or nurturing a fledgling one, it is worth surfing the net for the companies that offer the facility to make an online business card, but be careful of actually making one. Ensure they will be of sufficient weight and quality to make you look good. Don’t use a stock photograph, design or template for your card, try and personalize it as much as possible before you print it.

Lastly but most importantly, get your spelling right. It can be an expensive spelling mistake to get a couple of hundred cards printed only to find you have spelled something wrong or missed out a digit on your phone number…

Just about any hard surface can carry a print and from looking at business card designs that never worked, I think most of them have been tried already. I bought some off the internet once that cost me $45 for 200 cards. The site went on about quality and clarity of their print I decided to give them a try. I was most disappointed when my card arrived. The printing was blurry and wasn’t sharp or clear at all. The card cutting was also loose with threads sticking out of the edges of the card. Not good at all. That’s what you get for getting a ‘budget’ printer to do it for you. The company was supposed to be in the US, but the box was postmarked Singapore!

The overall quality of the card as well as the eye-catching design and clever wording is important. Business card printing needs to be sharp as there isn’t much space to work with. Fitting a decent amount of information into a small space is an exercise in itself. The font needs to be of a size large enough to be clearly read, but small enough that you can fit all the pertinent information onto it.

If in doubt you can print them yourself on a decent home printer. The Dpi of the printer needs to be enough that it can drop ink onto cardboard and remain sharp. Many of the cheaper printers will smudge or be too weak to handle the cardboard, if you are using it. I use an Epson D6600 and it handles the printing and the card perfectly well. The built in software even has an application that will fill an A4 sheet of it with as many cards as possible while still printing double sided.

If you want to use something other than cardboard then you would be better served getting a professional to print it for you. The raw materials can be quite expensive and a home printer won’t be able to print on many of the options open to a print studio. Plastics, fabrics or metal are certainly some of the materials in common use in cards today that you probably won’t be able to do yourself. Some printers give off too much heat to be able to print on plastic properly, or the heads can’t penetrate the plastic enough to get an image to imprint.

So as a general rule of thumb, check the quality of your printer either the commercial kind, or the connected to your PC kind. If you are using different materials, then definitely get a professional to do it for you. Your card is your brand so do it properly. The better you present yourself and your business, the more people are likely to trust it and you.

There are templates for almost everything nowadays in fact most of my own business branding is from templates. It is a cost effective and convenient way to use designers while retaining convenience to modify or update it as you see fit. They cost relatively little compared to hiring a designer directly, but it will be rare that you get an exclusive use of the design unless you pay an exclusive price for it.

An hour or two with photo editing software can modify an existing template to your needs and a few more hours could have you making your own! This will be much better than using a stock template from a printers website or something as these are often monochrome or two colours, with basic fonts and little if any design qualities.

I would suggest not using a stock template if you are starting out in business as it could give completely the wrong impression of you and your company. You need a good quality, professional looking brand and persona from the off when starting off in business, otherwise you may be associated with it for a long time. Even if a brand changed relatively quickly, those who have seen it may remember it for longer than you would like. Rebranding is an expensive exercise even if you are a smaller company and the ramifications are much more than just financial.

A business brand, from a template or otherwise will be the face of your company. Think of some of the biggest brands out there, and wonder if there brand would slip if they used cheap stock templates. Saying that, the money that these companies spend on branding and corporate identity could keep a small country fed for a long time I imagine! We can’t all hire Sachs and Sachs to take care of our advertising and branding so we are fortunate that there is a cheaper, middle ground.

If you are a designer, then creating templates is a lucrative way to create a residual income while polishing your skills at the same time. If you have some decent Photoshop skills and flair for colour and design then making business card templates could be a good source of income while helping out fledgling businesses like mine. This kind of symbiotic relationship creates good contacts within business. It can also lead on to repeat orders if your stuff is good enough. I go back to the designer of my first template each time I need something new because I know the quality of the design.

I know this was my father’s staple design for over thirty years. No real change in the paper, font, ink or anything. It seemed like the business card was the accessory that design forgot. Then it seems that designers saw them for the first time a few years ago. Now the realm of the humble business card is as lively and as imaginative as any other.

