How to Prevent Your Business Cards from Breaking Down

The digital era is upon us, but print is alive and well, and you can't wander through any large event or business lunch without coming away with a stack of business cards. The purpose of these cards is to stand out and communicate that you (or your company) are awesome, and business cards remain one of the most effective ways to turn a good first impression into a follow-up conversation.

Unfortunately, they suffer from the same fatal flaw as many paper products: they break down. Especially if you accidentally dunk them in your cup of coffee. Or run them over with your desk chair. And so on.

If you're going to hand over your valuable contact information to a potential client or business partner, you want to know it's going to last. So how can you prevent your business cards from breaking down?

Don't store them in your wallet

Your wallet seems like a logical place to store business cards, given that it has many convenient card-sized pockets, but your business cards will quickly become creased and aged if they're stored there. Meeting a potential client and then handing them a wadded-up business card is not exactly the way you want to go about impressing them.

Instead, consider a carrying case for your cards. There are cases that are elegant enough to provoke an admiring reaction before you ever hand your card over, which is a plus. That doesn't do much to make the actual cards more durable, however, which is where our second potential solution comes in.

Use durable paper business cards

If you'd rather not invest in a carrying case—or really, even if you do want to—durable paper makes for better business cards. Relyco's REVLAR, for example, makes for a card that feels and looks traditional, but is sturdy enough to stand up to stress, waterproof enough to survive slipping into someone's glass of water, and gives you all the color, size and shape options you'd expect from a traditional card stock solution.

Because you're not just throwing money at business cards that will be destroyed, you're also potentially realizing cost-savings, as well.

We can give you at least three good reasons to go durable paper, in other words, and those are great reasons to print your next order of business cards on something that will hold up to the stresses of your busy business life. Happy networking!