BUSINESS CARDS:MARKETING FOR UPCOMING CRAFT SEASON

When we hosted the "Business Card Giveaway" last year, we posted some sources for making your own Business Cards. Since the 2010 Craft Season has just started we thought we would revisit the post for as a refresher for those of you who are about to begin your craft season or are about to do your first show.
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Alot of times I have bought items and received business cards and have been somewhat surprised. Here are these great products and then when it comes to the business card or marketing material, the same thought wasn't put into them. I have seen countless business cards made of that thin office supply store cardstock or the "pre scored" packaged cardstock with some skewed resized banner placed on it .

Business cards are important as they display your company brand and are a representation of you . Great business cards will leave an impression on the buyer, making them remember you and your product, which is what you are ultimately aiming for. But, sometimes sellers forget to put as much thought into them as they do their actual products ,which may leave you forgotten by the buyer.

There are a number of different programs that you can use to create business cards (we do not suggest Microsoft Word or Paint) but setting up the layout properly and getting it ready to print can be the most challenging part.
If you are not crafty , your home printer is not "up to par" or just don't know where to start. You can contact one of the many sellers and buy a premade design that you can just add your information to. Or you can buy a "design file" which can then be printed as many times as you want, either at home or you can take to one of the many online business card printing services.
The following are a few, just remember to research , read the fine print and ask around if unsure about feedback from these sites...don't forget to troll the Forums as well for reviews.
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{BUSINESS AND MARKETING PRINTING SERVICES}

Moo Cards- Home of the popular "Mini Card", are based out of the UK but with the popularity
increasing in the USA, they have now opened up a USA branch and website. This is good for premades as they have alot of cute designs and you are sure to find something for all types of designers. Also they interface with Etsy, Facebook and Flikr, so if you have pictures of your work on those sites, you can easily upload from them. The downside is that the cards run a little high, (50 for $22 plus shipping). They also sell postcards as well as holiday cards and people tend to have good feedback and positive experiences ordering from them.

Vista Print- One of the more popular online printing services. Reviews for this site have been mixed, some having great experiences with customer service and products and some not. One of the benefits is it is a one stop marketing shop. They produce postcards, greeting card, posters, bags, hats, banners, books and a whole lot more. Also they usually have sales or discounts, so you can wait to buy different sets of materials.

Overnight Prints-Another popular online printing service. Generally positive reviews and they have competitive prices as well. The sell a variety of different sized cards (postcards, rack cards, fliers and etc) as well as magnates and bookmarks. One of the great things about them is that they consistently have great discounts , like now, everything is 20% off. The discounts are splayed across the front page so that you cannot miss them. They also have a variety of printing processes as well as paper and finishes , some of which are free.

123 Print- This site also has mixed reviews, but they do have some products not found at other sites, like the pens and Post-it notes. The Post-It notes are good when you are at craft shows and maybe need to write something down like a product for the buyer to purchase later. You can write them on your own company official 3M Post-It Notes, so that way they can see your company info at the bottom when they look at it.

Got Print- They have a large selection of promotional materials and alot of price tiers for business cards. One promo I do like is the Notepads and the Event Tickets that you can do for your business. These would be great tools to use for Upcoming Promos or sales that you may have..

48 Hour Print- This is an option if you are in a pinch, since like the name indicated, its 48 hour guaranteed printing and processing of your order at no extra charge.Reviews have been mixed as well, but they do produce nice glossy booklets, great for those of you who want a wholesale or holiday catalog.

PS Print- In addition to the standard letterhead items, the do event tickets with the foil stamping as well as the CD jewel cases which are nice if you are sending files or images on cd....you can have your company logo on them.Reviews are also mixed for this site.

My 1 Stop- They really have a small selection of products which includes the business cards. But what they do have are gift cards as well as luggage tags and key tags, so if you were always interested in offering these items, but didn't know where to get them, this is one of the places.

*If you are unsure about quality, printing and etc, RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. You can easily find feedback via google or forums on these companies. Also all of these companies have samples, so if you are still in questions, just request the samples of the product you wish to see.
*In addition , alot of these sites have ongoing promotions and discounts. VistaPrint , Moo and Overnight Prints constantly have specials ( 25% off business cards, free postcards, etc). Just Google the company name and put "coupon" or " discount" after it and any "specials" will come up.