Johnson’s World: ‘My Card’

A generation ago, a business card was a printed product. If you were in business, a card was essential. Letterpress or offset, engraved or thermographed, a business card was printed. Period.

When I opened my new printing company 30 years ago, the first thing I did was order letterhead, envelopes, and business cards. That is what everyone did. (I didn’t print them myself because I was not in the stationery business.)

Here in the 21st century, the first thing a new business does is put up a website and establish its email addresses. Next comes the social-media presence. Business cards might come after that, but then again, they might not.

Whether or not you sell or print business cards, there are lessons for us all in the saga of the simple business card. After all, here in Johnson’s World every story has a lesson.

The evolving business card

There was a time when not only businesses but anyone of any social standing had a calling card, beautifully engraved at considerable expense. When you were visiting a home, the butler would bring your calling card to the master of the house on a tray. Not many of us have personal engraved calling cards anymore – of course, not many of our friends have butlers. It was nice while it lasted. Somehow, swiping right on someone’s Tinder profile doesn’t seem to carry the same cachet.

Those days went out with the carriage, the corset, and the quill pen as the calling card evolved into what we now know as the business card.

When introducing yourself, it was standard practice for an executive or a salesman to say, “My card,” while handing over his business card. No other words of introduction were needed – the business card explained everything.

In Japan, use of the business card has been elevated to an art form. The exchange of business cards is a ceremony. Admiring another person’s card is a way of showing respect, and having a quality business card is a matter of prestige. Interestingly, the proliferation of electronics in Asia has in no way diminished the use of business cards – the Japanese realize that tradition and progress are not mutually exclusive.

In the latter half of the last century, many of the business cards in circulation in North America were cheaply printed at little or no profit to the printer, and they looked it. While some firms wisely continued to spare no expense on the cards that represented their corporate image, many cut corners, viewing their business cards as a necessary evil rather than a marketing opportunity.

Many companies still use business cards, and pay well for them. The full-coverage, full-bleed, process-color card which was once priced beyond the reach of most is now standard, and cards printers are using the internet combined with digital press technology to build new business where there once was none.

Price isn’t the object

We can moan all we want about “price pressure” and competition from new media, but it’s within our power to establish the value of print.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m not in the business of printing stationery, but every now and then we do print business cards at Copresco. It still is not a specialty, and it isn’t something we seek out. It costs roughly 10 times more to print 500 of a single card with us than you’ll typically pay online. That price is deceptive, though, because if you’re printing 10 cards (500 each), you will pay us about the same total price, putting us right back in the ballpark.

But price isn’t the object. Anyone who comes to us for business card printing isn’t overly concerned about price. So what are they looking for? Quality and service, yes, but what do these clichés really mean? Our clients are looking for:

• Trust;
• Control;
• Comfort; and
• Consistency.

They won’t pay an outrageous premium, but neither do they care about saving nickels and dimes when their corporate image is a stake. In short, these clients believe in the value of print and are willing to pay.

Do you have a business card on you right now? How does it look? What does it say about your company? Does it show that you believe in the value of print?