Successfully Manage Your Business Card Chaos

The world is becoming more and more digitized, but 10 million business cards are still printed each year. However, 88% of those are tossed away within a week. Does this mean that it’s time to go paperless? The answer is a resounding no.

Statistics reveal a company’s sales increase 2.5% for every 2,000 business cards handed out, even if a majority of them are thrown away. This is because business cards display the face of the company and are considered a mark of professionalism. People are expected to carry their physical business cards in all networking events to represent their company.

Business cards must be professional, appealing, unique, and memorable. A single glance should clearly reveal to someone what your business is all about.

1. Business Card Designing Strategy: Make sure you plan your card structure well. Card quality, brand colors, and logo all play a key role in how people perceive your card. And the most important part is the information it carries.

Your website and your contact email/phone number are your calls to action (CTA), so make sure they are in large font, clearly visible and on the front side of your card. Your name, as well as your company’s name and logo, should also be there, but don’t clutter things up. Make sure your design is simple, clean and balanced.

On the back side, you may add a map of your office location, or be innovative and add a few product images or anything that will add value, such as your company’s mission or tagline. For designing these cards, you can simply use a few good apps available in the market.

2. Business Card Designing Apps: Business Card Maker & Creator is a simple-to-use app that can help you create printable or digital business cards quickly. Some other good apps include Business Card Maker, Kai cards, and Desygner.

These DIY business card apps allow you to personalize your cards to your liking, upload logo, use your brand colors wisely, and choose contemporary fonts. And if any of this information were to ever change, you can edit the cards quickly and easily. Once you have your own customized business cards in place, get them printed and ready for your next business meet or event, where you will also be required to manage all the business cards you will collect from other attendees. Business card reader apps can be helpful here.

3. Business Card Reader Apps: ScanBizCards (iOS, Android) is a powerful and versatile business card reader app that can digitize business cards in no time. It allows you to save your business card contacts with a personal note, send intro emails to your contacts, capture leads easily from emails signatures using email signature capture and export contacts to your CRM. ScanBizCards is a comprehensive networking tool.

A good business card scanner app will ensure that all your significant contacts are kept safe and accessible. Most card reader apps allow you to scan multiple cards at once, and then automatically sync contact information on the card to your address book or contact manager. They will save you from the chaos of hoarding loads of business cards only to be lost or kept somewhere and forgotten.

Now that you are ready with your tools and your customized business card stack to tackle the business card mayhem head-on, it’s time to understand card exchange etiquettes.

4. Business Card Exchange Etiquettes: When networking, the first rule when introduced to a new person is to go for a firm handshake, strike up a conversation, ask open-ended questions and if the person appears interested in your product, politely present your card and ask for theirs.

Keep your cards handy. Digging through all your pockets looks unprofessional, and be sure to carry enough cards. You should also refrain from using your card scanner app for every card; use it for those you really intend to remain in touch with. Moreover, use the app when parting ways, not during the conversation.

Once the event is over, you should then follow-up with your prospects within 48 hours to take things further while the event memories are still fresh and alive. And if you are a ScanBizCards user, you can instantly connect with your new contacts via a quick intro email and a picture to keep in touch and take things forward.

The above tips can help you manage your business cards effortlessly and make events a breeze. With these tips, you can leverage the real strength of business cards as a marketing tool and maximize your business card ROI.