The type of business card you use, whether it’s print or digital, and its design tells a lot about your business and your personality. Whatever the style of your card is, it becomes your first impression. Therefore you want to use a business card whose style represents you and works well with all kinds of clients you work with. As a business card is more than just your contact information, you should look for both the options, integrating one into the other and then choosing what works better.
What are Digital Business Cards
Digital business card started with the Bump application on iPhone which allowed instant exchange of contact information between two people and looked trendy. Although this application is still around, the fact that it is only between phones is a hindrance while doing business.
However, a more recent entry in the web-based business cards is websites like Flavors.me, IdentityMe and About.me which allows users to create a profile using images and graphics and can be linked with social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and such. One good thing about these websites is that you can get access to clients which you normally cannot.
A digital card on these websites can be updated at any time and only required a registration to get you started. To make your digital card more effective, add a link of correspondence to your profile and a quick response code so that clients can add your contact information in their phones readily.
As for a designer, your digital profile should not include a template image but any of your own created images so that it says something about your work and acts as a sample. Make sure you don’t go overboard with these images and fonts as the main purpose of digital cards is to provide your basic information to your client and not a portfolio.
Advantages of Digital Cards
Probably the best thing about a digital business card is that everything here is connected, as in, you don’t have to give separate links for every aspect about yourself but can do the job with only one link that will take the client to different parts of your portfolio.
Another pro of a digital card is that it is cost-friendly. There are practically no expensive that you have to bear for designing a digital card. You can customize your cards any way you like and look from a number of websites to choose the one you like the most to carry your digital account.
Moreover, there is unlimited space available for you to showcase your work on a digital card without any worry to cram all the necessary information on a piece of card of 3.5 inches.
Drawbacks of a Digital Card
Clients who do not prefer working on the web a lot won’t find a digital card impressive, also, it makes an impact when you don’t have anything printed to hand over to the client. You need to evaluate the kind of business you are in before deciding to take up digital card as your option.
Traditional Paper Card with a Digital Touch
Lately for a lot of designers, a mix of digital and printed is working really well. Such kind of cards carry information almost as much as a brochure or flyer, however, you do not have to get into the hassle of brochure or flyer printing, rather you can spread the word about yourself and your business with these interesting little pieces of paper. Creating a paper card with a digital touch of a QR code attached to every print is one of the trendy things. A mixture of both is like double the impression on your client who can remember you by face as well as check your digital profile out anytime he wants.
If you are creating both the types, make sure that you use same kinds of styles, fonts and images for both so as to add uniformity to it. Having both types of business cards can help o expand your business a lot.
Pros and Cons
There are a lot of people out there who still like the feel of a printed business card as they are easy to keep and identify. You get the feel of traditional business when you are handing out a card to your client. On the other hand, getting the cards printed is expensive and reprinted if you have to change the information. Cards don’t have a lot of space to add all the necessary information.
Conclusion
Digital business card is the next big thing which helps you increase your client base, sometimes even parties that you are yet to meet. If you decide to take up the digital route, it will be inexpensive and be more expressive but may not always work with all of your clients who are not web-based. You have easy options to update your profile at any time without a lot of changes or its effects on your clients.
Therefore, the best option is to make use of both a print and digital business card so that you can get your name out to a wide range of clientele. The printed one will help your client remember you by face and reach you online to know more about you so for a lasting and extensive impression, digital and printed business cards go hand in hand.
