Here at Think Bigger, our pages are laced with stories of character and charm. And charm more we shall – this time under the influence of Paul Lewis, Director of Marketing at moo.com.
MOO is an online service that maintains print still has power in an increasingly digital world. However, as a pioneer of digital content we’re certainly not going to suggest that these pages aren’t the best way to engage with audiences, are we?
When connecting with a business world, there’s certainly something mutually endearing about two people, sat behind a coffee table, handing over business cards. Business cards are keepers and so often are their owners.
Let’s discuss…
Firstly, thanks for taking some time to talk with us, Paul. MOO looks to be moving along quite nicely…
I’d say so, yeah. There are a few reasons why we’re beginning to stand out.
Right. Well it might be best if we begin at the start. How did the business come to be?
We’ve seen the headlines proclaiming the death of print in the digital age. But actually, as we’ve all become “virtualised”, handy little tools such as business cards have gained more importance. They are real things for a real world and are more relevant than ever before. That’s where the idea came from.
An individual’s success in business can depend on the strength of their personal promotion. Sometimes the business card may seem like an old fashioned marketing tool, especially when there’s the potential to connect quickly and easily with millions on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
However, it’s incredibly hard to stand out among LinkedIn’s SME millions. To others, you’re just another URL or email address.
I suppose this comes down to approaching people as people, rather than online entities…
Absolutely. By meeting people and speaking to them you get to say a lot more about yourself, and a great business card can speak volumes about its owner. It does something that data can’t it’s a tangible way of saying “this is me”.
We’re all about SMEs here. How do you know people in these organisations respond to business cards?
Don’t just take my word for it. We spoke with some of the UK’s entrepreneurs and they agree that good old-fashioned marketing methods work best.
The results of our research shows that around 21% of the UK’s SMEs claim their business cards are their most important marketing tool and can help their ventures grow.
For smaller companies, every new business relationship matters. Interestingly, 42% of our survey believes that if they were to hand out 100 business cards, it would generate £5,000 a year or more in revenue.
Cool. So what does the future hold? Are we going to have business cards that project holograms of our prospects on to the desk in front of us?
Initially, it’s about design. We will see people getting more creative with how they present their personal information. Everyone always talks about differentiators; why not make your business card that difference?
Also, the lines will begin to blur between online and physical presence. That means the business cards will start to include information that is held on your personal web pages. You could use your Flickr photos or your Facebook timeline, for example, to turn your dynamic online presence into an offline “social” business card.
Going back to your question – holograms may be stretch. But we will definitely see NFC (Near Field Communication) business cards embedded with tiny microchips that a smartphone can read to direct you to a web page or pull information from the web. Whether it’s your portfolio or simply more up-do-date contact details. In fact, MOO announced plans to launch its own this year, so expect to see an NFC business card on a table near you soon!
Your business card will play both a physical and digital role.
We knew it. Business cards that are connected to us whichever way we want. We’ll be sure to keep our cards up-to-date and we await the next wave of business card innovations.