By: James Alexander, Founder & CEO, Vizibility
Mobile business cards are officially a trend, as leading professional services firms adopt the new technology associated with the cards to manage their online identities and showcase special areas of expertise. A mobile business card can function as a personalized, mobile-friendly website users can share with contacts and prospective customers wirelessly.

With the right identity management platform, professionals can share key information using Apple Passbook, QR codes and Near Field Communication (NFC). Call it a modern twist on the old-fashioned business card. And since about half of all Google searches now originate on a mobile device, it’s more important than ever for organizations and professionals to build a mobile-optimized online presence.

Given the way search engine algorithms work, professionals and professional services firm marketers must be mindful of the image they present online – both in a mobile and non-mobile context. It’s not enough anymore to just have a website – companies and professionals need to take control of the ways their search results are presented to ensure that they put their best foot forward, whether a contact finds them on a laptop, desktop or mobile device.

A mobile business card is a great way to package and share a professional identity. Many major printing services are now offering customers the opportunity to include QR codes on their business cards, downloadable PDF bios and other collateral. The most effective approach is to choose a service that offers a complete mobile identity package users can access to allow clients and prospects to download vCards (electronic business card files), view common LinkedIn connections and share hand-picked profiles, videos and other curated online content.

New technology has improved more than just the business card: Now it’s possible to offer contacts the option to follow a user’s vCard, which enables push notifications to subscribers when user contact information changes. This patent-pending innovation ensures that contacts will always have the latest information, solving the problem of outdated vCard information.

A robust online identity management platform can also allow firm marketers to transform individual professionals’ mobile business cards into an online mobile directory, which can underscore the firm’s broad capabilities and expertise. If the online identity management platform offers administrative capabilities like geo-tracking and dashboard metrics, firms and professionals can use these tools to measure the effectiveness of outreach efforts by keeping track of where and when QR codes were scanned.

The use of tools like an Apple Passbook-supported mobile business card, QR code-imprinted business cards and NFC mobile wallet cards not only give professionals and service firms a unique way to share online identities, they mark the person using the tools and her firm as tech-savvy, which is increasingly important in a competitive environment. That’s why top accounting and legal firms are adopting new technologies to enhance networking capabilities and ensure prospective clients find the right information about them online – whether from a laptop, desktop or mobile device.

In a world where professionals are who Google says they are, it’s crucial to find new ways to control the impression new contacts receive online, either via a traditional or mobile search. Mobile business cards help professionals regain control of their online identities – and project a tech-savvy image. No wonder they are a hot trend.

About the Author
James Alexander is founder and CEO of Vizibility Inc., the world’s first mobile business card platform for small, medium and large size organizations. A serial technology entrepreneur, James was involved in two other successful startups and served as a product management executive at Adobe Systems prior to founding Vizibility. Google James at viz.me/james. Learn more about the company and its online identity management solutions at www.vizibility.com.