Business cards come in a variety of shapes and sizes
Business cards First created centuries ago, they are today found everywhere, and have become an indispensable part of business life.
Of the many different varieties that abound, one of the most intriguing cards would be those made from metal.
Although available for quite some time now, they are still a rarity, and have the tendency to attract curiosity and interest in anyone who looks at them.
As attractive as it may be, they do have a downside to it, the most important of all being price. Metal cards are not cheap, and the price of a single card can be as much as, sometimes, an entire batch or two.
It is this aspect of metal business cards which tends to make people wonder,
“Are they worth it?”
In simple words, is it worth it to go for a metal business card, or would you being better off with something traditional like those made from materials like paper?
There are several considerations you’ll need to look into, in order to determine this question.
Given in the points are some of the most important.
- Is the Cost to Benefit Ratio Worth it?
There are many standards and benchmarks in the world of business.
One of the most important is what is called ‘cost to benefit’ ratio, which explains the amount of benefit you get, from the money you spend.
In simple words, what it means is that if the money you spend doesn’t give you sufficient returns in terms of profit, it isn’t worth spending. But if it does give you more return than the money you’ve spent, you’re good to go.
What this means is that if the amount of profits off of each customer can cover for the expenses of the card given to them, as well as all the others who didn’t buy from you, they are worth it.
- The Nature of the Product or Service
In general, metal cards have always been associated with value, more than anything else.
The fact that they are generally expensive, have given them an ‘aura’ of value and wealth, which has become well accepted in the business community.
In light of this, one has to check whether the product or service is really something you can associate with high value. This has nothing to do with the value of the product per se, but rather that of its ‘perceived’ value.
For example, the value of gold jewelry is certainly a lot more than iron or steel ones. In this context, it would be a good idea to go for a metal card for the gold jewelry business, while sticking to non-metal ones for the iron or steel ones.
- Budgetary Constraints
Budgets are ever present in the world of business.
This is something you’ll be dealing with, throughout your life in the context of running a business, and indeed, your personal life as well.
Given that all projects will have budgetary constraints, one will have to take into consideration the effects it will have on the kind of PCBs that can be purchased.
This however, can be negotiated to some extent, depending on the production capacity, as high volume manufacturing tends to lower the per-unit cost.
One could actually take advantage of the above factor, by going in for bulk purchases, in case there is a requirement for large numbers of the above components. Even if the initial cost is high for each unit of PCB, the same will fall drastically when produced in large numbers.
- Can You Do Fine with Regular Cards?
As much as metal cards are great, they only act as a ticket to profits, and not exactly the profit itself.
This is because the main reason for their use in the business world is to leave an impression and nothing more. It can be thought of as a signature statement to close a deal, rather than being the deal itself.
The real magic happens once the deal is sealed, when the delivery begins. It is this delivery that will determine whether you have a happy or unhappy customer.
In this regard, you could say that although a metal card is impressive thing, what customers are really after is a solution to their problems. And if you can deliver the same in a satisfactory manner, you could probably do without the need for expensive metal cards as well.
- One Time or Repeat Buyers
There are two kinds of buyers in the world of business, in terms of the number of purchases.
One category of people is those who make a single purchase and are done with.
And then there are another set of people who go for the purchase, and repeat the same multiple times.
In this regard, you might want to consider handing out metal cards only to those individuals who are doing business with you repeatedly.
Then again, you could make an exception to those making a onetime purchase as well, if it is something big like a car, real estate, jewelry or other high-value sales.
- Your Own Value Set
This has nothing to do with economics at all, but rather your own value set.
There are many people who are of the idea that they shouldn’t be overly ‘showy’ in their ways. Instead, they prefer to remain humble, and stick to a path that caters to that.
Should you have a value set that makes you want to stick to a more simple way of life, you could probably do without the need for a metallic card.
On the other hand, if you do like the ‘finer’ things in life, and prefer to be ‘showy’, a metal card might just be the one for you.
The above list of reasons is some of the main things that should be considered, before you get started with buying metal business cards.
At the end of it all however, it is up to you to decide what works best for you, regardless of what anyone says. In this regard, one would have to use their judgment and discretion to decide what is the best course of action.
