In the Victorian Era visiting and social calls were of the upmost importance. Victorian ladies spent a good part of their time visiting with their friends over a cup of tea. The calling card was used to let people know that they had been “called” on. It seems that with the introduction of the internet that we are seeing “calling cards” more frequently. Whether it be in guestbooks or your email~I really enjoy looking at the beautiful cards that people leave for me! Below you will find a few links to get you started on your search for the perfect Calling Card~Have fun!

• Women would often leave her husband’s calling card as well.  In this case
  she would leave one card for herself and two for her husband, one for the
  hostess and one for the hostesses husband.
• In large cities it was customary to make only one social call per year to an
  acquaintance.  Also, leaving a card while attending an afternoon tea was
  commonplace.
• One was obligated to leave a card after a wedding breakfast, luncheon,
  dinner party, or after any evening event.
• It was impolite to write on cards to accept or to decline an invitation, a
  formal letter is appropriate in this situation.
• If a call has gone unanswered for a period of time, it should not be taken
  personally.  After the call is returned the hostess must accept the caller
  politely and accept any excuses with courtesy and not mention it again.

There are tons of articles online on how to market your business cards, network with other professionals, and how to get your business cards for free.  Today we are going to focus on the exterior: the Business Card Holder.  It is important that the device you use to store yours and business friends cards in is both attractive and sturdy, a way that you can get alot of attention and buzz is to use your card in conjunction with an extremely creative business card holder.

Some examples:

Here is a handmade mushroom business card holder. It requires only wool felt, embroidery floss, and a piece of sew on Velcro. Click the pic for directions!

The Blomus Business Card holder is a high quality brushed stainless steel holder.  It holds 25 free business cards and will keep them stylish!

If anyone is a geek or nerd and know the history of Nintendo, then this will be a treat.  It is a business card holder based on the NES Japanese counterpart: the Famicom.  Search around to find one for sale!

Let your Business Friends know that you are an Alien of peace with a Spock Business card Holder!

Hopefully these creative holder will inspire you to improve how you present and store your business cards in hopes that you can impress potential clients! Do not underestimate the value of standing out in someone’s mind! Every little thing you can do become a “memory” is worth more than the cost of little things like these business cards holders! Good Luck!

Business cards have come along way from being a simple piece of paper that is used to share info.  They are advanced networking tools.  Along these advanced lines comes new technology that changes the way we interact using business cards.  Below are two examples of these technologies.

Scanners

There are several business card scanners on the market today, such as the IRISCard Pro and CardScan.  These are exceptionally useful because of their small size and portability. The great thing about these scanners is that they scan in more than just a picture of the card… They interpret the text itself, allowing it to be sorted and archived by the computer or management system you are using.  These are great to use when everyone passes out tons of free business cards.

This is extremely useful for the diehard networkers out there who don’t have time to sit around and hand enter cards or even sort them by pictures.  Many address book programs and other software suites can automatically inject the data into existing or new contacts!  They usually can tell the difference between the different types of information so it is easy for the contact to have it’s own name and contact info all presorted.  The great things about about this type of software are numerous, including the fact that it can sort out and save extraneous data that it finds on the card such as pictures and extra text that wouldn’t normally be put in the card.

Many of the scanners are small enough that they don’t have to be hooked in a wall outlet.  They are powered though the USB hub so as long as your computer is running, you can scan in your business cards!  This is great for road warriors, salesmen, or traveling business professionals.  There are also stationary models that are designed to work in more of an office setting.

Barcodes on Business Cards

A eastern company located in the country Japan know as DENSO Corporation has create at new type of barcode system call the Quick Response barcode.  This barcode differs from traditional barcodes because it has another scanning angle so it is two dimensional rather than one dimensional barcode we are used to seeing in businesses.  This type of barcode can contain much more information and can be decoded using common digital cameras, even ones located in side cellular phones.  This means that all your companies information and the info of the individual can be contained in an easy to read barcode that can be traded with other business professionals at events without ever moving physical cards.  This really represent a future for business cards, because now you can super customize one card and share the info while keeping the expensive card!

There are many more advances in the market of free business cards, these are only a few methods.  We will cover more later so stay tuned!

Free business cards are huge deal in the country of Japan. The tradition name for a Japanese business card is “meishi”. This name is from a history based in calling cards when phones came to japan.  To understand what it means we must break down the word.

Mei:

This word is the first Kanji character in the word and it is the word for name.

