“Can I have your business card, please?” 

Has anybody asked you this question? Sure you would have experienced this!

Here’s the actual scenario…

• The person takes your business card.
• Then they note down your number and email address in their smartphone.
• … and guess what? Your business cards are not required anymore.

I’m sure you know what it feels like having a stack of business cards lying on your desk and you don’t know what to do with them.

You see, the real purpose of having a business card is to establish the connection.

You may or may not agree with what I’m going to share with you in this post, but this is my personal view.

In my opinion, a Business Card is something of the PAST, and I feel it’s pointless in today’s digital world because they really can’t keep up with our conversations, our modes of contact, and our constantly changing job titles and projects.

In fact you can make the world a better place by stopping to print business cards and saving paper. 🙂

Here’s 5 Ideas To Replace Your Business Card With More Meaningful Contact Methods

1. Keep Your Smart Phone Handy

It’s easier to get a contact stored in a few seconds on your smartphone than actually receiving a business card. Think about it.. just take your phone out, dial their number in and save it. In fact, you can also just take a snap of their face with your camera and set it as a contact image. This is so much more cooler than wasting paper.

If you prefer a software solution rather than a business card, Bump might be the app for you. Available for iPhone and Android, this app takes the work out of networking by transmitting information from your phone to your computer.

2. Facebook/LinkedIn Connect

Today we are living in a world where everybody is connected to the internet via smart phones. The next time you meet someone new, just connect with them on LinkedIn/Facebook as a friend. This is more powerful and effective to maintain a long term relationship.

If you’re not quite ready to go completely cardless, try LinkedIn’s CardMunch app. It turns physical business cards into virtual contacts. By snapping a picture of a business card you’ve collected, the picture is immediately converted to a contact. The magic part of this app: It also links contact information directly to your new connection’s LinkedIn profile.

3. Setup About.me (it’s free)

You can use this free website builder called www.about.me to setup your personal information and links in a matter of minutes. Instead of a website, this can be the fastest way for people to know about you and your coordinates.

Checkout my profile just to have an idea – about.me/sidz

4. Connect on Whatsapp

Whatsapp is a part of life. It’s overtaken email by a long way and even the baby boomers are blazing on whatsapp compared even to Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. Once you add their number, send them a quick message whatsapp and share your digital contact details to them via whatsapp. That’s all you need to do.

5. Don’t Be Ashamed

A lot of times I’ve left my business cards either at home or office, and I forget to take them. I used to feel embarrassed at times on why I was not able to carry my business cards when I most need them. Today, I care hoots! If somebody really wants my information, they will take it from me. I just connect with them using my smart phone, and everything goes into the cloud.

So I’m not ashamed anymore. I’m cool and I keep my pants and wallet lite! 🙂

Does Marketing Guru Gary Vaynerchuk Have A Business Card?

Closing Notes

At the end of the day, having a business card is a personal choice.

You can either blow all your money in designing and printing cards, and let them gather dust in the closet of you contacts… or you can just scrap the idea and just collect data on the fly by being smart, on a smartphone.

In either case, it’s a personal preference on how you like to do this.

Business cards may not be completely disappearing, but they’re definitely on the way out. What’s your take on this?