I’m going to be selling my wares for the first time in a long time. I
want to have business cards made. Should I have a postal address put
on the carde I won’t have an actual business address no studio yet,
no storefront and don’t want to use my home address, so I’d have to
get a PO box. I don’t mind getting a PO box but hesitate because I
get annoyed at the all the junk mail. But is it ok to have a biz card
without a postal addresse I suspect for my purpose a biz card without
postal address makes sense who uses them anymore, anyway! What do you
all doe
Christine, waiting for Sandy to arrive in Littleton MA USA
My business card has my business name on the front, a small slogan,
and three categories of what I make.
On the reverse side I have my website, and my email address.
The back is quite important, but not for the contact details, but
for the fact that it has a lot of blank space for the customer to
write on, or for me to write a quote. If I judge the customer to be
serious I’ll then add a phone number.
I think it depends on what market you’re going after. My
"Metalsmith" card just has pictures front and rear, with an email
address & website. English on the front, Japanese on the back. No
physical address at all, and no phone. If I think it’s important, I
can hand write it. That one’s intended to be a little intimidating.
(I also knew I was moving, so putting the address on them would have
obsoleted them almost instantly.)
(If you go that route, make sure at least one side has a matte
varnish, or no varnish. Gloss varnish makes it hard for anything
except a sharpie to stick. Or do a spot varnish on the back, and
leave an unvarnished area to write on.)
My ‘designer’ card has a PO box, and my cell on it, as well as
email. That card’s a little more warm & fuzzy.
Figure out what market you’re aiming at, and then tailor the card to
match.
My PO box never gets much in the way of junk mail, so don’t let that
bother you. They’ve also got a new program going where they’ll email
you when something comes in to the box, so you don’t have to hike
out there all that often.
All things being equal, the PO thing works well, and that way you
don’t have to change your printed material if you move. (which you
will, early on.)
Be sure there is some way for them to contact you, but if you prefer
e-mail over snail mail just give that and your phone, and if you
have one a web site or Etsy shop or whatever. I also include
picture(s) of my work, as I have trouble remembering names, but I
remember work and images… Folks really like having the image(s) of
the work on the card. I do my images on one side, and the work on
the other, but I’ve seen beautiful cards done that manage to get it
all on one side… Not sure if a one-sided card is better than a
two-sided card, or the other way around, but one-sided is cheaper.
I have mine printed online, at
I’ll be interested to hear what printers other folks use.
If you aren’t good at graphic design you can also shop for a designer
who can print them for you on Etsy. I use Inkedpapers on Etsy for my
hang tags and I’m sure she does business cards too. Very nice designs
and excellent crisp printing, good prices and turn around time.
Hi Christine I have my name, what I do,my cell phone number and my
e-mail on my cards. That seems to work fine. Most people would rather
use e-mail these days I think.
Christine- We NEVER publish our address. We have a home studio and
guard our location very carefully to avoid home hostage situations. A
post office box address is fine. We only allow folks we know well and
do business with to know where we are.
My cards have my name, goldsmith, platinum smith, email, web site
and phone number.
Another note on biz cards, avoid going too artsy and cute. Make them
standard size and shape. The odd shaped and sized ones get thrown
away. They don’t fit a rolodex. Also please don’t do tiny white
lettering on a black background. Unless it’s very bold, it’s hard to
read. Our target clientele is very wealthy so the cards we have are
very traditional looking. Crane stationary, cream colored heavy stock
with engraved cursive style writing. We want to exude quiet money and
class. Feel free to express yourself, but keep it simple. Cards don’t
sell jewelry. What ours do is link our potential clients with our web
site. Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Some jewelry artists omit the physical address from their business
cards, for security purposes. This is not foolproof, since your
phone number can be used to track your address, but it may help avoid
some break-ins.
Phone number, email address, website, and maybe the city and state
you are located is good if you don’t have a brick and mortar
location to sell from or meet customers. With working out of your
home you need to keep a low profile. For one you don’t want a bunch
of customer traffic coming through your neighborhood to your house.
All it takes is a couple of neighbor complaints and the local
government will shut you down.
Also, safety. Even though you probably aren’t working in diamonds and
gold, at least not yet, if the wrong person(s) hears “jewelry” they
may target you for robbery or a break in thinking there are items
they can readily sell or pawn to support their drug habit.
I understand your concern about revealing the actual location of your
studio to the world. My business cards have my name and city, with a
phone number and email address. If I had a website, that would also
be on the card. Of course, if someone really wanted to locate me…
My business cards have my name and phone numbers in big enough
numbers that I can read them without my glasses… us old folks hate
small letters… and my email address… I have a separate e mail for
my business then my personal one… I also have a PO box and the name
of my company… If you really want to get noticed put your photo on
the card… pictures of people stop people’s eyes… works in
newspaper adds… or now a days internet…
Christine- We NEVER publish our address. We have a home studio and
guard our location very carefully to avoid home hostage situations.
