

Ask HN: What do you think about business cards? - mattadams

A few days ago I found myself sitting at a table with a school board superintendent. After overhearing her describe a project that she wanted to begin, I introduced myself and gave my best elevator pitch for a related product that my company has been working on.  I'm leaving out the details of the exchange because they're not pertinent to this question.<p>Either the pitch was good or she was just being polite but whatever the reason she immediately asked for my business card.<p>I live in a (very) remote community and have few face-to-face interactions with potential customers so business cards haven't been a priority for me. Although I ended up emailing her the next day, a card would have come in handy at that moment and I was left wondering if perhaps having a few cards at my disposal might be a good idea.<p>How do others feel about the use of business cards in the modern context?  I can see them as a very useful tool in certain markets but I'm wondering if other small companies or contractors continue to carry them for those 'just in case' circumstances.
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CyberFonic
Yes, it's one aspect of your marketing ...

Look at the problem and solution. You meet with somebody. You both want to
maintain contact. You need to exchange some information to realize that goal.
You could get each others cell phone number, scribble a URL on a piece of
paper, etc. Each one of those is awkward to some degree and scraps of paper do
get lost quickly or become indistinguisable from all the other scraps of
paper.

Enter the business card, you could make it like a mini-brochure - not only
have your contact details on it, but also the key points of what you do, etc.
Easy to hand over and should remain more distinctive than some scrap of paper
or a hasty entry in the cell phones address book.

From experience I find that having a blank and uncoated rear allows me to
scribble further pertinent information for the person I'm giving it to.

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dholowiski
Business cards are so cheap now. As someone else mentioned, Vistaprint and
check the 'free' section (not free but cheap). I have many different versions
of my business cards. One is a generic 'me' card with just my name, contact
information and the URL to a generic landing page on one of my sites. Then I
also have a card for each of my projects (about 2 right now).

Cards are like a resume... old tech. We in the high tech industry know they're
dead and know there are tons of way better alternatives, but they're still a
basic requirement for doing business.

Go get 250 cards from vistaprint, it'll cost you less than $30 probably.
Generic cards with a blank back are always nice because you can write a URL on
the back for someone.

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arkitaip
They are useful when you meet business people, developers just google you or
ask for your twitter/github/linkedIn/whatever.

Based on my own experience, it's better to have a few high quality business
cards than tons of low quality ones, especially if you only hand out 1-2 every
week. I got mine dirt cheap but they looked awful and were embarrassing to
hand out. Select quality paper and an elegant template design and you're set
(resist the temptation of designing the business card by yourself at this
stage, this process can literally take weeks/months with all the design
options available).

~~~
mattadams
Ya, this is my thinking also (i.e., not designing it myself). I know a few
very capable designers and will likely enlist the services of one of them.

I can tweak an existing design (barely) but my visual originality begins and
ends with stick figures.

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dgunn
My co-founder and I ordered business cards just a few days ago from vista
print. I think we paid about $50 for 250 cards. We opted to make our own card
so that we could have our branding on the cards as well as our info. I think
springing for cards makes sense if you're in the early stages and everyone you
meet has the possibility of being useful to you in some way. If you're already
established and doing well, you probably don't have to worry much about it.

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tjr
I had some made a few years ago. Got like 500 cards for $10 or thereabouts. I
think I've handed out around three of them. But no matter, it's very
conceivably a useful thing to have, and it costs so little that it's hard for
me to justify not having cards.

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md1515
Depends on what you are doing. If you are doing sales with brick and mortar
establishments then I believe the answer is "yes".

They are pretty cheap. Hell, you can even make your own..

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slaughterhaus
Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my
God, it even has a watermark!

~~~
mattadams
Haha. Classic. Thanks for that flash back.

