In the Cards

Just as your eyes are the windows to your soul, your business card reveals more about your business than just your contact information. “It’s often someone’s first contact with a brand,” says Michael Schneider, president of Los Angeles based cohesive branding and web development agency Fluidesign. What can a transformation do for your brand? We found three entrepreneurs who went the extra mile and created business cards that truly reflect their businesses.

Kathryn Goetzke White switched her business cards from paper to recyclable plastic for her Annapolis, Maryland, marketing consulting company, Innovative Analysis. When she started a new division of the company in 2004 launching a mood-enhancing product line that includes lights, teas and scents--White decided to use the same recyclable, hard, clear plastic she used for product packaging for the new business’s cards. She succeeded in reinforcing both businesses’ images of creativity. “People feel it, look through it and say it truly is innovative,” says White, 35. White named her new venture Mood-factory and developed another version of the plastic business cards. She projects 2007 sales of about $1.5 million.

It was only fitting for Anthony Dadika to hand out a business card resembling a woven label, since his business, ITC Manufacturers Group Inc. in New York City, manufactures woven labels for garments. Ever since he switched from a plain paper card in 1990, people have been asking Dadika to manufacture cards for them (unfortunately for fans of his cards, it would be too expensive for him to do so). “I’d say more than anything, [the card has] gotten people to remember us,” says Dadika, who projects 2007 revenue of about $6 million. He says that plenty of business continues to come from people who love the ingenious cards.

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Every time John Costigan of John Costigan Companies hands out one of his metal business cards with a custom cutout of his own profile, he’s giving away $2. But Costigan, whose Cary, North Carolina, sales training firm expects revenue of $2 million for 2007, says it doesn’t hold him back one second. He estimates that he’s gained over $100,000 in business since debuting the cards in 2003. “Metal represents what my company is--sharp, different, bold,” says Costigan, 43. He hands out a card to every person who takes his class, reasoning, “The return on investment is more than worth it.”