I was browsing through Medium.com earlier today and stumbled upon an article that perfectly explains what I’ve been trying to articulate for a very long time.
The year was 2005. I was a newly hired computer repair person that went into other businesses to help them with everyday computer stuff. Hook up this printer. I can’t connect to the internet. Why is my screen blank? Things of that nature. And I got called out to a LOT of businesses. And the first impression I had of any of them was their business card.
From that business card I could easily tell how much money the owners of the company put into their business. Here’s the benchmarks. High quality paper? Check. Interesting or memorable logo/wordmark? Check. And then, the last, but very crucial, thing. Email address. cardetailingforyou@aol.com. Nope. That’s a dead sign that either a) they aren’t putting as much into their business as they should, or b) they didn’t think that the internet was going to affect them in any measurable way.
That was 13 years ago.
Now, here we are in 2019, and business cards are, surprisingly, still a thing. And those benchmarks still hold true. Cards are made of a good material (we can do plastic and even metal cards now, woohoo!)? Check. Memorable or interesting logo/wordmark? They’re all starting to look a bit like iPhone app icons, but sure. Okay. Next. Email address. ThisIsASuperCoolCompany@gmail.com. Nope. Sorry. Not buying it.
From the article:
Let’s say you have a company XYZnABC. If I’m a customer, I expect your business card to tell me to contact you on your phone or by emailing you at supercoolperson@xyznabc.com (we can talk about websites some other time). If instead, your card shows an email address of supercoolpersonnotreally@gmail.com, then the deal’s over.
Again, show me through your email you’re invested in your job/business and product/service through putting in a little effort.
I 100% agree.
Take Rusty’s advice. Invest in a domain. It’s less than $100 a year. You’ll reap so many benefits from having it.
There. Now MY rant is done.