A post office box address is fine. We only allow folks we know well
and do business with to know where we are.
My cards have my name, goldsmith, platinum smith, email, web site and
phone number.
Another note on biz cards, avoid going too artsy and cute. Make them
standard size and shape. The odd shaped and sized ones get thrown
away. They don’t fit a rolodex. Also please don’t do tiny white
lettering on a black background. Unless it’s very bold, it’s hard to
read. Our target clientele is very wealthy so the cards we have are
very traditional looking. Crane stationary, cream colored heavy
stock with engraved cursive style writing. We want to exude quiet
money and class. Feel free to express yourself, but keep it simple.
Cards don’t sell jewelry. What ours do is link our potential clients
with our web site. Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Hi Christine. I’ve had a P.O. Box address on my cards for years, but
I’m not sure it’s necessary. I give out my actual address on a
case-by-case basis, say for a return. I rarely get anything
interesting at the box anyway, and I worry that someone will try to
send something there that should go directly to my studio.
One suggestion I do have: put a picture of you on the card. I have
2-sided cards, and having a picture makes it much easier for people
to remember you, the one who made the great jewelry pictured on the
other side. I recently got 5000 glossy 2-sided cards for about $50
from gotprint.com. Hard to beat that.
I have email, phone number and address on my business card. I use a
Post Office box for security, although 5 minutes on the internet
nets you any info you could possibly want. Putting my physical
address in a widely distributed form makes me nervous, given the
amount of time I spend traveling. The internet I can do nothing
about, but I use the PO on every business form I fill out. I realize
the illogic here, but you can only do what you can do.
I have had customers call or email to verify my mailing address,
before sending repairs/lost earrings/reorders/fittings to me, so I
like that they have my address, and it saves time and looks more
professional than scribbling it on the back in case it’s needed.
Plus the occasional thank you card shows up, or check, which is
always nice.
My advice - get a PO box, put the address on your card - why not?
Stripped down to the essence, the main purpose of a business card
today is to give someone contact It isn’t necessary to
load it up with content well beyond that. The basics should be your
name, what you do/title and how to reach you by the most reliable
means whether it is a mailing address, phone number, web site link or
email address. For anything else you choose to add ask yourself if it
enhances or detracts (confuses) from the initial purpose. This is not
to say it can’t be attractive, have interest and be appealing to the
recipient. Once in contact again you’ll have an opportunity to
provide more info as needed.
(These principles gleaned from being married to a very capable
graphic designer.)
With regards to the phone-tracing issues with security, I adopted
Google Voice very early on. I use that number exclusively for
business cards - and I haven’t heard of anyone being able to trace it
back.
However you design your cards, at least make the size of the
telephone number readable. Nothing annoys me more than trying to
contact a business, all in normal size letters and the
numbers so tiny I’m lucky to be able to find them. Black backgrounds
make it worse.
My cards are very simple, Richard Hopkins, Silversmith, Goldsmith,
Designer and my Mobile/Cell phone number
I am physically untraceable. Suits me fine.
I sell in two quality hand made markets and get my orders through
these and by word of mouth.
Last weeks order was for 5 opal pendants with 2 opals a pendant.
Client supplied the very nice opals. I will make one pendant a week,
client collects from stall and will give me the next set of opals. I
am not holding all their stones. Nor do I have to worry about holding
$10,000 worth of stones.
Many people want to meet the maker and talk about what they want and
think before they order. They also like to buy at makers price with
no middle man % added on.
If some one wants to come to my show room I ask for photo ID before
I give out the address. I want a VERY good reason as to why they need
to come to the show room. And by appointment to suit my time.
For many customers I meet them at their place and over a coffee we
discuss their needs. All very relaxed and they like the personal
service. Also I have their address.
If a client wants an expensive stone set, they bring the stone to
the workshop and I make the setting. They take the stone home with
them.
When the piece is ready for setting they come back and I set the
stone. The stone NEVER leaves their sight. A great comfort to many.
If they are a referral I meet them at a local coffee shop before
they come to the work shop/showroom.
Why so cautious? My friend quit the business after meeting two
"gentlemen" with shot guns at her work shop.
I get my cards from Vistaprint, great price and ship world wide.
Hey, thanks everyone for responding. I’m old enough to still feel
tied to postal addresses, even though they are no longer very
meaningful. I don’t work with valuable materials, so I don’t have
concerns related to that. I don’t have a brick and mortar store or a
studio; if I had a studio, I would probably put the studio address
down. But there’s really no need for a mailing address; most people
email or use Facebook, and there’s always telephone if they don’t do
either of those. I like simple and straightforward design and will
certainly make sure that the card is easily readable! And I would
never do white text on dark background!
