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# Drawing a Blank
- URL: https://www.cjchilvers.com/blog/drawing-a-blank/
- Published: 2011-04-08T04:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2011-04-08T04:00:00.000Z
- Author: CJ Chilvers
- Tags: marketing, paper

Business cards are one-size-fits-all affairs, revealing the same information for total strangers and your best customers. [Pre](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dogVyJn6MS0&ref=cjchilvers.com)\-packaged, pre-designed and pre-determined. What a waste of an opportunity to connect.

I’m talking about blank business cards.

Marketers often talk about the greater impact of hand-written materials when compared to printed materials, yet every marketer I’ve ever met uses [highly](http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/sets/72057594104389710/?ref=cjchilvers.com) [polished](http://us.moo.com/?ref=cjchilvers.com) [materials](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YBxeDN4tbk&ref=cjchilvers.com) to project some kind of professionalism. But is that how you measure professionalism? I measure professionalism by what you’ve done up to now, not what you’ve spent on designers and printers.

Do yourself a favor and buy some great blank business card paper stock and keep a pen handy. When you meet someone, make them feel a little special by taking the time to write out exactly what they need to know. It’s unique. It stands out. It’s powerful.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/30/933059b9-0a90-40a6-8ecc-04cdf152178d/content/images/tumblr_lpjcucsgLm1qbhn92.jpg)

Of course, offering a solution that isn’t about throwing money at a problem may not ever be popular, but doesn’t that make the solution all the more unique?