A variety of shapes, materials, colors, fonts, textures and anything else that can be dreamt up have slowly crept into the market bringing it new life. Once more they are something to look at and evoke interest, rather than being just part of the meeting process of swapping cards. Now business card design is in the 21st century and interesting once more.

It is amazing what a creative mind and a little cardboard rectangle can do when left in a room together for a while. Of course it doesn’t even have to be cardboard any more. In my collection I have a steel one in the shape of a dog tag, various types of plastic ones from clear or shiny, and even one made from wool. They don’t even have to be rectangle! In fact I think the only rule that seems to have stuck is the size. Still small enough to be concealable or portable, but large enough to hold the information and carry the design.

So there really is no excuse for having a boring business card nowadays. If you can’t create your own there are plenty of places you can get someone to do it for you for a lot less that you would think. A good and imaginative design will make you memorable, which is the whole point of having a card in the first place. If your business card design stands out from the crowd, then so will you. Every time a client or prospective client sees an imaginative or eye catching card they are going to think of the person who gave it to them. After a while they aren’t even going to need to see the card to think of you.

That effect is what every business wants to achieve with its audience. The instant correlation between company and product. If someone thinks of you when they think of a certain product or service then chances are they are going to come to you eventually.

So as you can see, having a memorable business card design is one of the cheapest and most effective targeted marketing methods around. Even in our electronic age, that little slip of whatever, in whatever shape with your details on it, can be your gateway to the world.

They are normally in a .psd Paintshop format or sometimes a .doc for Word. You can set it up yourself and print them on your own printer or most online printers will allow you to upload the images to their website for them to print off for you. Your local printer will probably want them in a .psd format too as it is the easiest to open, manipulate and print from.

Like general card designs there are free ones on the internet for you to download, or ones to purchase. These can cost as little as $10 or as much as $1000! Be careful and make sure you shop around to avoid paying above the odds for your design.

There is no disputing that a good design is well worth the investment, in any aspect of your business. You need to have a distinctive brand and look to your company for people to be able to identify with it. Being the same as everyone else is a sure fire way of being forgettable, and if nobody knows you are there, you aren’t going to last long in business.

It’s all about making a noise, but the right kind of noise. Not too loud, not too obnoxious and certainly not to silly. These rules can be used in any of your corporate branding exercises. Choose a design that is original, says the right thing about you and your company is essential if you want to make the most of this marketing tool.

Choosing something different and original is all about making the right noise. You want it to be attractive and memorable without becoming annoying. Some of the coolest designs out there just aren’t practical when it comes to putting the card in your wallet, filofax or organizer. Funny shapes and bits of card that fold out look very good from a design perspective but aren’t too useful when trying to extract it from your wallet or read the sometimes obscure print.

Having a business card template allows you to modify it when your details change too. That way you don’t have to pay for someone to come in and modify the design to contain your new details. Five minutes with a graphics package and your card will be entirely up to date again.

It doesn’t take a creative genius to use one of these templates so it’s ideal for people like me who have no real eye for design let alone the ability to create a good one. I know what I like as a consumer and use that as a barometer as to what is cool and what isn’t.

This method of getting a good design is ideal for the design challenged amongst us, myself included. They are a very quick and easy way of having an identity created for your business while retaining the freedom to update it and keep it current.

We all know starting a business can be an expensive undertaking, and a set of business cards probably don’t come very high in the extensive list of priorities. If it isn’t something that you consider immediately, keep it in the back of your mind for once things have calmed down a bit. Being able to present a good quality business card to a colleague or prospective client is a valuable business and marketing tool.

There are plenty of free business card designs on the internet if you aren’t the creative type, or have run out of operating capital until you get some work in. They are generally free to download and print yourself, or business card manufacturers and printers usually have some as examples for you to use. You can either print them yourself or online for a nominal fee.

It may be tempting to use a service like this when you first start out as they are very cost effective and don’t really take that much thinking about. However, be careful of the design you use as it could say more about your approach to business than you might think. Shopping on a budget is an art form, and one that has spawned an untold amount of TV programs. The trick is to be clever with your budget purchases and make sure they don’t look like they were cheap.

