Business Cards Feedback for Next Year

[Casey H]

It was great meeting so many of you at the rally!

Just a note regarding business cards. As in previous years, I took home lots of business cards as I'm always looking for collaborators, WFH folks, general networking, etc. Please, please:

Have a link to your music on your card, not just an email address. If you are a producer, then link to some of your work. When it's an email address only (especially a generic gmail address, as opposed to your own domain), there's not much I can do with it.

QR codes are great. But always also have your web address written out. I'm often on a PC, not my phone (I assume I'm not the only one), and can't use the QR code. And PLEASE check that the QR code truly takes you to the right place. Have someone else check in on their phone to make sure it's not working only on yours because of a login, cookie, etc.

Check your website with multiple browsers and make sure it's all working. I clicked on someone's music link on their site today and got an Error 404 / Page Not Found.

Best,
Casey

[RobertElse]

Casey -

Ditto to everything you said, and thanks for the tips.

This will be my last year of bringing CDs (unless there are a ton of replies saying they are essential). I feel they have joined the dusty shelf of history along with punch cards and dial-up modems.

Going forward, I will add a QR code to my business cards, and retain the printed info as well. I saw many of them at the Rally, and I feel this is much more convenient for everyone. Less plastic waste, more portable and packable, and you just need to keep the target webpage up to date with your best tracks and updated news and info.

I also saw many people using a QR code on their phone to share their contact info, using an digital business card app called Blinq. It presents a QR code on your phone screen, and your new friend can just scan that, get your complete contact info, and add it to their contacts. It works on iPhone - not sure about other phones. The only drawback for this particular app is the recipient has to correctly click through 2 subsequent links, then scroll and click Done on their phone to complete the process. I hope there is an alternate app that has fewer chances to miss a step.

Thanks again for this post and all your Rally tips, Casey. I meant to track you down at the Rally and say hi, but they days just flew by. See you next year or before.

Robert

[superblonde]

That app sounds like a scam. Just keep a photo or screenshot of your own QR code in your photos and show the photo to those who want to scan, or even make it your phone background/wallpaper for a few days and show that. Photos of QR codes scan just as well as the original QR code, they are designed to be resilient.

[Casey H]

That app sounds like a scam. Just keep a photo or screenshot of your own QR code in your photos and show the photo to those who want to scan, or even make it your phone background/wallpaper for a few days and show that. Photos of QR codes scan just as well as the original QR code, they are designed to be resilient.

The issue with asking someone else to scan your code with their phone (photo or other) when you briefly meet them is it's clunky/time consuming and people often just want to walk away with something easy to reference later. I meet tons of people at rallies and I really don't want to scan their code with my phone. I want a card I can reference later at my convenience by QR code or link. I'm sure many people I meet feel the same way.

Not sure what you mean by the scam thing.

[AlanHall]

I have verified that my business cards meet Casey's rigorous standards

I'm looking forward to meeting you all there this November!
Alan