SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS
It may seem counterintuitive, but sharpening your focus to a smaller, more specific audience can increase your impact. A broader audience might mean more people, but you may sacrifice actually resonating and engaging them with your message. The old 80/20 rule applies here: 20% of your customers make up 80% of your sales. Talk to those 20% who really connect with what you do or need your product.
Understanding basic image file types (and sizes) is a useful tool for any small business owner and could save your designer from ripping his/her hair out in frustration. Receiving a 72 dpi thumbnail image and needing to create a beautiful full page print ad from this teeny tiny spec of a photo might be Dante's ninth circle reserved for designers. The reverse can happen too. You don’t want to send a full resolution 10 MB image to your web designer either.
There are lots of options for just about everything these days and business cards are no exception. Fun shapes, different sizes, fancy finishes, paper choices, you can even get the outside edge in a specific color. This is like a designer's candy store and it is easy to go into raccoon mode and gravitate to the shiniest object. I haven’t gone crazy in my choices for clients, but I have strayed from the classic 3.5 x 2” with mixed results. As a business owner, cards are still important and arguably one of the few items keeping print media on life support. Hopefully I can offer some insights to navigate the waters between dull discard and ridiculous novelty and help you achieve ‘memorable impression’ as you hand your card to an interested party.
It is a dream of mine to have a library that rivals the one presented to Belle by the Beast in the Disney Classic Beauty and the Beast. Or at least one equal to it. Until then, I have a "library wall" which I merrily push to its limit. Decorative shelf space is in constant fear of being usurped. My long winded point is that I love to read. A friend of mine posted a graphic on her Facebook page entitled "Surprising Book Facts." One of the "facts" (hey, it's on the internet, so it must be true) stated "Reading one hour per day in your chosen field will make you an international expert in 7 years." Challenge accepted. I figure I have a head start with my degree, but continuing education never hurt anyone. Below are some of my chosen favorites, greedily devoured in my "international expert status" quest. More to come.
