The debate between paper business cards and digital business cards continues, even if technology is basically an extension of humans at this point. That’s because some people still hold on to the belief that nothing can replace the warmth and sincerity that come with paper.
While both types of cards carry out the same function of growing your network and creating business opportunities for you, digital business cards have a significant advantage—especially now that health and safety are on everyone’s mind due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s take a deeper look at the problems with paper business cards and why digital business cards are a better choice.
Why Paper Business Cards Are Out Of Style
They Can Be Costly To Design and Print
While you can customize a visually appealing card that showcases your company’s brand, you’ll need a slightly sizable amount of money to hire a professional graphic designer to create a memorable business card. You can go for something simple and minimalistic, but that won’t ensure that your recipients remember you.
If you want to redesign what’s already existing, you’ll have to pay a designer again. And once you’ve settled on a design, you’ll need to invest more money in printing it.
The moment you run out of your paper business cards, you’ll have to print another set, and so forth.
They Are Hard To Update
Just imagine this: you’ve got a ton of business cards printed, but for some reason, you’ve moved offices and you had to change your company’s phone number. Now you’re left with obsolete business cards that you won’t be able to use anymore.
You’ll have to visit your printers to have all of your contact information updated. And what would that cost you? Even more money.
They Are A Hassle To Carry Around
You can only fit so many paper business cards in your pocket or wallet. You can place them in your bag or briefcase, but it wouldn’t look professional if you took too much time fishing them out.
Carrying paper business cards can be a bit of an inconvenience. Not to mention the business cards you receive from others. You’ll probably end up feeling overwhelmed by the number of cards inside your bag or wallet. Plus, they will most likely end up forgotten in some corner of your bag.
They Contain Limited Information
Because of its small size, it’s impossible to include everything about yourself or your company on paper business cards. If you decide to include more than your name, logo, and contact information, your card will look cluttered and unprofessional.
With paper business cards, you have to be extra careful about what you include and what you leave off.
They Will Be Discarded After A While
Once your recipients save your contact information from your paper business card, they’ll probably throw it out without even thinking about it. In fact, 88% of business cards will find their way into a trash can in less than a week.
Digital Business Cards Are Here To Stay
They Are Easier to Create and Edit
Because digital business cards exist virtually, they can be accessed by anyone with a smartphone. If you don’t have your digital card yet, you can effortlessly create one in a few minutes. The biggest plus? You’ll never have to print copies and stuff too many stacks in your pocket ever again!
Updating your information wouldn’t be a problem because you can do so in seconds.
They Will Never Be Misplaced Or Forgotten
You might forget to bring your pack of physical business cards, but you won’t ever forget to bring your phone. The paper variety of business cards is easy to lose or misplace. When this unfortunate event happens, you’ll likely need to purchase another stack and wait for it to arrive.
On the other hand, as long as you have your phone, tablet, or laptop with you, you’ll always have access to your digital business card.
They Don’t Need Physical Contact To Be Shared
Minimal contact is the norm nowadays. With digital business cards, you don’t have to hand over anything to your recipient.
Simply show them a QR code or send a link to your digital business card to them via a messaging app, email, or SMS and they’ll have access to it anytime they wish to contact you.
They Are Cost-Effective
Business cards are a simple and effective marketing idea, However, the physical variety can be costly for small businesses with a limited budget especially during printing. With digital business cards, you’ll only have to spend money on the initial design.
They Can Contain More Comprehensive Information
You don’t have to worry about space with a digital business card. Add everything from videos and sign-up forms to honors and awards your business has received over the years.
With what’s on your digital business card, you will have a better chance of engaging your recipients due to the variety of information and media you’ve included.
They Make Contact Management Simple
If part of your job is to attend many trade shows and business events, then you know just how taxing it can be to look through all of the business cards you’ve gathered and manually store them on your phone or laptop. With digital business cards, maintaining a database of contact information is easy.
Because the information is digitized, it’s easy to merge the information you’ve gathered with a mailing list. This makes starting a nurturing campaign or doing a quick follow-up much simpler.
They Can Be Integrated Into Your Workflow
There are some digital business card applications that can integrate with calendar systems such as Google Calendars and Microsoft Outlook. With these integrations, you can easily sync your calendar accounts and create alerts or schedule calls and meetings from the app.
They Are Better For Teams and Companies Of All Sizes
Just imagine the amount of money you will have to shell out just for every employee in your company to have physical business cards. As more businesses go remote due to the pandemic, digital business cards are getting a lot of traction.
You can easily set up your entire team with virtual cards and you’ll never have to re-order new ones when someone gets promoted or when someone new comes along. On top of that, you can view all of the contacts your team is making.
They Are Better For Data Security
You can never be too safe. Paper business cards left lying around may be taken advantage of. That’s a data breach waiting to happen. With digital business cards, you wouldn’t have to worry too much about this as your data is encrypted and secured.
They Are Better For The Environment
Less paper, less waste. Since most paper business cards are thrown out anyway, it would be better for the environment if we avoided them.
While paper business cards won’t go anywhere anytime soon, the digital variety currently has the upper hand due to the health and safety measures people uphold, as well as the flexibility they give to both you and your new connection.
Whatever medium you choose, however, what’s important is that you take advantage of the benefits that the cards give you, especially when you want to build a long-lasting connection through a remarkable first impression.