Your business card is crap.

It's so true.

Here are some types of business cards and other marketing pieces you can use to stand out from the crowd.

http://bit.ly/A1vrO

The guy in the video reminds me of way too many arrogant people that I have met in business over the years. I agree with the message, but his presentation leaves a bad impression. I was ready to tell him where he could put his little pop up card.

Too right Gary - Joel Bauer comes across as totally full of himself in that video!

I can't even say I agree with his message. My wife/business partner and I keep binders of business cards for our contacts. If the cards don't fit into the slots, we don't have a place to put them. If the cards don't have a surface we can write on, we have no way to record our impressions or thoughts.

Sure these people got noticed, but they did not get remembered.

Which is not to say that black and white, text-only cards are good. You wan to buck tradition, but only a little bit.

He makes a valid point but he and his business card are a little extreme. The phrase, "all hat and no cattle" comes to mind.

Having designed biz cards for years, I understand the importance of a card that works and stands out. And although those unique shapes do get that first impression, I'm with Justin on what you do with them. And I love his comment about noticed vs. remembered. A fine line we can walk there.

As far as the guy, he's just another "in your face" marketer. A ton of them out there and they are getting really old. In fact, so many of the top marketers are now talking about "marketing for nice people". What a concept, huh?

Well if anyone wants free business cards for life overnightprints.com is running a competition till June 25th: http://bit.ly/dasLp.

They do my biz cards and they are really good quality - nice thick, glossy things. :)

We prefer the eco friendly options offered at Greenerprinter.com

http://www.greenerprinter.com/grp/welcome.do

Great concept - I'll have to check them out the next time I need some print work done. Thx Gary.

Thanks for sharing Richard! While I agree it is important to have a business card that stands out, I'm with Justin in that if it doesn't fit in a biz card holder and I can't write on it, it's not effective.

Plus, fancy or gimmicky cards can be awfully expensive...Especially for something that's probably going to get thrown away anyway.

That said, check out this cool video critique of a really fun card that stands out from the crowd even though it's a standard shape and size:

http://marketing-junkie.com/stacy-karacostas-shares-a-terrific-example-of-a-small-business-usp/

Best, Stacy