Despite being one of the oldest methods for promoting products and services, using business cards remains one of the most popular techniques for sharing contact information and enhancing brand identity. However, printed business cards are decreasing in popularity, especially with the rise of digitalization. And to keep up with the competition and be more cost-effective in their advertising efforts, most businesses are now shifting to digital business cards.
You'd want to shift to a digital or electronic business card for various reasons. They include the following:
As noted earlier, the primary reason for investing in business cards is to share contact information. However, this process can be tedious if you use printed ones. For instance, you may need to follow someone to their offices to hand it to them personally. It could also be inconvenient since there could be cases wherein you’re meeting potential clients but can’t give them your contact information, as you didn’t bring your business cards with you. In that case, you may fumble around for a pen and paper to write your information. Furthermore, there’s also the risk that recipients of your cards may misplace them.
On the other hand, digital cards enable you to share your contact information from anywhere, anytime. That enhances your convenience. Besides, the chances of misplacing digital business cards are very low. This way, you can be sure that customers will always have your contact information. This is especially true since they can access them using any digital gadgets, including but not limited to smartphones, laptops, and desk computers.
The long-term success of your enterprise majorly depends on how you save costs. After all, excessive expenses can hurt your company's profitability. And when you make low profits, your business may not run as efficiently. That said, finding effective ways to reduce costs in your operations is essential. And one of them is shifting to digital business cards.
Establishing a digital business card strategy can help you to reduce costs in various ways. For instance, it eliminates the need to purchase items like printers and ink or to cover expenses when outsourcing the printing of your business cards. As you shift to digital business cards, you may only need to invest in software to create and share your cards with prospects online. This goes a long way in minimizing expenses associated with physical business cards.
Additionally, there could be cases wherein you may need to hire additional employees to distribute your printed business cards, especially if you want to reach more customers. This attracts extra costs in your business in the form of labor.
On the other hand, you don't need to hire additional workers specifically to distribute your business cards when you go digital. You can do it yourself from your computer, which can also help reduce business costs.
As your business grows, there may be changes in your business information. For instance, there could be a change in your business address should you decide to move offices. Or suppose you’re onboarding a new manager or sales representative. You may also want to include their contact number in your business cards. Additionally, you should update your business cards if you lose your phone and get a new number.
Regardless of the case, updating printed business cards is almost practically impossible. For that reason, you might be forced to print new cards to reflect the updated information. Aside from the additional costs of having them reprinted, this could also lead to the wastage of previously printed cards. Fortunately, you can avoid all these hassles by going digital and leveraging the power of electronic business cards.
Digital business cards allow you to instantly update your contact information since you won't have to reprint them. This means less printing expense on your part while still having an updated set of digital business cards to distribute. And after making the necessary changes, you can easily update your client list and prospects by sending them a revised copy of your digital business cards.
Printed cards can pollute the environment in various ways. Aside from paper wastage since you’ll be updating and reprinting them from time to time, physical business cards can also lead to the excessive cutting down of trees.
There are also carbon emissions during the manufacturing process of such papers and toxic dyes involved when printing your cards. Moreover, methane gas is released as paper decomposes in landfills.
On the other hand, going paperless and switching to digital business cards allows you to be more eco-friendly. Essentially, since there’s no need to print physical cards, you eliminate the need for paper and printing.
Although digital business cards can be more cost-effective and convenient, only a few business owners use them. Some still prefer the traditional approach and print business cards to share contact information with their clients.
Therefore, you can easily stand out from the competition since you’re offering your target market a more creative and convenient way for them to know more about your business. Instead of them having to keep physical cards, they can easily view your contact information using their devices.
Moreover, unlike physical business cards, you aren’t limited to the paper’s boundaries with digital business cards. You can be as creative as you want. For instance, you can make it interactive and engaging by adding media or links to infographics, videos, and the company website. This can be a fantastic approach to engage your clients and a way they can set you apart from your competitors.
As you've seen above, there are several reasons why shifting to digital business cards can be to your and your business’s advantage. They’re easy to update and offer a convenient way to share contact information with prospects. They can also be a more cost-effective and sustainable approach to marketing your business and services while giving you a competitive edge against other companies in your business niche.
