do you even bother with business cards?

mcsquishytooshy · Post by **mcsquishytooshy** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:21 pm

I mean, the info is probably just gonna be in someone's cell phone anyway. That said, I've had tons of people ask me for my card in the past month. I think it's time to make a small run.

bluesman · Post by **bluesman** » Tue May 22, 2007 5:53 am

I love handing out my card, I love it even more when it brings me business!
Spend some time on the design. Nobody throws away a cool card. Go ahead & buy 1000, its usually less than $10 differende between 500 & 1000. Put some in all your cars, all your jacket pockets, breifcase, take some by the music stores, never be caught without some cards to hand out. I usually give 2 or 3 whenever someone asks for one, they probably have friends who play, they will be passed on from person to person. Give one to every member of a band, that way no one feels slighted. It even lends a tiny bit of credibility when you have a card to give to parents of kids who play. Seriously, this is the cheapest, best kind of advertising you can buy

mikeyc · Post by **mikeyc** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:07 am

I agree with the credibility thing... I thinkfor some reason some people don't think you're legit unless you have a card. Also, it's really not very expensive to get business cards printed these days. My wife designed mine and we got 250 of them printed from some online joint for $20. If you want to really go on the cheap, check out vistaprint.com. They'll send you free cards if you pay for shipping and let them print their ad on the back. I got my first batch like this, and they served me OK.
I don't see a real increase in business due to business cards. It's really just an easy way to give someone my contact info-- a lot better than scribbling your name and number on a piece of paper...

leftofthedial · Post by **leftofthedial** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:12 am

Make sure the card says,

"President & CEO"

That always cracks me up!

carlsaff · Post by **carlsaff** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:40 am

There are a few studios I work with regularly who keep small stacks of my cards. They occasionally request new stacks, so apparently they are ending up in people's hands. Mine were ridiculously cheap, so if you want them, there's nothing stopping you. I'm happy I have them and send a few out with every job, hoping happy customers will pass them along. I think they do.

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:27 am

You should just get your discography tattooed on your fore-arm...

madtho · Post by **madtho** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:48 am

<plug> Or maybe you should get really expensive letterpress cards from me.

Letterpress is the 2" tape of business communications. Warm, thick paper, sizzling serifs and punchy type.

-mad
</plug>

Mane1234 · Post by **Mane1234** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:41 pm

You gotta have cards man....Tack em up on the boards at the guitar shops and clubs at the very least. Plus there's just something so cool in a total poser way to say "Here, let me give you my card"

CurtZHP · Post by **CurtZHP** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:43 am

Nothing makes me want to kick myself harder than being asked, "Do you have a business card?" and responding with an awkward "Ummm....."

pandatone · Post by **pandatone** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:44 am

yes, they are more usefull then just business.
you got your number and email on it. so you don't have to constantly write it down.
then if you design it with alot of blank space. you can write notes to the person.
and you always have them on you.. its crazy easy to give people all your info. so, their only excuse is they didn't want to contact you. plus you can make like.. 500 cards for 50 or so $.. seriously.. its like free.. and dam usefull.
www.psprint.com or www.overnightprints.com (i normally use overnight prints.. cards always look great.. just keep it simple is key IMO)

panda

thesimulacre · Post by **thesimulacre** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:07 am

SHAMELESS PLUG WARNING:

If any of you want business cards on the cheap, I work at a printshop called Qualimage Printing in Lakewood, CO... locally owned and operated. We can do a run of 500 full-color cards on a nice 100# glossy cover stock for $50 or so. Just set up a PDF for us and we won't have to charge you a setup fee. We can even UPS them to you anywhere in the country for cheap. Call us at 303.988.1560 because we are still working out all of the kinks of online ordering (in the print industry this is like have a drive-thru at a Subway without a fixin's menu to look at...)

Get that business flowing!

8th_note · Post by **8th_note** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:24 pm

I did the vistaprint thing and they've come in handy. When I go to a show where there's a band that I've recorded it's not unusual for one of them to say to another band, "Hey, this is the guy I told you about who recorded our CD." I try to have a my compilation CD of different projects I've done with a card (I print my information on the CD also) and give it to the prospective band. It's worked quite well.

Huntlabs · Post by **Huntlabs** » Wed May 23, 2007 6:51 pm

I just ordered a 1,000 from overnight prints. It will be nice to have some actual studio / music cards and not my other non music related bussines cards. They have some nice basic artwork and it was easy to design a card.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:23 pm

Whatever you do, make sure it's well designed. I'd rather not have a card than a bad one.

And we rag on people for thinking they're recording engineers just because they have ProTools or Garageband. Don't be a hypocrite and think you're a graphic designer just because you have Photoshop or QuarkXPress.

BTW- what are people using these days for graphic design? I'm still a PowerPoint using corporate drone.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu May 24, 2007 3:08 pm

In over 25 years, no.
When I was in NYC I didn't need one. Now I'm in the "midsouth" I probably could. but then anybody could call looking for help, and I don't want to work with "anybody" any more.
When I started out, a nice studio on 39th in a Penthouse, told me to drop a tape, (pre CD's) I did. They never called. They had cards. I never worked with them. I worked with plenty of other people, some asked for cards. I never had one to give them. I enjoyed 99% of my work, sometimes so much it way made up for the times I didn't. It's hard to find the kind of talent like that down here and you don't see pro attitudes here either, lots of big egos and sour notes, flat singers, nope, no cards.

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do you even bother with business cards?

do you even bother with business cards?

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