THE BUSINESS CARD

      Despite instantaneous electronic communication with world-wide reach, the printed business card is alive and well. In fact, the lowly business card is still the number one method of getting the news out that you are serious about the artwork you create.

      Sooner or later, some stranger will ask what you do for a living. Don't be surprised if this person expresses real interest when you say you are a pet portrait artist and that they would like to see some of your work. At this point, you may be asked for a business card. Don't be reduced to reciting your website url or writing your name and address on a napkin because you either have never ordered any business cards or don't have any with you. What stranger would want to do business with you if you don't act like you are in business? When you lose the opportunity to reach a potential customer you lose more than one because satisfied customers tell their friends.

      From this moment onward, you are NEVER to go out in public without some business cards in your purse or wallet. And you are NEVER to come home without having posted some on a community bulletin board or, preferably, personally putting one in someone else's hands. Think of all the stores in your area that have public bulletin boards. If you do pet portraits you also have the vet's office, the pet food store, the grooming salon, and animal shelters. Additionally, every time you sell your art or pay your bills, include a business card. Those who send out bills include advertising flyers in their envelopes. There is no reason you can't do the same.

n.b. - I do not suggest including your business card with your IRS tax forms:))

      Prior to personal computers and the internet, business cards were relatively expensive for artists just starting out (I paid $90 for 500 when I began working professionally). Additionally, business etiquette rules dictated a horizontal format and engraved printing – black ink only - with dignified fonts on heavy-stock white or ivory paper. Information on the card was reduced to name, address, phone number and a line for your profession – doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief. Any attempt to break the mold with a vertical format, colored paper, illustrations, or “wild” type faces just about insured you would not be taken seriously.

      How lucky we are today. We can design our own cards digitally with no up-front typesetting charges. We can order them online with home delivery in three days. Colored cards are now accepted for most businesses, and it is possible to include small illustrations of your artwork that are of remarkably good print quality. While cards should still be printed on paper with some substance, it is no longer necessary to use the most expensive paper available. Indeed, business cards are now so economical to produce that liberally distributing them no longer produces pangs of budgetary anxiety.

      Pictured is the business card design I used for 2012. Since I wanted to evaluate the vendor quality, my initial order through Vista Print was for only 250, which they doubled with an advertising code and included free shipping – for only ten dollars. At that price, your business cards should be reorded frequently and given away like candy.

If you can only afford one type of traditional print advertising, it must be a business card.