If you want to use a free design then I advise you to shop around. There are literally thousands of sites with free designs out there. I think I surfed most of them when I was looking for my own. It’s quite easy to burn a few hours checking through them all looking for something half decent. A few hours you could be earning the money to pay for a proper one! I ended up downloading a few free templates and not liking any of them. Even playing around with them in Illustrator or Paintshop Pro didn’t make them any prettier. In the end I spend about three days looking for a good design to use or modify for my needs. I then found a freelance site and got a designer to create one for me for $15! It is original, looks good, and is most of all memorable.

I believe it says the right things about me and my company. It is also of a standard far higher than any of the free designs I saw when trawling the internet.

If you can take other people’s ideas and adapt them for your own needs then a free business card design may work for you. If on the other hand, creativity isn’t what makes you famous then I would pay someone to do the work for you. The end result will be much better and you can concentrate on building you business instead of wasting time on the internet.

The designs of free business cards are generally basic, but if you have or are familiar with programs like Adobe illustrator then it’s quite simple to make up a template or two for your card design. Most home computer printers can print onto card and many are configurable enough to allow you to print a whole sheet of cards at a time. While not technically free, as there is a cost in the cardboard, it is minimal. You just have to ensure that the card is thick enough for use in a card, and pliable enough to be able to be rolled by your printer.

The other way ‘free’ is used to market business cards in the ‘buy x amount of cards and get x free!’ offers. If you are purchasing a bulk set of cards, then the printer or stationer may offer to throw some in for free. This is popular at the moment with online printers. ‘Buy 100 and get 25 free’ is one I saw the other day while looking at new designs. A value oriented offer that adds to the overall value of your order rather than giving you the whole product free. This is ideal if you have a better design or are using one that simply isn’t available free. All of the offers I have seen so far though have been for standard cards. No soft corners, or plastic or metal finishes as they cost too much to produce to be able to give them away.

I have to confess though, although I love the no cost option of almost anything, I don’t feel them appropriate for business cards. Like a website, a card is a long term impression of your company. If you present a cheap mass produced card to someone at a lunch or a meeting you are hardly going to impress them. Even if they aren’t the type to be wowed by a funky clear plastic card or a sheet of foil with your name on it, you still need to present yourself and your company in the best light possible. What would the impression be if your business card was blatantly the cheapest you could find?

The brand and overall impression of a company is all important. It will live and die by it. People have to be able to relate to your brand and identity. They have to be able to trust it and be confident that it can produce quality. Trying to sell this kind of identity while using free business cards is not the way to inspire confidence in your future clients.

Take my advice and spend a little money on your business card. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but enough to give you something original and memorable.

There are many different types of paper to choose from let alone all the metals and plastics that are now increasing in popularity. The higher the quality of paper, the more professional looking the result. Although they will be more expensive that basic 3pt card, they are well worth the investment as the impression they give will be far better.

The ‘pt’ in 3pt refers to the Board and Point, and is printer speak for the thickness of the card. A good gauge is to use a minimum of 14pt so the card is durable and not flimsy. This is especially true if your card design contains a lot of color. A thicker card will prevent the color seeping through to the other side, which you may experience with thinner card.

My personal favourite is Ivory paper because of its superior quality and finish. It lasts a lot longer and stays tidier than normal card. It is a good way of achieving a classy, quality finish for any company.

Handmade paper is another option for people who like textures. They can be made up of many types of materials such as silk, wool, wood and loads of others. Just about any natural material can be made into paper. The different texture is an ideal way to set yourself apart and offering an in when meeting new people. A textured card is sure to evoke comment.

There is also such a thing as non-tear paper which is also a useful business card material. This is becoming more popular as the cost of materials decreases. It used to be expensive to use, but is now quite reasonable. It is a thin card covered in a light laminate which offers the non-tear capabilities. They are also damp proof and can survive a coffee spill, which is why they are being used more and more.

Art paper is my staple but not my favourite. A good quality business card paper with either a matt or gloss finish. It allows for a lot of design options and can take extra elements like photographs or fine images. It does cost a lot more than standard card but the result is well worth the expense in my opinion. Sitting the same design next to each other, one on standard card, and the other on art paper speaks for itself. There is simply no competition between the two.

