Giveaway: business cards

by Elizabeth on 14/06/2010

You know when you are attending a conference and someone gives you their business card?  For networking purposes you absolutely should have something to give back to them.

To make it easier for you to always have something in your handbag to hand out, I have another great giveaway for you this month.  All Business Cards, which (as the name suggests) do business card printing, have offered three readers each one set of 500 business cards.

They are printed on thick 16 pt card stock, and you can choose from single or double sided cards.  Another choice:  you can pick from a glossy UV finish which apparently “enhances color depth” and “extends card life”, or a matte finish (like my latest favourite nail varnish), or you can opt for uncoated cards.

There’s one small final thing to bear in mind, and that is that shipping costs are only included for winners within the US and Canada.  If you enter the draw and are successful, and you live outside the US and Canada, you’ll have to pay the actual UPS shipping charges (or you could choose not to win and let someone else have the prize).  There is more about shipping on the All Business Cards website, but it isn’t expensive.  And the cards themselves are still free!

Anyway, if you would like to enter, leave a comment to this post (remember to include your email address in the comment form – it doesn’t get published but it will let me get in touch if you win), or drop me a message with your name and email address.  There’s no silly phrase to write this time – I’ll save that for next month’s great book giveaway.

The closing date is 9 July 2010.  Good luck!

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  • http://www.mathlesh.com Mathlesh Kumar

    Articles on this site is very useful. I am RSS Subscriber of this site and read each article.

  • Baz Abouelenein

    I am interested in the cards giveaway and will be grateful if I was selected. Thanks!

    Baz

  • http://www.twitter.com/saslockey sas

    Hi Elizabeth,
    As a PM + social netowrking authro, I am really surprised to hear you mention business cards :)
    I can’t remember the last time I looked at someone else’s business card to get their info. 2001? Maybe.
    I’ve never, in over 10 professional years, actually finished a box of business cards.
    If you really want to get in touch with me, I’m very, very easy to find. (Most of us are.) Google me. Twitter me. Facebook me. LinkedIn me. Friend Feed me. Buzz me. Email me.
    Plus, I’d much rather spend that money on shoes or music.
    Ink, paper, toxins and trees – the world is a little better offer without another box of cards going into the landfill.

    Here’s why I don’t like business cards – they make you:
    Shine. Handing out cards can make us feel like we’re actually doing something productive. Sometimes we are. But sometimes, we’re just filling space and copping out of saying a clear “goodbye” or “I’d like to know more.”
    Get your own on-line presence if you don’t have one. You don’t need a “blog,” but in this day and age, every working professional should have a one page site/profile of their own, or one parked on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
    Depending on your business, when someone asks you for your business card, it may be better to smile your twinkliest smile and repeat your Twitter name, your super easy (or clever) Gmail address, and very kindly say, I’m so easy to find. And memorable I might add.

    Just some thoughts :)

    • http://www.elizabeth-harrin.com Elizabeth

      Sas, I think you make some good points about business cards, but I still think they are useful for face-to-face networking. I am a very online person (!) but I still have an old-fashioned paper contacts book, and I put business cards in there. I have been caught out too many times when I couldn’t get an internet connection or I needed something faster than my PC would boot up. Not that I carry it around with me, it’s in my desk drawer. Business cards are also useful for meeting people who don’t have English as their first language as from experience I can tell you that some of my colleagues when I was working in France had trouble with spelling my name! I often got Elizabeth with an ‘s’ and they don’t pronounce an initial H so once or twice they thought my surname started with A.

      I also have postcard-sized business cards that I put inside books when I am sending them to the giveaway winners. I tend to use recycled envelopes so at least when they open it they get a professional opinion of who sent it! I think that looks better than scribbling something on a scrap of paper or putting in no reference to who it was from at all. Those cards are from Moo and they are really good.

  • http://www.fortysomethingbride.com Colleen Cole

    Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway. I am involved in some volunteer work, as well as am starting a business, and I would prefer to hand out different cards, based on the info people are looking for. These would come in handy!

  • http://www.steppingintopm.com/ Soma Bhattacharya

    Hi Elizabeth- I’d like to win this, simply because I launched my beta site http://beta.steppingintopm.com/ and the budget is really low in trying to keep it running and keep registration free. So, winning this will help me get the business cards I need for SIPM and keeping inline with web 2.0 add my twitter id as well to it. So, while networking people don’t have to scramble for a pen and paper to write down my website url or my twitter-id. I will have it all in the business card that I won from your site.

  • Caitlin Weidelich

    I’m interested in winning these business cards.
    I think they could be a great help with my networking.

  • http://www.shopdesignconsulting.com Ashley Flintoff

    Contrary to Sas’ comments, while valid, I think that business cards are still very relevant in the business world. Telling people to remember you and then google you is all very well and good but when I meet 5,10,15 people in a night, what are the chances of me remembering ALL of their names? For me (and most people I think) it would be slim to none. If nothing else, a business card is a little extension of yourself. When designed well, they not only help others remember your name but also tell them who you are and what you are about. I have a box of cards sitting next to my desk of my favorite cards I’ve received over the years. When I was starting my own consulting firm and had to design cards (in March mind you and I’m almost out of my original 200 box) I looked to that box of well designed cards for inspiration.
    All that aside, I’d love to win the cards!
    Thanks!

  • Jackie

    Hi Elizabeth,
    Thank you for this offer. I’d love to win business cards.

    I disagree with the other person who wondered why you would promote business cards. I think they’re missing the point. I go to tons of networking events in Chicago, and the dozens of people that I have met at these events all have business cards. It’s not about not having your information online — it’s about having a nice card to exchange listing your Twitter, LinkedIn, email, etc. info. And I would never tell a new contact to simply just go find me on Twitter.

    Thank you,
    Jackie

  • http://www.sasmagicalmysterytour.com sas

    Elizabeth – yes completely understand about giving them to people. But then what? Trade emails and become life-long friends? Most conferences have delegate lists and if you really really want to remember someone, you will. Every time I have spoken at a conference I have put my name/twitter/blog up on my profile.
    Having said that, Moo are great!
    I am enjoying your blog and look forward to the new book.

  • Nicola

    Elizabeth – I’ve just discovered your site and love it already! Business cards are still a useful tool because – believe it or not – not everyone is online or has a smartphone! I know a lot of people who still have a rolodex full of business cards on their desk and who would be lost without it. Business cards can also be a useful backup if you lose your phone or your PC crashes. If I should win I think I would choose to create a personal “networking”card rather than a business card as giving someone a card is more personal and less “pushy” then immediately exchanging numbers or FB details.

  • TL

    I’m going to have to go with Sas on this one. Use the text program on a cellphone – almost everyone carries around one of those. Use the note app on a smartphone – again in wide use. Use the paper you are already carrying with you. Many times, a person is handing me a business card not to facilitate further communicate but to show off their corporate status symbol.

    • http://www.elizabeth-harrin.com Elizabeth

      Just last night someone asked me for my business card, and I was given two without asking!

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  • Steve Capell

    This is wonderful and I thank you for hosting this giveaway. We would use the business to help promote our Art Business.

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  • http://www.paradigmpop.com Diwant Vaidya

    Ah I missed it!

  • http://www.elizabeth-harrin.com Elizabeth

    This giveaway has now closed and the three winners have been notified. If it wasn’t you, thanks for taking the time to enter and better luck next time!

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