Business Cards Land

I don’t know how to sugar-coat the answer to this myth, so I’ll say it straight out.  Are you CRAZY?

Let me be clear.  The “free” business cards I’m referring to here are the smaller, thinner, ad-for-a-huge-printing-company-on-the-back business cards.  These cards SCREAM “freebie” to anyone who gives them more than a casual look.

These business cards that are obviously free and flimsy can really hurt your reputation if you’re not careful.  (And believe me; it’s hard to be objective about your own cards.  You may think “My friends like my cards just fine.”  But to be blunt, their opinion doesn’t matter.  What matters is the opinion of customers and prospects.  And they WILL notice if your card is of lesser quality than your competitors’ cards.)

The reason is that your business card is a direct and very personal reflection of your business.  It may be the first impression someone gets of who you are, what you do, and how you do it, and it’s often the impression you leave with them too.

Do you REALLY want prospective clients to think that you’re so cheap, or so unsure of your business, that you’re unwilling to invest $39.95 or so to promote it properly and professionally?  Why would they make the investment to buy your product or utilize your service when you come across as a fly-by-night operator who may not even be in business next week?

“Freebie” business cards are okay for casual, personal use, but not for business.

Still not convinced?  Request some business card samples from a quality printer, and compare them with your free business cards.  Then ask yourself “Which cards are most likely to impress my prospects?”

This myth will be obvious to you, then.

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I am an Internet Marketer (sounds like something you’d announce at a 12-Step meeting, doesn’t it?)

At least by MY definition, that means most of my business efforts are confined to the Internet.  I work at my computer most of the day.  I work from home.

Many of my clients, prospects and website visitors don’t live in the same state, much less the same country.

My friends and neighbors, by and large, have no idea what I do because they don’t see me do it and because Internet Marketing is such a nebulous concept to most of them anyway.

If that describes you too, do you still need business cards?  I mean, for something besides dropping into fish bowls to win a free meal at your favorite restaurant, or that 46″ garden tractor at the upcoming Home and Garden Show?

(Come to think of it – I DID win a Fisher-Price Play Kitchen once by dropping my business card into a bowl at a local McDonald’s restaurant.  It was a great Christmas present for the kids, and worth much more than I spent on my business cards.)

But anyway – YES, you DO need business cards!  Maybe not 5000 of them – but some.

The bottom line is that you never know when you’ll need an easy, portable, and LEGIBLE way to give your website address to someone else.  Scrawling the URL on a napkin isn’t cool, trust me.  You might just run across a local person who’s a great prospect for you, or a great referral source, or a potential JV partner.  You might run across such a person in an airplane or while on vacation or at your mother-in-law’s house.

You just never know when you’ll meet someone to whom you’d really like to give your website info, in a presentable, professional way.

And when that happens, you’ll be glad you made that small investment in business card printing.

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You’d think that, as ubiquitous (there’s your vocabulary word for the day) as business cards are, that most business owners and salespeople would have a pretty good idea by now about how to use them effectively.  About what design elements are smart, and which aren’t.  About which contact specifics are essential, and which can be left out.

(Of course, if that were true, this blog wouldn’t be needed, but I digress.)

So I’m amazed when I encounter people whose business card practices, perceptions and assumptions are contrary to everything I’ve learned since I started writing about business cards back in 1999.

I have no way of knowing if these perceptions and assumptions are conscious or unconscious, or how they were developed on an individual basis, but I’ve spoken with enough business cards users in recent years to have some idea of the underlying thinking behind them.

In my next few posts, I’ll discuss some of the most common business card assumptions – business card MYTHS, in my opinion – that I believe can have a huge negative impact on the effectiveness of business cards.

Let me tell you right now that you may not agree with me on all of them.  Some of the business card myths I’m going to present have been hotly debated on my website and in my ezine.  That’s fine – my goal is to help you get the most from your business card investment, not win a “Miss Congeniality” contest.

First up:  Business Card Myth #1:  “Internet Marketers Don’t Need Business Cards.”

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