Five Ideas for Designing a Business Card That Won’t Get Thrown Away

When you go to networking events, you will end up handing out a lot of business cards, but it’s likely that many of the people who you give them to will either stuff the card in their pockets, or just throw them in their briefcase and forget about them. These ideas will help you to build a business card that you can

 

1 – Use a Standard Size

As cute as those ‘half size’ and ‘over size’ business cards are, you will find that they are more likely to get lost or discarded because they are harder to file. Standard sized business cards fit in a holder, so people can look after them more easily.

 

2 – Make Them Easy to Write On

While it pays to make them thick and durable, you should choose a matte finish, so that people can write on your business card. This lets them make notes about why they talked to you and what they need to follow up with you about, so you won’t be forgotten.

 

3 – Match Your Business Personality

Make your business card match your business personality – serious if you work for an accounting firm, fun if you work for a PR Company, for example. The more memorable your business card is, the better.

 

4 – Add Value

If you have the ability to do so, make your business card act like a ‘voucher’ at the same time. Offer a discount with it, or a code for a free sample. This works particularly well for online retailers, and for people who work in the IT industry, since they can simply put discount codes or product keys on their cards.

 

5 – NFC and QR Codes

Alternatively, instead of discouraging people from throwing the card away, try using NFC or QR code technology, so that people can immediately transfer the information from the card to their phones. This means that you can be confident that people have your details – which is all the card was supposed to help with anyway.

 

A business card is a tool to help make you as memorable as possible, and encourage people to follow up on that initial meeting. You still need to work to make a good first impression, and you should do your own follow ups too, if you want to make the most out of networking.