Shi:

The second Kanji. It is often misunderstood and believed to mean paper, however this isn’t true. The shi syllable in this form means flower thorn, and it also means to poke. It’s use in the Japanese “business card” comes from the history of persons of upper class asians cities, mostly in China, left a calling card in what we would know to be the letterbox of another businessman.  They would poke out the letterbox with their card.

It is very important to understand the Japaneses culture and the methods they hand out cards. The Japanese have a strict and formal method of presenting business cards. The person presenting the card holds it with both hands at the top corners and facing the recipient so that it can be easily read. It is customary that the presenter then tell who he or she is. Then the getter of the card should again use both hands to accept it, ensuring that all the writing is still visible on the card. Leather cases are carried around by many Japanese to hold their business cards – it is considered bad manners to place someone’s business card upon receipt into a back pocket. In general, the business cards of those introduced to somebody will be put at the back of that person’s business card case. Folding over or writing on business cards are also considered insulting.

Other Conventions of the Japanese and their Business Cards

If individuals are exchanging business cards in Japan, it is considered ill-mannered for the junior person in the introduction to extend his or her business card so that it is above the senior person’s card. During table meetings, business cards shouldn’t be filed away in the business card case, but rather placed atop the case on the table until the meeting is complete. The person of highest rank who has presented a business card at such a meeting should have his or her card placed on top of the case, and those of lower rank kept on the table beside the case.

Less Traditional Methods of presenting Business Cards in Japan

Most of the Japanese youth often don’t adhere to the strict conventions of business card exchange in Japan. Frequently, for example, they will pass a card to a new acquaintance with just one hand. It is normal for the recipient may also take it in one hand. However, it is still somewhat impolite for the recipient not to give the business card the attention that the presenter might expect. The recipient will “formalize” the receipt of the card by taking it in both corners, with both hands, and perusing it closely before filing it away.

There are many other traditions concerning Japanese meishi. It is remarkable to consider that in a culture that prides itself in being so advanced technologically, there is still a prominent place for free business cards in social exchanges.

So many ask why we Give out free business cards and wonder if their is a evil motive behind the process, well our answer comes down to this. Customer Acquisition Costs. By giving out free business cards we attract potential future customers. Is there a change that you will never shop with us again? Sure, but it’s worth the loss that we take when we give you free cards because we believe you will be so impressed with the quality that you will come back and purchase more or get any of our other products we offer! So it’s simple, it is cheaper for us to give you our product for free and hope you come back and shop with us than it is to go out and waste large sums of money on advertising. It all comes down to customer acquisition costs and customer lifetime value. You value far outweighs the loss that we take! Plus if you like them you help spread the word, and as most business men know word-of-mouth is the best marketing you can get.

How does this work out for you? So far the response has been great! Customers love the product so much that when they are out of business cards (takes a while before that happen!) they usually come back and purchase more (and they are still cheap!). So what do you have to lose by trying us out? If you don’t like the product you never see a bill and you never have to come back to us again! Now go get some business card for free!

There are so many people and businesses out there trying to get your attention, it is important that we take note of the different methods that they use to do so.  By noticing and acting on our knowledge we can apply what we’ve learned and put it on our free business cards.  For example, search the internet for almost any commercial term and take in how theses people are trying to reach you.  They use text, pictures, and emotions. We can put that in our business card design.

The first thing we should do is make our cards stand out by not just going with plain white or black!  Either apply a colorful background or modify the text so that it stands out on your pure white background.  Think of red letters on a bleach white card, would be pretty nice huh?!  The thing is you need to do something that people don’t expect to be noticed.

The second thing you can apply to your free business cards is to use a picture on the card.  This will add a sense of personality and homeyness that will leave the person remembering YOU not just the encounter or the business.  Why do you think real estate people do this? Because it works!  Business is always personal so play into that by personalizing your networking tools.

The third and final things your can do is to pay attention to your text.  There are so many combination you can use to make your cards stand out.  Change the font, or the lettering size, or even use other formatting options like a header in bold and a subtext in italics!  This will make certain parts of the card feel more important and will draw longer attention to your card. It can also bring attention to special deals or fact that you want mentioned, you should try it!

These methods will help get your own ideas boiling!  Put these tips to work and try it even on your own free business cards!  By using these tips you are sure to bring attention and new clients to your business. So get out there and market yourself, it’s never to late to be a pro!