It wasn’t that long ago that having a business card was considered a necessity if you were to have any chance of making it in the world of business. In fact, for many people, having that nice stack of professionally printed business cards meant that you had ‘made it’. Or at least looked the part anyway. However, times have definitely changed! Many modern businesses operate solely online and the need for a business card is becoming less important as time goes on.
Don’t get me wrong. I was involved in the printing industry for 20 years before moving in to website development and deep down I will always have a love for printed work – especially something that has been well designed and uses quality stock and finishing options.
There is something soothing about watching an Original Heidelberg Platen press in operation…
But I digress…
A website could be described as an ‘digital business card’ (or advertising brochure) with all of your business’ contact details, product and services information, any promotions you may have running, etc. Your business cards are still useful, but now the primary objective of the card should be to drive traffic to your website.
Here’s a few reasons why I believe a website provides more value to your business than a business card:
Most Business Cards get thrown in the bin anyway
Most average people will throw a business card away within a week. So the money you’ve just spent on those awesome business cards is wasted.
Just quietly, if you have a really nice business card, I’m most likely going to hang on to it because – like I said above – deep down I still have a love for quality printing. But I’m far from average!
That’s a lot of waste going into the bin each year. And a lot of money going to waste. If someone really wants to connect with you, they are more likely to look you up on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. It’s much easier to whip out the phone, load into your preferred network and search for someone than to dig through some drawers looking for a business card that you probably threw away when you did your last spring clean in your office.
Accessible at anytime from anywhere
Your website acts as a global portal to your business, available to your target audience 24/7/365. Unlike a business card, you don’t need to personally hand your website to a possible lead. They can find it quite easily using search engines (provided your site is optimised for search engines – but that’s an article for another day…).
Your website is not restricted by physical distance or boundaries like you would be with a business card that can only be given personally.
Instant Updates
Once you get a batch of business cards printed, that’s it. If you ever need to update your contact details for whatever reason (hands up anybody who has ever lost or dropped their phone!), you can’t automatically update the cards that you have given out to people in the past. And once they try and call you and get a wrong/disconnected number, you’ve lost that lead – maybe forever.
You can apply updates on your website whenever you need to. Got a new phone? BAM! Phone number updated across your website! Of course, you may be able to get the same number with your new phone but there are some cases where that’s not possible.
Got a growing business and have had to move to fancy new premises? Awesome! (seriously, way to go!) Again, updates can be applied across your website within a few minutes!
Decided to set up an Instagram account to show off your photos to the world about how fast your business is growing… Anyway, I’m sure you get the point.
Content updates on your website are quick, easy and cost effective. Getting a new batch of business cards printed? Not so much…
Physical size vs. Digital space
A typical business card is approximately 90x55mm. That’s not a whole lot of space for detailed information. Sure, you can have both sides printed, so you’ve doubled the space for information but you can still only fit so much on there.
A website grows with you. You are only limited by disk space and pages of information don’t take up that much digital space. The more accessible information you have available on your website, the more likely someone will be to purchase your products or services.
Customer feedback
There is nothing more important to a business than feedback and testimonials from existing clients. It shows other visitors to your website that you know what you are doing and can be trusted to provide a quality product or service.
While you can print a client testimonial on the back of a business card (I’ve seen it done!), you only have a small amount of space and would only fit one – maybe two – comments from past clients. On your website, you can put as many as you like and can even dedicate a whole page just for client testimonials.
And if a customer does happen to have negative feedback, make sure you reply to them as soon as possible to show that you care and want to improve the product or service they had an issue with. This sort of customer interaction can make them feel valued and respected while building trust and improving your customer relationships, which will improve the chances of them returning to you to purchase again in future.
Hopefully you can see from the above why I feel a website provides more value to your business than a business card. I certainly don’t think that business cards have gone the way of the dodo (my friends in the printing industry would string me up!) and a good quality business card is still an important first impression. I just don’t think they are as important or can have the same impact on your business as a website can.
At Nightowl Design Studio, we can design and build you a website to showcase your products and services and help you reach your business goals.
We can also hook you up with some awesome business cards too 😉
Cheers
