Are business cards a relic of the past?

Are you old enough to remember the days when we kept a leather folder with transparent pockets to hold all of the same sized business cards that were handed to us by suppliers and patients/clients as well as our advisors?

Do you keep a collection of other peoples’ business cards anywhere nowadays?

This whole subject is one on which I’m thinking very carefully at the moment – one of the reasons being that I’m due for a new batch of cards myself.

The question I’m asking myself is whether, in fact, the business/referral card is extinct and has been replaced by a digital equivalent and, if so, what?

I have cards, they sit in a box at home, I hand them out at speaking gigs, most of them are still on the seats/tables afterwards – I suspect most of the rest end up in the bin.

We collect and store data on our devices.

I’ve written about word of mouth being superseded by digital reputation.

Rather than ask a patient to take business/referral cards, isn’t it now more important to ask them to:

1. like your Facebook page?

2. write a Google and/or Facebook review?

3. subscribe to your monthly email newsletter?

Do we still need any print media, other than for compliance and contracts?