Ingenious Marketing: Interactive Business Cards

Would you call your business card exciting? Unique marketing ideas stand out among the competition, and no marketing strategy is as traditionally mundane as the art of the business card. Remember that immortalized scene in “American Psycho”? Lead character Patrick Bateman compares his plain white business card against his colleagues’ equally boring business cards. They ironically compare texture, embossment and other puzzling qualities.

In reality, business card printing can incorporate some mesmerising and creative elements. Attractive design choices are available, including designs with multiple layers and cards which form 3-D objects. The most important part is that the interactive card plays on a theme of the business itself.

Keep the Concept Singular and Accessible

Some of the best concepts are original, yet simple. A business card for a personal training company is built of a stretchy material, requiring individuals to flex the hands a bit, which allows them to visibly read the contact. This idea is not multidimensional and distracting. It plays on one single abstract concept- stretching at the gym. The inclusion of a packet of seeds inside a gardening business card is as equally effective in setting a tone and keeping things focused on a single concept. Get creative and stick to the basics, like this liquir-store owner’s unique “business card” idea:

Image by Flickr user ShashiBellamkonda

Mixed Emotions

Sensus Design Factory put together a business card that was oddly self-deprecating. It included a message at the top saying “We Love You.” Oddly, a gray scratch off mark was covering the rest of the sentence. When uncovered, the banner read “We Love Your Money.” As a concept, it is quite entertaining. But in execution, it sends mixed feelings and is a prime example of an interactive business card taken in an ineffective direction.

One divorce lawyer’s business card is perforated in the middle for easy tearing in half. The interactive card is clever, but for anyone actually requiring the card’s contact (and need of the divorce lawyer), it can be seen as a bit distasteful. The card is salvaged slightly be the inclusion of the contact on both sides of the card.

Another clever security business owner turned his business card into a lock-picking kit:

Image by Flickr user Ran Yaniv Hartstein

Bringing Interactivity to the Next Level

The knotted massage therapist business card requires individuals to untie a knot into a flat threaded card. This is a play on the idea of knotted muscle needing to be smoothed out.

TAM Cargo specializes in transporting cargo overseas in a convenient and cost-effective way. It is perfectly brilliant that the company has a run of interactive business cards that fold up into a little box. These cards bring the interaction beyond just an appealing visual cue.

This digital genius made a functioning USB into an interactive business card:

Image by Flickr user Alan Levine

General Card Marketing

The goal for your business card is not to be a memorable online visual but to build a practical strategy for increased exposure. A different take on interactive business cards is to encourage people to write on the back of the card, checking off printed info such as ‘I met John during…’ and ‘I felt he was…’ There are options and ways to word the questionnaire to fit the business. For example, a humorous set of questions may fit the tone of a music or entertainment field, whereas a professional tone is strictly required for a law firm or doctor’s office.