1895 business card

I’m referring of course to our business cards: little rectangles of information that have been existed probably since Gutenberg was trying to sell his presses in the 14th century. I suspect the format has changed little too; this 1895 example bears a striking resemblance to some designs I’ve seen just recently.

But, just what is the purpose of a business card?
I suppose that during organised “networking” events they’re a part of the theatre practised during formal introductions. A well-designed business card should also act as an aide-memoir.

And given the fact that we’re a digital business, I’ve been wondering just how useful business cards really are? For me, they’re often bland, forgettable and filed away in a part of my drawer I rarely check. It doesn’t help that cards which try to “stand out of the crowd” often end up being examples of awkward “corporate quirk” or suffer from the deployment of gimmicks like QR codes.

At many of the events that I personally attend, a business card is rarely useful. Last week, I stuck my head into Northern Digitals which, to be honest, I go along to as a social event. A lot of my friends work in digital or creative industries and enjoy a pint or two. And a lot of our clients do as well. But because it’s such a social place, I always get chatting with someone new that’s turned up and want to keep in touch with them after the event.

But for me, rather than swapping a piece of paper, the best way to keep in touch is by exchanging Twitter usernames. I almost always follow new people that I’ve met in real life and it’s a far more interesting and useful way to keep in touch with someone you might end up doing business with. It also means you can dispense with the empty pleasantries associated with those staid post-networking emails and work with someone as a partner almost immediately.

This is just my opinion; I know many feel business cards still have a place in the right situation. But given the amount spent on printing cards and the impact that has on the environment, I’m unconvinced that they offer better value for me personally than simply swapping Twitter accounts with someone I meet over a pint. Others seem to agree. But, if we get the design of our new ones right, you might see me try them out…

What do you think? Do you have any examples of killer business cards or have you found you’ve done more business through your Twitter account? Drop a comment below or tweet us @MelbourneHost.

Josh R, Brand Manager, Serverlove.

Given that, we were interested to hear our customer Paul Stokes of The Daily Mash speak at last week’s #smc_mcr (Social Media Cafe) in Manchester. The Daily Mash is the UK’s “leading satirical news website” and is perhaps not suitable for readers of a nervous disposition. If you’ve heard of The Onion, you could say it’s a sort of British alternative and, by Paul’s own admission, attempts to be as outrageous and extreme as possible when it comes to satire and parody. After all, this, he says, is the key to avoiding litigation; the parody must be obvious to the reasonable person.

And the fact that they pride themselves on being “anti” social media is something of an enigma. But nonetheless, it works perfectly well for them. Despite being users of Twitter and Facebook – which they describe as their “free marketing tool” – The Daily Mash have no interest in engagement or conversation, which by accepted wisdom is seen a key part of any social media strategy.

The fact is though that they win on their content. Despite – or rather, because of – eyebrow-raising content, readers keep coming back day after day, enjoying the stories and sharing it across their networks of their own volition.

I guess this is a really a reminder that content is all important. You can share and engage and chit-chat as much as you want on social media, but if you’re just a lot of hot air, then maintaining those conversations or converting them into your desired outcome (be it sales, or otherwise) will be a challenge.

Chris, Glenn and Gavin represent "Team Mowbourne"!

By Gavin Upsall, datacentre engineer

The end is neigh for my good friend and companion ‘Dave’. He was a young caterpillar trying to grow for a good cause, we had some laughs, we had some lows, we had some dramas, but we have been as one for the month of November.

I will miss the warmth he has given my upper lip and the tickles he gave to my nose. Strangers stared and laughed but they could never understand the unique bond between a man and his mo and what it means to have a friend like ‘Dave’ with you at all time… well until tomorrow morning that is!!!

A huge thanks to our impressive Team Mowbourne, Chris Ashcroft, Gavin Upsall, Glenn Absalom and Al Macleod (not pictured). You can still help raise money to support prostate cancer and testicular cancer initiatives by donating now.

But when customers send chocolate to say thanks (and it’s not the first time that it’s happened), it reminds me just how fantastic our team is at giving a shit.

Thank you Team Melbourne and thank you customers for letting us know when we’ve done good.  Your feedback is really important (especially if it includes gifts!)

Daniel Keighron-Foster,
Managing Director

During his short life (he committed suicide at 41) he invented the stored program computer, became the first computational biologist and made contributions to cryptography that significantly shortened the conflict of WWII.

Sorry you were treated so badly, and thanks for everything you did for us.

Daniel Keighron-Foster
Managing Director

It was therefore really nice to find out that more than one of them had watched our ‘ten reasons’ video #1, “friendly support, whatever time of day it is”, pointing out to me that we’d left ‘they actually give a shit’ (referring to our staff, when looking after our customers) in the video dialogue.  The candidates who mentioned it, all cited it as a reason they’d really thought they ‘needed’ to work at Melbourne.  Which was nice.  It made me smile.

I suppose it shows that we’re human, straight-talking and informal.

Daniel Keighron-Foster
Managing Director

Offering both continuous data protection and bare metal restore abilities, UltraVault™ is a true data protection offering, not just a backup product.  UltraVault™ is ideal for the administrator looking for automation capabilities beyond our standard offsite NAS offering.

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Daniel Keighron-Foster, Technical Director.

Something to bear in mind the next time your server has you in a fit of rage