Business cards are still considered the best way to impart essential contact information about a small business to potential customers. These handy ice breakers should show what you do and effectively display your logo. Most experts agree that passing out business cards is like sewing seeds, with the more you plant the better the crop should be. They are the least expensive form of marketing that you can do. Some small business owners believe it's personal contact with a prospective client that's going to generate a call, not the business card. For most entrepreneurs, however, the business card remains a valuable way to spread their name out there to get more leads.

"They're still the best way to quickly communicate all the contact information for networking purposes," said Joe Mauldin, director of sales and marketing for Signs By Tomorrow, a nationwide signs and graphics company, based in Columbia, MD. "They're convenient for leaving at the front desk."

For Roger Bierman, a franchise relations manager for Fiducial, a business card is a hard copy of information on how to reach you.

"We do have wonderful electronic gadgets but not everybody has one," said Bierman. "It's a way of introducing yourself. I still think there's a great need for them."

Bierman explained that if you're dealing with people that don't know you or your business, the design of the business card has to be eye-catching.

"There has to be some uniqueness regarding the card, not the Plain Jane-type that you see all the time," he said. "Hopefully they will react to bright colors or something that's unique such as the right wording. You don't want to be too lengthy so get to the point. The neat appearance should say something about you because it represents you."

Besides listing pertinent contact information such as your name, phone/cell number, fax number, email address, website address and position title, Mauldin says that business cards also have another important objective.

"It has to very quickly communicate what you do and effectively display your logo," he said.

'It's like sewing seeds'

Standard business cards still measure three and a half inches wide by two inches tall but what's printed on them depends on the needs and budget of the small business ordering them. A business with modest resources is likely to go with basic, lighter stock paper while companies with deeper pockets often opt for higher end glossy or full-color cards.

Most experts agree that there's no such thing as passing out too many business cards to the wrong people.

"It's like sewing seeds -- the more business cards you plant the better the crop should be," Bierman said. "The more seeds you plant the better the opportunity for contacting you."

Sometimes an imaginative business card can capture the attention of potential customers with a head-turning presentation that incorporates what the company does.

Fiducial franchise business advisor Tom Schnaidt related that he once received a business card from a construction design firm that opened into the shape of a building. On another occasion, he picked up a business card from an eye doctor that had a picture of the world on it.

"You peeled it [world] off and there was the shape of an eye and on the eye were spaces for making an appointment," said Schnaidt who believes that business cards help sell the business.

Companies, though, should be careful about what information they include on their business cards. Some accounting firms, for instance, refrain from listing that they are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) on their cards because a potential customer might be worried that the price of service would be higher.

"This has a lot more to do with sensitivity of pricing," Schnaidt said.

Keeping it simple

Dale Ellery, a district manager for Fiducial in the Detroit, MI, area feels that small business owners should keep things simple on their business cards.

"A plain white card with some black ink and some extra things on it is all you need," said Ellery. "Don't cloud it up with anything else."

Musts on the card, Ellery says, is listing what you do so those receiving them won't have trouble figuring it out.

"We've had clients that listed Joe & Pete Enterprises on their cards but no one knew what kind of business they were in," he said.

Ellery includes all essential contact information on his business cards, referring to the company website along with an offer of a free consultation.

Gene Fairbrother, a Dallas, TX-based consultant with the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), says business cards are the least expensive form of marketing that you can do.

Don't leave your business without them

"There are maybe a few situations for unique businesses and unique individuals that can do without business cards but it is such a minute percentage," said Fairbrother who advised listing what you do and what your business does on the card. But he warned against getting the business card cluttered because that would be overkill.

While business cards are handed out with great regularity, not all small business owners are sold on the idea.

Sam Smith, a Fiducial franchisee in Middletown, MD, doesn't consider them important for running his operation, joking that a stack of cards can be shuffled and "you can deal them out with a poker hand."

From an overall perspective, Smith finds that the business card may give potential clients a phone number to call but it's that personal contact that's going to generate a call.

"Business cards as a selling tool are zero," said Smith. "You can make them as unique as you want but sales still get back to if you're not a large corporation or a product they recognize from the consumer side, it's tough to separate yourself from the competition."

Smith says that if you're a small, closely-held business you need that personal contact, adding that what's on the business card "is irrelevant."

Catching people's attention

But for most small business owners like Sean Duffy, a Fiducial franchisee in Flagstaff, AZ, business cards remain a good way to spread your name out there to get more leads. So he makes sure to be well-stocked with cards no matter where he's bound.

"I have a supply in my office, in my car and my wallet," said Duffy. "When I meet people I've never had anyone say 'no' after getting one."

Effective business cards as seen from Duffy's eyes are ones that are really quick and to the point.

"I don't want a whole lot of junk on there," he said. "Just put your name, address, phone number and email address along with some bullet points on the back of the card that summarizes your business."

After all, Duffy says that business cards are just like any other form of business communication.

"The more words that are on there the less likely it is to be read," he said. "You need to be really brief and catch people's attention in less than one second."

STEPHEN PAREZO is the Media Manager for Fiducial.