With all the high-tech marketing tools available these days, it might be tempting to conserve resources and just forget about updating your company business card.

Oh, sure, you’ll still throw a few dollars from the budget at an administrator to make sure your staff is always stocked with those thick little pieces of paper. But since they seem so passé, why bother coming up with a better design?

The experts say handing out business cards is the best way to make sure the important contact you make in person doesn’t forget your email address or lose a cocktail napkin with your cell number. That means the classic business card will always be a big part of the all-important first impression.

So, have you given any thought to what your business card says about you and your business?

“If you think about it, a business card is what represents you when you’re not there,” said Lizzie Post, an author and spokesperson for the Emily Post Institute. “It really needs to reflect what you all stand for, what you’re about.”

Someone in the design business, for example, should probably be handing out cards that are clear and visually appealing, but don’t have too much color and clutter.

To get started on a new design, Post suggests pulling out your own collection of business cards to find out what other companies in your industry are doing.

“What kind of image do you get when you look at those?” she said.

The bottom line is that business cards should be part of a company’s overall marketing strategy and set the tone for its brand, according to Cristy McCullough of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

That means asking yourself the following questions before settling on a design:

• How do you plan to use your business cards?
• Who is your target audience?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages to listing your products or services? (An upside is that your card can serve as a miniature brochure)
• What tone or personality do you want to reflect?

A more conservative company, like a law firm or accounting firm, should probably be more inclined to go with a basic white, gray, or ivory linen card with a font that’s professional, yet captures the firm’s personality, McCullough said. At the other end of the spectrum, a more creative business such as an ad agency has more leeway to dabble in textures, colors, and fonts.

“And companies in the music or entertainment industry typically use a four-color print graphic displaying the mood and rhythm that differentiates them and makes them who they are,” she said. “Their cards usually provide the appearance of a CD cover.”

How information is arranged on your business card also should be a consideration.

Cards typically follow a format as to where items are placed, so going against that can be confusing in several ways, according to Raj Nisankarao, president of the National Business Association.

“People have it in their brain where they should be looking to find things like a name and phone number, so you want to pay attention to established standards,” Nisankarao said. “And these days, there are those tech-savvy people who are doing things like using readers to scan cards and put them in an electronic Rolodex, so going against the norm could cause problems for them.”

He suggests going with a double-sided card if you want to add your list of products. And don’t be afraid to get creative—a card can be eye catching and tasteful.