Why would I have a business CARD?

[Essex Barn Workshop]

... when I work in wood.

so here is my new business WOOD!
Made from 3mm ply, on my recently acquired K40 laser engraver/cutter. The windows in the barn are all cut out.
Far too time consuming to replace every card, but for trade shows etc I'll make a few to have on hand.

 

[paulrbarnard]

... when I work in wood.

View attachment 131078

so here is my new business WOOD!
Made from 3mm ply, on my recently acquired K40 laser engraver/cutter. The windows in the barn are all cut out.
Far too time consuming to replace every card, but for trade shows etc I'll make a few to have on hand.

You might want to add a QR code that provides your contact details and a link to website etc. A lot of people prefer to scan rather than have a card nowadays. Even the ‘older generation’ find it convenient to just point their smart phone at a QR code and have a contact added or to open a web site.

 

[Spectric]

Speaking for the older generation, a lot of us do not even own a so called smart phone, we like to be more sociable, have real freinds and we have the ability to read maps to get somewhere.

 

[blackteaonesugar]

You know card is made out of wood right?

 

[deema]

Neil, I think it’s brilliant, if I received that business card, it’s one I would keep as it’s such a novelty. Great idea, well done.

As a suggestion, when I ran customer facing businesses, the best retained give away we did was a good quality ice scraper / window squeegeewith our company name, QR code printed on it. People kept them and came back for a replacement after a few years!

 

[paulrbarnard]

You know card is made out of wood right?

You know you can print QR codes on wood right? It lets you make the point without needing a whole crate of wooden cards to hand out.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Speaking for the older generation, a lot of us do not even own a so called smart phone, we like to be more sociable, have real freinds and we have the ability to read maps to get somewhere.

As you can probably tell from my picture I’m no spring chicken. My Dad who is in his late 80’s has and uses a smart phone. It’s too easy to conflate self with everyone.

 

[Droogs]

As you can probably tell from my picture I’m no spring chicken. My Dad who is in his late 80’s has and uses a smart phone. It’s too easy to conflate self with everyone.

I know what you mean, i met a 14 year old the other day who actually wrote things down with a pencil and paper, who does he think he is Mark Twain?

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

You know you can print QR codes on wood right? It lets you make the point without needing a whole crate of wooden cards to hand out.
View attachment 131083

I have something similar that I put up on my table at markets etc.

 

[MichaelAD]

Do both...card has 2 sides.

 

[skeetstar]

I make all my gift tags for Christmas and birthdays with wood. Good use of scraps of otherwise unusable timber. I drill a hole, thread through some of that green garden bio degradable twine and tell folks that the tag is eco friendly. In theory, they are reusable if you went to the trouble of sanding them down to remove the text, but I've not gone that far.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Speaking for the older generation, a lot of us do not even own a so called smart phone, we like to be more sociable, have real freinds and we have the ability to read maps to get somewhere.

It seems you don't have the mandate to speak for the older generation as 2 out of 3 do have a smart phone.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/300402/smartphone-usage-in-the-uk-by-age/

 

[gregmcateer]

I love that wood card, Neil - very original.

One tiny piece of feedback - I had to look at it again to work out what was niggling me just a bit - and I THINK the shadows on the right hand windows need to be changed to the other side, as they seem slightly 'off' with how the light would be hitting them.

I hope that makes sense, and mean it as constructive input, not criticism.

Greg

 

[rafezetter]

Speaking for the older generation, a lot of us do not even own a so called smart phone, we like to be more sociable, have real friends and we have the ability to read maps to get somewhere.

Paper maps of the A-Z travel variety that show you how to "get somewhere" tend not to tell you where the nearest hospital / clinic is, foreign or domestic, or emergency dentist, or any number of hundreds of other important things you might need to find, near to wherever you happen to be at that point in time... or how to get from 5th and 89St in New York City, having just walked out of the Guggenheim (amazing place btw) to go to The Chelsea Market also in New York City; good luck doing that without a smart phone, laptop or any other device that connects to the internet via satellite... Or I'm in Palma Mallorca and I want to find an "art shop". No walking around, getting utterly lost in the maze of "old town" in Palma streets, or trying to answers from local with your zero spanish and thier often smatterign of broken english, alerting everyone nearby that you are a tourist and ripe for a mugging (and yes they do happen as I stopped one in progress myself once in Palma in broad daylight.) Ask a bunch of locals in some countries for help and directions and you'll be likely to wake up in the boot of a car with your family being held to ransom for your return, so I'd be less smug about not having a smartphone.

Smart phones are also not a barrier to having "real" friends (as opposed to imaginary ones) or being sociable - it's only the majority of Generation Z who grew up with them that seem to be unable to process that things exist "outside" thier phones.

Spectric, I'll bet you have easy access to one even if YOU don't happen to carry it, and I'll bet you've benefitted in many ways from that person in your vicinity having used it to get information not easily available any other way, and honestly if you try to claim you never have in the last 10 years, I simply won't beleive you and I doubt many would.

(edit - reading more replies it seems you've already been outvoted Spectric with your proclamation - shame, if you think my tone is a little "on the nose" whelp, being smug and bombastic (great word) will do that.

 

[Spectric]

Anyone would think that there was no life before the smart phone, but there was and they were good times, lots of red phone boxes and exercise. When I need to find somewhere it is no hardship to just stop and ask a local, yes in some areas the local dialect can be interesting but always manage and to many people are becoming slaves to technology,

 

[ey_tony]

My thoughts and practical experience of using business cards.
If one is in business then every avenue with regard to getting one's name out there should be explored. Business cards are just one of the avenues and while gone are the days when a person visiting a wealthy household would give a card to the servant answering the door for the 'master' to read, carefully placed business cards in the correct locations can and still do drum up extra trade or customers that might have otherwise been missed.

The internet has certainly changed how we sell our business services these days but it doesn't cover all aspects and that's where such as business cards and even newspaper advertising comes in.
I'm certainly no spring chicken myself and while I'm not exactly a technophile, I do build my own computers and have understood the salient features of computer programming languages since the 1980s and these days for convenience, I also carry out many functions on my smart phone that I do on computer.

I am lucky in that I have no problems in coping with today's technology but not everyone of my age has the same ability or confidence to deal with it.
There are many people out there who still don't know how to switch on a computer or use any of the features that the smart phone they own can do other than make calls or maybe send basic texts. They are often the people who are more likely to respond to such as a business card.

However although I'd describe myself as reasonably tech savvy, I still pick up advertising cards of interest to me from businesses from time to time for possible future use, so they do work and to neglect that side of advertising is possibly missing out on customers.
This is especially true if the business or service is aimed at older customers who still rely upon good old fashioned advertising or word of mouth so a carefully placed business card can reap benefits.

Another benefit of a well designed and informative business card is that it gives the impression of an air of respectability and some provenance to the business. Note I say impression but arguably, first impressions do count and anything that helps attract customers, especially in a competitive market place has got to be worth pursuing.

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

I love that wood card, Neil - very original.

One tiny piece of feedback - I had to look at it again to work out what was niggling me just a bit - and I THINK the shadows on the right hand windows need to be changed to the other side, as they seem slightly 'off' with how the light would be hitting them.

I hope that makes sense, and mean it as constructive input, not criticism.

Greg

Hi Greg,
Input taken in the right way I assure you. If you look at my logo, that is how the window panes are. The limit point for the perspective is slanted.
I'm so glad many of you like them, it was just for a bit of practice and fun with the new machine. I cost these at around £1 each allowing for the electricity, wood, design time and cutting time, so not really a viable alternative to my actual cards! I've made about 15 which I will keep for tool shows, meet-ups and wood yards.