Business cards
When I first arrived at my university chemistry department, the administrative assistant ordered 500 business cards for me, to serve as a tangible way for me to exchange contact information and to act as a marketing tool to generate business. Well, I don’t know 500 people and it is unlikely that in ten years I will have very many contacts of a business nature. Also, it is useless to hand them out to faculty and staff as they already know who I am. There was a mistake on the first set of cards, so a corrected set was ordered. But, this time they sent one thousand cards. I thought of making some sort of collage; but, where to put it?
Usually get-in-touch info, like your address, is there along with your title(s), office phone and fax numbers and e-mail address. Nothing more about you. So, really these cards tell where we are, not really who we are. They identify us a bit but do not define us entirely. I want the other person to know who I am, rather than create an image of my position and title. And, I too, want to get to know the person behind his/her business card. Then, if we are to have any association whatsoever together, there will be familiarity and trust in place. It will be personal, not impersonal.
How can we place more information on the 9 cm x 5 cm area? Well, the vast majority of generic cards have nothing on the reverse side. That is where we could put a photo with a favorite quotation or slogan. We could even put a QR code (Quick-Response code) that holds within it our resume or another language that adds a personal brand or personal touch that can make you memorable to customers, clients and peers, et alia.
When the infamous coronavirus arrived in Korea in March 2020 and thrived for about 36 months, it precluded the exchange of business cards. One of the world's largest printers of traditional paper-based business cards is the signature service Vistaprint (an arm of Cimpress) which provides templates and custom printing options. It has more than seventeen million customers and business cards account for about a fourth of its sales. That's a lot, but sales dropped 70% during the pandemic as face-to-face meetings were essentially canceled.
Orders are now picking up once again, notably, with a bit of scanning technology added — a QR code that links to one's contact details in digital form. Also, the code can provide social media addresses as well as web pages. Of course, companies must pay Denso Wave of the Toyota Group a subscription fee for use of the code, which they invented and developed in 1994 which in turn will increase the cost of our batch of cards.
Despite the other digital contact apps available, business cards will not disappear because their exchange carries cultural significance. It can be a conversation starter and in countries like South Korea, Japan and China the exchange of business cards is a bit of a ceremonial ritual. Etiquette deems that it is polite to study the received card for a while before putting it away. Too, there is the additional side hobby of collecting the cards and exchanging or trading them through organizations like the American Business Card Club and International Business Card Collectors.
The author (wrjones@vsu.edu) published the novella "Beyond Harvard" and presently teaches English as a second language.