No one knows your craft in the same way that you do. So how do you present your craft on a three and a half by two-inch card in a way that will generate business? The first thing you need to think about is the purpose of a business card. You already know about creativity, but here we are talking about function. What are you trying to communicate to your customers? You might think this is obvious, but go pick up a few business cards and take a good, hard look at them.
First and foremost a business card is a way for your customers to contact you. If a customer raves about your creative genius and takes a business card, but all she sees is a name and phone number with nothing that indicates the craft that you do, will she call you a week later? And where do you think she will file your card?
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. She talks to you at a craft show with fifty or more booths. There are five other crafters, whether jewelry makers, potters, alpaca ranchers, etc that do the same kind of craft as yours. How does she distinguish you, especially if you call your company Jane’s Creative Crafts and you are a woodworker, but you display metal objects at your show? How is your customer supposed to remember what your medium is? If you don’t have a computer presence, that is, no website or other shop that will display samples of your work, then you’ve missed the whole purpose of the business card in today’s world.
If Jane’s Creative Crafts is an established identity with your customers, then under that, list the things that you do in smaller-sized words, such as wood and metal crafts, 1950s retro jewelry, or something that distinguishes you from all the other crafters. What is the item that people pick up the most? What are your biggest sellers? What are your biggest profit makers? If you’re an artist that sells $500 paintings, yet you are selling greeting cards of your work at a show, then say watercolors on canvas and greeting cards. Because many people print business cards on their home computers, why not create a different set of business cards for each unique category of items that you do? If you have a website on your card, they can discover the vastness of your talent later.
A large icon or an artistic squiggle or your child’s drawing or a gimmicky cutout instead of an actual photo or representation of your work takes up a lot of space, but hardly conveys to anyone what you do or why a customer should contact you. Likewise, printing black ink or toner onto a card with a dark background makes it difficult to see. The same thing goes for yellow printing on a white card. No contrast means it can’t be read. Choosing an artistic yet unreadable font (letter style) or printing everything in tiny print (minimum should be 8 points) is also counterproductive. Don’t you want them to contact you and order something?
A lot of savvy craft people have a color printout of their work on a postcard size sheet. But you can use your most popular or most profitable item as your logo and shrink it to fit onto a business card. If you don’t have the skills to make it look good, consider doing a half-size sheet explaining your artistic process and why you picked your craft. Include your contact info on everything you hand out, whether the craft show customer buys anything or not. Place business cards or informational sheets on your table. You never know who will pick them up.
Here are a couple of other business card design principles to consider. Having a blank, non-glossy white backside to your business card allows you to write reminders to customers. For example, you might jot down your next show, another phone number, a class that you might be teaching or a supplier that you like. Think about texture. If you do embroidery, raised printing is ideal for obvious reasons. If you work with fabric or fiber, perhaps a linen or laid card is better. Both papers add that feeling of texture that can be associated with your business.
You don’t have to subject yourself to boring black and white business cards. Just consider that you work all year to do craft shows to make money, so why not start treating yourself and your work with the respect you and it deserves? It is your business and high time to treat it like one.
- Post Time: 12-11-15 - By: http://www.rfidang.com