Your Business Card is a Vital Part of Your Brand Asset Portfolio – It Showcases Your Desired Sharing Proposition
Find Out How Your Jewelry Business Card Fits Into Your Brand Vision
You might be wondering if business cards count for much in this day and age. Aren’t they just used for quick reference by plumbers, electricians, and emergency numbers? Are they doomed to retire under magnets on a fridge door?
What about jewelry business cards – do they even matter, and if they do, how important are they in the grand scheme of growing your business?
Believe it or not, business cards are still an excellent way to maximize networking opportunities, keep your brand top of mind, and get exposure for your biz.
Simply put: all of your brand assets work together to get your business in front of the eyes of your audience.
Your Brand Assets and How They Position Your Business
Imagine, for a minute, that you’ve booked a stall at a jewelry fair.
You’ve spent a considerable amount of time and money getting your displays and packaging right.
Someone, maybe a prospective buyer, or a representative from a well-known retail chain, approaches you and asks for your business card. But all you’re able to give them is a scribble on a piece of paper that you tore off from somewhere inside your cluttered handbag.
First impressions matter! Why wouldn’t you include a beautifully designed business card along with a personalized care card as a compliment to your brand packaging?
Let’s have a look at Brand Assets as a separate entity, and I’ll discuss why it’s so important to get this part of your biz right.
Brand assets fall into a pretty broad category, but they go a long way to solidifying you as a force in the life of your dream client.
Business Brand Assets – Big Wins Come in Small Packages
Your brand assets:
- Visually represent your brand.
- Promote your business.
- Include: your logo, maker’s mark, website, brand colors, images, fonts, patterns, voice guides, co*cktail/taglines, photography, packaging materials, line sheets and catalogs, press kits, business cards, care cards, and more.
These assets are an extension of your Desired Sharing Proposition – they help sell your product. They’re crucial to merchandising your jewelry properly and act as a powerful tool to draw people to your brand
Cohesive brand assets also increase the perceived value of your product, enhance client experience, and make your brand more memorable.
Your Brand Assets Tie in With Your Desired Sharing Proposition
Your Desired Sharing Proposition, or DSP, is basically how you differentiate yourself as a brand. It’s all about attracting the right people to your brand and getting the sales and exposure you need.
As you delve into marketing – whether you’re a new creator, or a seasoned jewelry business owner – you’re bound to come across the marketing term: unique selling proposition.
Now, here at , we’re kind of allergic to the term because it’s misleading.
No one really has a unique product to offer – rather, it’s your message, design vision, and personality that sets you apart from the competition. This is precisely why we adapt our students’ thinking to embrace the idea of a Desired Sharing Proposition, instead.
At this point, we have to acknowledge that jewelry is bought for emotional reasons. A customer might buy a piece of jewelry to appear polished for a job interview, or to enhance their confidence on a first date, or as a representation of the kind of person they want to be.
Factors That Create Desire Around Your Brand Assets
Pay attention to:
- Design aesthetics
- Brand story and messaging
- Core values
- Website design
- Color schemes
All these things come together to tell a story – a story that makes your audience feel more connected to your work and influences them to buy from you.
Ask yourself why you’re making your product, how your influences inspire you, and what the deeper purpose is behind your love of design and creation. These questions will help you refine your branding to forge a deeper relationship with your audience.
In order to position your DSP effectively, you need to work at carving out a place for yourself in your niche, striving to achieve innovative design, producing quality products, voicing a dedication to your values, and pricing to reflect what your jewelry is worth.
You’ll find a great breakdown of the Desired Sharing Proposition in my book, ‘The Desired Brand Effect: Stand Out in a Saturated Market With A Timeless Jewelry Brand’.If you order it through Amazon (available in both print and Kindle editions), you’ll qualify for two ah-mazing bonuses on my website.
Designing a Beautiful Business Card to Compliment Your DSP
The first thing to remember about business cards is that they lend your brand a professional touch.
A well-designed business card speaks of attention to detail, and ultimately, acts as a ‘window’ to your brand.
Design Isn’t Etched in Stone
Your business card is one of the many tools in your marketing arsenal that will evolve with you and your business.
Designing business cards is really fun! Most printing companies will let you order a number of samples before you settle on a final design for a bulk order, so feel free to experiment a bit if you’re not sure what you want.
When you’re ready to order, keep in mind all the different opportunities you’ll have to give out your business card, and try to order accordingly…
You should give out your jewelry business card…
- At in-person events, art shows, and fairs.
- In your packaging of online and in-person orders.
- When presenting linesheets to wholesale clients and retailers.
- With lookbooks, catalogs, and any other promotional material.
- …and to anyone you meet who is interested in your business!
When your supply starts getting low, you’ll have an opportunity to revisit the design of the card and make any changes you wish to make.
5 Ways to Approach Jewelry Business Card Design
1) Don’t Clutter the Design: You want your business card to reflect your creativity, but ‘overstuffed’ business cards tend to look unprofessional and unclear. Be selective about color choice, font, and how much information you include.
2) Triple Spell Check: There’s nothing more frustrating than noticing a typo on your card after you’ve already ordered 1,000 copies in bulk. Double and triple check that all the information is correct before you submit your design. Then check it one more time when you receive your order to make sure there weren’t any mistakes on the printer’s end.
3) Include the Business Card Essentials: The name of your business, your name, your website URL, your email, and your phone number. If you want to, you can also include social media accounts.
4) Add a Short Tagline: A compelling business will often include a memorable tagline that encapsulates your brand messaging and speaks to your dream client.
5) Delay Printing Cards if You’re Rebranding or Planning to Change a Detail: Considering doing some rebranding in the near future? Maybe hold off on printing your business cards until you’ve decided on all the details. Alternatively, you could print a smaller batch of cards while you work on the final design.
Designing Your Jewelry Business Cards
Designers are naturally creative, and many like to have a hand in designing their own brand assets. Here are just a few resources to help you design and print your own business cards with ease.
However, if you’re thinking about outsourcing the design process, here are a few resources to help you hire a pro who will work with you to create the design that’s right for your business. Prices and turnaround times vary considerably depending on who you hire.
Have fun creating your brand assets. It’s an exciting part of your journey as a designer or creator, and a sure way to target your dream client and set your business on the road to success.
I covered a lot of ground today, but only scratched the surface. If you’re after a really in-depth, value-packed program that’s uniquely designed for jewelry creators and designers, I invite you to join our Laying the Foundation Program.
Not only will it fully prepare you to tackle every aspect of marketing, you’ll also gain the confidence and advice you need to make the right decisions for your business.
