Designing Your Business Card

When you get to the point where you are ready to start marketing yourself as a professional, one of the first things you will need is a business card.  It sounds easy enough to slap on your personal information and sit back and wait for the calls to come in, but are you including the right information?  Not sure?  Not sure if you're ready for business cards yet?  Don't panic!  Below are tips for making the right decisions about your business card.


1.  Do you need one?

If you are not going out and meeting people or taking on work that would lead to future business, or if you're doing all of your networking electronically there is no need to get business cards...unless you just really want them then continue reading.

2.  Where do I order them?

There are so many options for ordering business cards.  Personally, I order my first business cards from Vistaprint because I got a good deal on them, and, since I am not profitable yet, I needed something to get me by as I market myself.  Right now I saw they were advertising 40% off any item in your cart.  MOO is another great resource.  They caught my eye with their mini cards--a new trend in self-marketing material.  Check them out!

3.  Contact details?

Nowadays we have innumerable way to get in touch with people: home, cell, office, secondary, fax, personal email, business email, website, IM, Facebook, Twitter, and snail-mail to name the most common.  Maybe most of these don't apply to you, but if you're like me, you have most of these to consider.

There is no point in adding contact information that you don't answer/check every day.  You will thank yourself in the end for not adding too many sources when you only have a couple inquiry streams offered!

Personally, I have my name and address (because I run my studio out of my home), phone number, business email, and website (I have a price guide on my website--saves me the time of having to explain it).  I also included some extra text up in the corner that says "Find me on Facebook" instead of posting my Facebook URL because I am big on posting teasers and updates on my page.

4.  Does it need a purpose?

Do you want to include links to your social media?  Include it if:

• Your social networks are useful to your potential clients/employers.
• You have an online community you would like to build.
• You regularly check and update your social media pages.

You might also want to avoid advertising your social media if:

• The content on your page is inappropriate for clients/employers.
• You don’t regularly check or update your social media pages.
• You don’t have the time or resources available to respond to people via social media.
• Your customers are not using social media.

Do you want to include any additional text or information for  clients to take action such as: "Call for a quote," "Follow me on Twitter," or "Award-winning ______!"?  Omit any information that takes away from the clear message/intent.  Keep it simple.

*Bonus*  Your card, if you choose, can also double as an appointment card, a loyalty card, discount card, etc. that you and your clients will get more use out of.

5.  Do I need a logo?

Yes!  It helps people get familiar with your branding and will be more likely to remember your symbol/graphic/logo, especially if you have a simple business name.  Here are a couple examples of my personal logos and graphics that I created using Photoshop.

6.  What about a QR code?

No, just no!  It stands for Quick Response code and is a bar code that people can scan with their phones.  Although they are slowly gaining popularity in our culture, unless you know that most of your clients will have a QR reader app and can scan your QR code then you can consider using a QR code generator for your business marketing.  Still not sure about it?  Refer to the flowchart below.

Do you have a business card already?  What information did you include?  Have any other questions?  Please comment below and I will find an answer that's right for you!

Works Cited

"Businesspeople shaking hands." Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 11 Aug 2014.
<http://quest.eb.com/#/search/154_2882895/1/154_2882895/cite>

Curry, Niq. "Flowchart." Photograph. niqcurry. Uniq Creative, 4 May 2014. Web. 11 Ayg. 2014. <http://niqcurry.com/what-info-should-i-have-on-my-business-card/ >

Curry, Niq. "What Info should I have on my Business Card?" niqcurry. Uniq Creative, 4 May 2014. Web. 11 Ayg. 2014. <http://niqcurry.com/what-info-should-i-have-on-my-business-card/ >

moo. MOO, Inc., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://us.moo.com/ >

"QR Code Generator." Photograph. qrstuff. QRStuff, n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://www.qrstuff.com/ >

vistaprint. Vistaprint, n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://www.vistaprint.com/ >

Your Portfolio...Work on it NOW!

Good Morning and welcome to another Terrific Tuesday!

As my days of doing blogs for the school are almost over, I want to take this opportunity and talk a little bit about portfolios.  The main point that I want to stress is that no matter what year or what class you are taking, you need to start thinking about your final portfolio presentation...right now!  Every single shooting assignment is a chance for you to work on your portfolio, every single image should be taken thinking that this might be the one that will land you a shooting assignment in the future.  It is better to have 300 great images where you get to choose 20-30 for a presentation than having less and then having to figure out how are you going to fill the empty areas.

If you are doing a 4-year degree, your last class is going to be PH430 Photography Portfolio. In this class there are going to be several areas that you will be presenting to your professor and working toward you last portfolio presentation.  This class is different from the e-folio class, and all the work you did on e-folio will be used again on PH430.  Here are some of the things that you will be working in your last class:

1. Portfolio, both in physical and online form
2. Mission, vision and artist statements
3. Presentation of your website
4. Branding, marketing and targeting of audience
5. Advertisement as well as left behind promotional materials
6. Example of your business card
7. Social media interaction and presence

Sounds like a lot?  Don't worry, you will be working on every aspect I mentioned above in other classes before getting to your last one.  The important thing is that you should be working on your brand in every class you take.

If you are going to be involved in Portraiture, use every class to build on it.  Every image of a subject or model should be geared and be the best you can produce, regardless of the assignment parameters.  Practice your posing techniques as well as your lighting schemes, make them interesting and with variety so you can use them later on.

If your area is going to be Fine Art or Architectural, be sure to take the Architectural Photography class and take the chance to build on your images.  You can also use the other classes such as Photo Essay, e-folio, and others to build on your images, techniques and variety in presentation.

Here are some sites that I hope will inspire you in some way toward creation of a unique presentation of your website and portfolio.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-great-photographers-you-should-know/

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/photographers-portfolio/

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2013/06/wordpress-photography-website-templates.html

Having problems with your branding?  Here is some help, hope it is useful for you.

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2011/06/branding-mistakes/

http://photographyspark.com/photography-branding-tips-ideas-for-studios/

http://digital-photography-school.com/ready-branding-your-photography-business-part-1-logos

Do you have a business card for your business?  Check out these two sites.

http://www.zazzle.com/photography+businesscards

http://us.moo.com/products/business-cards.html

I really hope all this information helps anyone out there, but remember the most important action right now is to get into the habit of using any photography assignment as a way to improve and build toward your portfolio.  By the way, on your last class, there will be shooting assignments, I am using them to explore and increase my presence and enhance my portfolio. hope you can all do it when the time comes!

Until next Year, this is your Tuesday Ambassador!

Have a great pixel full day!

And of course, be safe and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!