Guide to Digital Business Cards

While traditional business cards have served their purpose well for many years, we now live in an era where nearly everything has become digitized, making digital business cards a natural outgrowth of modern technological advancement. Along with our cell phones, palm pilots, iPods and laptops, we've almost come to expect such things as interactive business cards.

As our businesses move farther into the 21st Century, thanks to modern technology, we can offer both our clientele and our business prospects so much more in a business card than we could just a few short years ago. CD business cards and their counterparts, DVD business cards, can help us put a large amount of critical company-related information into our customers' hands, easily and conveniently, by incorporating an entire multi-media presentation into a digital disc that's basically the size of a traditional business card.

Here are some advantages you'll enjoy by using digital business cards:

1. The ability to impart a great deal of information about your company during even a momentary or chance meeting with a prospect

2. The confidence that your digital business card has built-in safeguards to prevent your data from being stolen

3. The widespread name- and product-recognition your company will enjoy because most people watch DVD or CD business cards as soon as they receive them

4. The ability to place a link to your company's website in your interactive business card, making it easier for prospects to visit your site

5. The decreased likelihood that your CD or DVD business cards will be quickly discarded or easily misplaced, as traditional business cards might

6. The versatility of using CD business cards for other types of presentations, including sales proposals, brochures and product promotions

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn all you can about digital business cards and how they might benefit your company

Makers of digital business cards offer information and presentations, which often include sample downloads, to demonstrate the capabilities of their CD or DVD business cards.

I recommend: PPP Design describes its CD business cards on its website, offering samples for download. Mini CD Wizard also offers a free sample for viewing.

Once you decide which type of interactive business card would work best for you, compare pricing

Many online makers of digital business cards freely post their rates on their websites. Use that opportunity to compare prices, as well as features of different card types offered by various companies.

I recommend: Both Audio Sphere and Cheap CD Duplications offer pricing information, along with downloadable templates to help you prepare your data and graphics for your CD or DVD business cards. Cheap CD Duplications offers both CD business cards and DVD business cards.

If commercial versions of digital business cards don't fit your budget, consider making your own

Information on how to make your own interactive business cards is available online. Depending on your technical and artistic skills, these digital business cards can contain text and graphics (including animation), as well as live links to your website or e-mail.

I recommend: Tips and instructions for making your own digital business cards are available online from eSSORTMENT.

If you don't have the time, interest or ability to make your own digital business cards, get help

Some websites offer methods for digitizing the information found on traditional business cards to add to their convenience and give them at least some of the versatility of digital business cards.

I recommend: ScanR helps you turn traditional business cards into vCards (or virtual cards) that can be used to transmit, store and access your business card information electronically, via the internet or e-mail. Using either a digital camera or a camera phone, all you need to do is photograph your business card and send the photo to ScanR, which either makes and e-mails your vCard to you or stores your scan online.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• While you may not yet be prepared to eliminate traditional business cards entirely, consider using digital business cards to attract special clients or prepare important presentations and promotional materials which you would save time, effort and expense by not having to present in person. That will give you a chance to test the waters and decide whether you might not later prefer to go completely digital.

The official source of Digital Business Cards is
the Digital Business Cards page at Business.com