Are Businesscards Relevant in the Digital Age?

If you’ve ever been in a business meeting, you’ve probably seen what unfolds when the meeting ends – everybody starts exchanging businesscards.

But in the electronic age – where e-mail signatures and LinkedIn are the norm – do business cards find themselves in the marketing graveyard? Have they really become obsolete or are they still relevant?

This debate has been going on for a few years already but guess what – Business Cards are still around and they will be for a long time. Here are 3 reasons why I think business cards are far from being obsolete:

1. Business Has Always Been Done That Way

A conversation that doesn’t end in an exchange of business cards isn’t a real business conversation. LinkedIn may be the new way to exchange business information but honestly, business is always better if done in person and technology still has to go a long way to break that habit.

2. Technology Isn’t Perfect

Let’s face it, technology isn’t invincible. Sometimes things don’t work as expected and it can get awkward if you’re standing around after a meeting trying to get your Bluetooth working. It’s a lot easier to take out a stack of business cards from your pocket and hand them out. By the time you’ve fumbled around with getting your phone to work you could have already exchanged info and started talking about the deal you are trying to close

Also, we all know what happens when our phone gets stolen and we don’t have a backup of our contacts. That’s when the rolodex of business cards comes to the rescue. All the information you need is right there in front of you.

3. Technology Can’t Beat Human Interaction

Yep, you have all kinds of apps to store business information but their abstractness can’t beat the visceral nature of a business card.

You can touch it, feel it, write on it, place it nicely in your rolodex (put your coffee on it) and refer to it when you need it. There’s the element of personality to it.

It’s tough to forget someone you had a conversation and shared a business card with. On the app, they’re just a contact, a number while the business card makes it a connection.

Call me old school, but handing out business cards to potential clients still ranks high in my list of business etiquette.

I don’t see them dying any time soon.