Any design, no matter how expensive or beautiful will sink or swim depending on the paper stock it sits on. A good quality paper will transform the card into something to talk about and will exude quality, which is something worth much more to a business than the cost of the cards.

Travelling salespeople, insurance sales, company reps and a myriad of other business functions are carried out by face to face meetings. Some people’s business contact books run into dozens of pages. There is simply no way that you are going to remember all of their details. The business card is the ideal tool to stay memorable.

Although there is a market for imaginative and eye catching card designs, as long as the staple information is on the card, you will be fine. I have never seen someone flick through their business cards and give someone work just because they were bored at the time. People use your card for a good reason, and it doesn’t really seem to make much difference whether it was a plain white card or a carbon fiber one.

Most businesspeople don’t like wasting time, so ensuring all of your up to date details are in front of as many decision makers as possible is an essential marketing tool. Going to a lecture or Chamber of Commerce lunch armed with a pocket full of cards can get you a lot of contacts, and hopefully a lot of business.

There is more to a business card than a little 2×2.5” piece of cardboard. There are now electronic versions, and versions you can send from your mobile phone. The pretext is exactly the same, getting your information to people for when they want you. Moving with the times and having your details in a readable format on a Blackberry is as important as having a card in their Rolodex. Even Outlook has the facility to create a business card which you can attach to emails and append to contact lists.

The advantage with electronic cards is hyperlinking. You can link directly to your email, Twitter, Facebook or whatever with an electronic card. This save vital seconds for a potential prospect in getting hold of you. Marketing is all about getting a message across and convenience. A good marketing strategy is to take as much effort as possible out of getting hold of someone or acquiring information. A business card helps that by having all relevant information ready and waiting in one place. The less effort it takes someone to get in touch with you, the more likely someone will actually do it. The card only takes care of one aspect of this strategy though. The other half, the getting the message across is mainly up to you once your card has been used. There are subliminal pointers you can use in your card design. The tone and quality of the card can say a lot about you, and give an unconscious trigger to those who look at it. That will be discussed in another entry.

Think of your business card like a Visa, and never leave home without it, as you never know who you will bump into.

Business meetings are becoming more and more virtualized as companies try and save time and money. Having employees on the road is an expensive activity for any business, and in these harsh financial conditions, every dollar counts. With the advent of video conferencing, web meetings and other online collaboration tool, the traditional face-to-face meeting seems to be going out of fashion.

There would be the classic scene where two businessmen would both reach into their pocket like a quick draw and pull out a business card to give to the other. A whole industry sprang up around them in business card holders. Some of the designs were a little scary, and others just rubbish. A sleek black or silver case, or a wallet compartment would have done the job.

A quick look on the internet shows that there is still a plethora of companies offering business card services, from design to printing. If there is this kind of supply then there must be a demand.

The designs available have moved on a lot since the days of the door to door salesman or traditional bank manager. The little white rectangle with simple black writing was generally the only form it took. Some companies went a little further and added a company logo to add some color, but that was it.

So although they aren’t that expensive, are business cards still relevant today? I have been in business for myself for a little under a year, and I have only ever handed out one card. But them I’m a writer so I don’t get out much anyway. Some businessman colleagues of mine still use them on a regular basis. They view it as the quickest and easiest way to swap contact information. They work much better than a scribbled number on a post-it note, or on random pieces of paper. They are also much easier to identify than random numbers in your phone.

There is evidence that business cards and moving with the times too. There is a new version called ‘Social Networking Cards’. These contain all of a person’s social media contacts on one card. So instead of your business email, phone number and fax, is contains your email, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or other social contact details. I think this use is ideal. Say you meet someone at a festival or in a bar. Rather than trying to find a pen and writing a number on your hand in lipstick, you can swap cards. You don’t then wake up and spend ages trying to figure out what the digits where when they have smudged during the night. Might be difficult to give someone a false number if you are trying to avoid seeing them again though.

So I do think business cards are still relevant today, and their cousins, the social networking cards will carry the mantle for a long time to come I think.