Business Cards

Some are 90% design and only 10% customer-friendly information. Some artists don't even have them. Some provide links that are outdated, yet they are what your potential customers have to remember you with. They are your business cards.

Should they be practical and provide basic information, or speak to your creativity by being highly visual and creative? There is a case for both strategies, but think of the purpose of your card and who it is for when you design it. Honestly, what is the point if customers cannot read it?

Hint #1: Remember, customers are not familiar with a lot of our nomenclature and vocabulary, so be careful about your language in all your marketing deliverables, including your business card.

Hint #2: Have a brand and use it forever. (Often your name.)

Hint #3: Help customers remember and understand you (your brand). Have a "qualifier" that assists them. Qualifiers explain your brand.

• John Doe
• John Doe, Artist
• John Doe, Master Printmaker (your medium)
• John Doe, MFA (your degree)
• John Doe, Master Impressionist (your style or marketing niche)
• John Doe, Excellence in Interior Decoration (a sales-oriented qualifier)
• John Doe, JohnDoe.ca (your website, blog, phone number, or studio address, etc.)
• John Doe, [your province or state's] Best Artist (geography)
• John Doe, Featured in the New York Times

Hint #4: Competitive advantage: consider expressing one (those of you seriously into the marketplace). For example, I am a writer. When I started operating a technical writing service, I emphasized my speed saying I was faster than my competitors. My competitors were all about accuracy; I was accurate AND FAST and I moved several clients from competitors to me.