The good news is that most businessmen have no idea how to make the right business cards. Most people believe that a business card is a box of paper, on which the name of the organization is written, your name and surname, contact details, logo. In fact, this is a wrong approach.
In order to understand which approach is right, we will analyze the business card of the photographer Paul Smith as an example, we will analyze its mistakes and try to make the right business card ourselves.
Two remarks: First, I understand perfectly that your business may not be associated with photography, but the general principles and common mistakes are the same.
Second - to the photographer Paul Smith, I have no complaints, this is a good professional, there is only a claim to his business card. It is her shortcomings that we will analyze.
So, go directly to the card. From above it is written: professional photography, studio and visiting, under the inscription of the pattern-pogon, then - photographer Paul Smith, site address, phone number, e-mail.
Below them, the pattern-spangle pattern, and then the services provided by the photographer are listed - ready to translate all your desires into photos, portfolio, portrait, children's photography, advertising photography, photography for interior design, subject photography for catalogs and sites, photography of weddings and love histories, photography of significant events, photography of interiors and real estate, reporting (events, promotions, competitions, nightclubs, concerts, etc.) and other types of photography of any complexity.
Here are two main mistakes.
Mistake number one - there is no answer, why should I use the services of this particular photographer. If you put mentally ten business cards of photographers on the table in front of me, then it's completely unclear why I should choose this photographer.
Most likely, I'll do it: I'll call the first three or four photographers and I'll choose either at a price or, most likely, according to the degree of how sane and businesslike the photographer seemed to me. Plus, if possible, I'll try to collect feedback on them, but this is not always possible. Therefore, this card does not fulfill the function of promoting the photographer, it simply just carries his contact information.
Second, there is no call to action. Holding this business card in my hands, I can call the photographer, and I can not call, which, most likely, I will do. And most likely most people who will receive this business card will do so. We all know that business cards are taken only in one percent of cases, in order to call tomorrow and order this service. In most cases, business cards are taken for nothing. They are taken as part of an exchange of business cards, they are taken, in the end, simply out of politeness, that you would fall behind them. All these cases do not lead to the sale of your goods and services.
What should the business card look like in order to fulfill its role of such a paper seller?
Let's try to understand and make up your business card!
So, from above we put in large letters: photographer Paul Smith, then I was not too lazy to go to the photographer's website and see what he has awards and achievements.
He holds the title of "best photo JournalismAwards 2016" and "Best Portrait" - 2017 according to the version of the journal Digital. If you have any awards and regalia, put them on your business card! If you have nothing to worry about, take care of this issue.
In any industry there is a lot of exhibitions, seminars, conferences and other such kinds of events, and you can visit them and get there some kind of certificate, diploma, award or even win. This is all you need to reflect on your business card.
We will do the same on the business card of the photographer, placing this information at the top. I even put a cup next to it, that it would be clear that the photographer is so graduated, with awards. Next, under the photographer's name, a pattern-spangle, as an element of design.
What should go further on the front side of the business card? Here we must put the reasons why we should address this photographer. Based on how much I know Smith, these reasons can be the following: a photo studio in the center of the city, then under it, professional equipment.
However, I do not just put "professional equipment" and after that I list there some complicated technical names that do not say anything to anyone, I point out in brackets that they shoot the same cameras for Playboy and Cosmo.
Ninety per cent of the audience of photographers in this case are girls who want to make a portfolio, and this description of professional equipment will be more understandable and more attractive for them. Further under it - special photo sessions for LinkedIn and Facebook.
Below, I write: a lot of subjects for shooting. And I enumerate some of the bright objects: samurai swords, rose petals, pistols, cigars, ornaments, suits a la 1920's. And so on. That is, I'm not just appealing rational part of the psyche, I try to hook on the emotional part, how to seduce the client, in the brain causing some kind of living images.
Go ahead - the next element is very important, and to think through it you should spend half the time you spend on making a business card. This element is designed to ensure that the person who keeps your business card is forced to climb on your site. In this case, I came up with such a proposal: see examples of the transformation of ordinary people into Hollywood stars, a colon, the address of the site.
What we will do with the person on the site and for what we call him, I will not speak in this book, since this is a completely different topic. In short, your business card should serve as such an intriguing selling point. Next, you drag the person to the site and there you continue to work it out.
What should happen with the business card next? Often in all the textbooks, ethics write that the reverse side of the business card must always remain white, so that a person can make a note. But since our business card is small, and there is a lot of information, this rule is not used boldly. Instead, we use the reverse side of the business card for further information placement. What can I place here?
Well, firstly, if your office is somewhere in a hard-to-reach or hard-to-find place, then it's a good idea to put a map here so that a person does not get lost. If you are in this plan is all right, then you can put, for example, some interesting photo, which will again seduce the client.
In the case of the Photographer, you can mark a small photo of a photo studio that makes the photographer not just some faceless yet another photographer, but also makes it even more real, alive. And you can already see what a great studio photo he has.
Again, put a photo if you have something to brag about. If you have there, for example, a photo studio in the basement or in a not very salable condition, then such a photograph should not be placed.
What else can you put here? You can put an excuse for a visit or a reward for a visit. For example: come with this business card in the photo session and get a photo album as a gift. I make a footnote and then write - the prices for good photo albums in stores start at $ 20.
And we give you a good photo album.
Why am I doing this? I'm not just offering a person a gift, for coming to me, but I want to be sure that a person from my target audience will understand how important this gift is, how much it costs - it's an expensive gift.
However, if you sell apartments and offer t-shirts as a gift - buy an apartment and get a T-shirt - like in a famous anecdote, then you are wrong and this is not necessary to put on a business card.
Next: I usually hedge. If you remember, we are pulling a person to the site on the front side of the business card, this may not work for some reason, so I usually try to give a person another excuse to go to your site.
I write here: to find prices and see examples you can by phone or on the page, a colon, and I give again the address of the site. This is an important element, because adding it twice increases the likelihood that a person will visit your site, and then you continue to work there with him.
And here only in this moment, pay attention, only here I place the address and phone number. Not large, gigantic letters on the front side of the business card, but here in the end, pre-interested in the person and giving him an excuse to contact you.
What else can you do here?
We have the backbone of the business card, as if its skeleton, only with information. The business card will naturally not be very nice. Right now, when we made up the skeleton of the business card, made up its structure, you can contact the designer, that he would decorate her like that.
Not like everyone else does it - I'll give the business card to the designer, let it do it to me - no, you have to do business cards yourself. You have to know your own advantages, you know your clientele best, and you will be able to get hold of it much more than some unfortunate designer.
What can be done here? Here you can just pull the background, this is already a matter of technique. You can see on the Internet, where there are very interesting examples of business cards. For example, for a photographer, a business card that externally depicts a piece of photo tape is good. I repeat, this is already a matter of technique. At this stage you can invite the designer.
What other comments would I like to note here?
The first remark is that for each business line you must have separate business cards.
The second point - besides business cards you should have more disks, flyers, catalogs, brochures. Business cards, this is not the only tool for work.
You also need to have a full set of marketing tools, which in different cases beats more accurately. And this all needs time. It's not easy to give the designer something to do. So spend two hours, and preferably two days and make yourself the right business cards, it will be very beneficial for you to distinguish against other competitors.
No comments:
Post a Comment