“A Unique presentation lets your customer know that you care about your art.” ~Gayle-T
Last weekend I went to a local event close to where I live, called the Fraser Valley Bead Show. I plan to write a whole post on it soon, when I get the chance. For today’s post though, I would like to show you the handmade business cards I took with me to give away.
In business you want to leave people with a lasting, positive impression. So why not give them something that shows off your polymer clay talents… such as handmade business cards with a thin baked slice of one of your cane designs, glued to the front.
In the photo above you can see that I chose to use my pirate bead for this particular event.
Of course if you are planning to handout 1000’s of business cards, going the handmade route does have it’s limitations. But it is something to consider for smaller shows.
The people I handed out these pirate cards to, got to see a tiny representation of my work. And I’m guessing that my card was one that they ended up keeping after the show was over.
Does anyone else have creative ideas that work for you at jewelry events or craft fairs? Not just about business cards… but about anything to do with displays, packaging and promotions. Please do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Here are a couple of comments from previous posts to get the ball rolling…
Most of my business is online. I use satin pouches inside gift boxes and always include a couple of business cards so I don’t need hang tags there. But I do a craft show at Christmas and hang tags and earring cards are a must for a professional look! I get them on vistaprint.com when they offer free business cards (which is often). I design my own with their very easy to use program. I use half the card for my design and then copy it to the other side so I get two tags on each card. When I receive them I cut them in half and punch two small holes for earrings. I also punch a hole in the top of some to use for hang tags. The only cost is for shipping and a little extra to use my own logo. Their “slow shipping” option is the cheapest and I find that the cards take 2 weeks at the most to arrive, even though they say it will take longer. ~Judith-R
I totally agree with the niche marketing tips and the custom made items articles you wrote. Until recently that accounted for almost 100% of my sold items. I used to sell my jewelry in a dance club where my husband was a bouncer, that served a predominantly gay clientele. I had great success making jewelry themed around the different niches within the gay community, and also themed to some of the special event parties they had several times a year. I always made sure they understood that I accepted special requests too, and even made jewelry to match outfits for several of the “Drag Queens” featured there as entertainment. (Which they were always kind enough to mention in their acts.) And I always made sure to donate items for all of their charity events. As a result I passed out a zillion business cards over the course of a couple of years, and I still get calls for special requests and gift items. XOXO ~Jamie-H
Those business cards are very cool! Fabulous idea!
Great idea Cindy! Easy and effective!
Nice cards!
When I went to the Yahoo Groups Moderator’s Town Hall meeting in Sunnyvale, CA, I took along a couple of dozen covered pens. I brought along my stamp with my website url and a stamp pad. Yahoo was giving out souvenier blank books with pens as gifts. When someone wanted to exchange cards with me I let them pick the pen they liked and I would stamp their souvenier book. I got a big crowd around my networking table. Much fun was had by all. Over the years I’ve handed out polymer clay “gimmies” at gatherings, like mini cheese burgers with fries, or a platter of mini sushi, PB&J foldie charms, and key chain fobs, etc. I hand those out with a plain white card, the kind you use in home printers, with my stamp on it. They can go to my website to get in contact with me. Folks toss out cards but keep “gimmies” is my logic.
Hmmm like the thin sliced cane idea – I make a tiny heart stamped with the initials of my logo, but it does the make the label/card a bit bulky. I’m going for natural packaging this year and using recyclable jute bags in different sizes for different things.
Thanks Melinda and Alice!
@NoraJean: You make some excellent points! People don’t often realize the value of doing something a little different to stand out from the rest. One idea might be to take your name stamp and stamp into a piece of clay to make a tag to go with your mini burgers etc. That way they get a ‘gimmie’ and they don’t lose your contact information.
@Polyanya: I like the thin slice as well. They could be any cane design you wish and aren’t expensive because they use extremely little clay. You could even make a logo cane or a collection of different patterns and people could choose the one they liked best. Next batch I make, I’m going to print the info on the computer and then add the cane slice. It will be faster and more professional but still have that unique charm to set it aside from others.
I was thinking about something similar – a little freebie thing with my logo on (a silver leaf). Maybe a tiny pin badge or fridge magnet, something cute that people will keep and remember me by!
I use little silver leaf charms on my jewellery as my “signature”. I’ve made several attempts at a leaf cane in silver but I can’t get the contrast right. :( It either looks too flat or if I use too much light and dark it stops looking like silver. Tricky.
@Silverleaf:
I tried to find a way to get a message to Silverleaf and couldn’t find one, so I will make comment here. Re: making a silver leaf cane – make a blend of a little black, a good amount of silver, and a bit of pearl. Press to a ribbon with black on one end and the pearl on the other. Jelly roll so the pearl is in the middle and the black is on the outside. Mash that jellyroll blend to a “fat ribbon”, that’s one segment of your leaf cane. Slice, stack, and cut the stack on the diagonal for the “chevron flip”, there’s your silver leaf. You build in your highlights and shadows with the blends.
Just thought about little bag/mobile charms too.
Thats a nice technique Nora-Jean! Silverleaf are you getting any of my emails? Not had a reply, apologies if you’re busy.
Ohh, I love all these ideas. I am doing my first juried show in Dec. I am going to make some give aways so I am remembered amongst the other many, many talented artists.
Thank you Nora-Jean, I’ll have to try that!
Iwona, I’ve emailed you. But then you know that already!
I just missed that show by one week Cindy. I was just over in your area for the last week and thought of you every day. My very first stop was an hour and a half visit to Strung Out on Beads in Abbotsford where they asked me if I had been to the show. Ah well.
I did note that they didn’t have much in the way of things for polymer clay artists in their great shop – but tons of findings and beads to compliment anything I could dream of (except for millifiori – they seemed to lack that). The gals who work in the shop were great and surprised we had driven from central Alberta to see their shop. Anyone who advertises 2000 sq. ft. of beading supplies has my interest!
Aimee Abson
Innisfail, Alberta
I didn’t know you were out this way Aimee! Next time you come, do let me know. Maybe we can meet for coffee?
Also didn’t know there was a bead store out in Abbotsford. God it takes an Albertan to tell me where the bead stores are in my area!! Geesh! It’s quite a ways out but next time we visit our friends out there, we’ll have to pop in. Sounds great!
Cindy – that sounds like a wonderful idea!
You must get over and check out ‘Strung out on Beads’. The gals there are wonderful. I think you could probably talk them into more polymer clay supplies. They had some PMC but nothing else.
Hey all, I just did a craft show this last Saturday. I made some little purse charms in a tiger print pattern (since I am Jewelry Jungle) and attached them to my business cards. People LOVED them and I am sure my name and cards will be remembered more easily than a lot of others.
They were way easy to make. This is what I did. Made a tiger print skin, punched out little ovals and little hearts with a hanging hole inthem. Cured and coated them, glued on a tiny rhinstone shiny, added some nice black twisted string, and added a lobster clasp. Then I took a regular hole punch, punched a hole near the edge of my card, hooked the little charm to the hole by the clasp and WHAL LA!
Thanks again for the GREAT idea Cindy. It really impressed everyone to get a little something free.
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Great idea Laurel – mines this weekend!
That is such a great idea!
Laurel that is awesome! I love how you take something you learned here, gave it your own spin and had success with it. That is excellent!