Business card tagline?

[Tims96]

I am a recent audio school graduate, and am currently struggling with coming up with a tagline to put on my business card. I'm hoping that by posting my current idea here I can get a sense of how industry people will react. I know that in the grand scheme of things the tagline on my business card will have little to do with how successful I am as an engineer, but as I try to establish myself, first impressions are important.

The person designing the card came up with the phrase "I'll make you cool music and interesting noise." Simple, yes. Almost childish. But for some reason I find how straightforward it is kind of endearing. I think it expresses my desire to experiment in a simple, direct manner, but am also worried it's too unprofessional. Just to provide some context, the overall design of the card is "rustic" and hand-drawn.

Does anyone have any initial reactions to this, be they positive or negative? Please, be as brutal as necessary. I want to make sure that it's memorable, but obviously not in a bad way. If you, as an artist or studio owner, received this card, what would you think?

Thanks in advance!

[cgarges]

Unless a tag line is really funny, I usually find them unintentionally funny or goofy. I think just the pertinent information in the simplest possible manner is cool.

A friend of mine put his own recipe for beef wellington on the back of his cards. I thought that was pretty good, especially since he's a piano player.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Kel]

"I'll make you cool music and interesting noise."

I agree with Chris, I think most lines on business cards actually have the opposite effect on me. This line in particular seems somewhat awkward, and may actually hurt your chances rather than help them. I would go just for the straight facts on the card. As far as design goes, I've seen people try everything, from those small demo discs, to actual xlr cables(don't ask), so go crazy on that front.

[Snarl 12/8]

I'm not an "industry professional" by any means, but I find your "tagline" very offputting. For one, is that even grammatically correct? "I'll make you..."? And, unless you're doing "beats" for people, I don't think anyone wants the person recording them to "make them cool music". Most people want their own stuff to be the thing that gets recorded. I dunno, like I said, I don't know shit.

[Tims96]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm glad I checked here first. The other people I showed this to were used to more traditional business cards, and I guess found this one "edgy" in a way that seemed appropriate to the music industry. I do not think it is grammatically correct, which was one of my concerns with it.

I think I'll stick with the more traditional route of my name, contact information, and services.

Thanks again for the help.

[@?,*???&?]

Deliver a work reel instead of a business card, but put your contact information and rate on the disc.

At a professional level, they will care about your skills and sounds. At a less professional level, it will only be about your rate.

None of it will have anything to do with your clever turn of phrase.

[Scodiddly]

I'd at least rewrite that phrase a bit: "Your music will be cool and your noise interesting", maybe.

I had one that got some good comments - a small musical note labelled "before" next to a bigger musical note labelled "after", for my live sound card. These days I have a card with minimal text and a big photo, the photo being of my head next to an old microphone as seen on a vintage TV. So it's a photo of me... and the punchline I get to say when I hand the card over is "the hard part was getting the TV to work".

[JGriffin]

Deliver a work reel instead of a business card, but put your contact information and rate on the disc.

At a professional level, they will care about your skills and sounds. At a less professional level, it will only be about your rate.

None of it will have anything to do with your clever turn of phrase.

well...

Part one, having business cards is a good idea regardless of any plan to deliver a demo reel on disc. In fact, it may be better to have your demo reel online and have the link printed on the card. Wastes less plastic, and is more portable. (just as an aside: professional voiceover actors stopped sending out demo reels on CD ten years ago.) Also: if you run into a potential client on the street it's much sexier to hand him/her a card from your wallet than to stand there kicking yourself because you don't carry demo CDs everywhere you go.

Part two, I'd argue that the levels Jeff outlined above are oversimplified. People who don't have much money may also care about quality, and may in fact listen harder to demos when presented with 7 different studios that all hire out at $35/hr (which describes basically any given 4-block area on the north side of Chicago).

Part three: probably right. Stick to the basics.

[Snarl 12/8]

You're not related to Gus are you?

[Scodiddly]

You're not related to Gus are you?

Not sure who Gus is...

[Snarl 12/8]

You're not related to Gus are you?

Not sure who Gus is...

I'll take that as a no. Gus Helmke was John Philip Sousa's lead bass drummer and the highest paid member of his band. Super famous dude, j/k.

[L-ROX]

I would advise you to scrap the idea of making business cards. I think they still serve a purpose for some businesses, but for audio engineering, I personally feel they're outdated.

What you want to do is be able to send your contact information to someone as fast as possible, like being able to message your contact information to anyone who is interested (I do this all the time). These days most people have cell phones (a growing number of people now have smart phones that are capable of taking your "vCard" and automatically placing it in their contacts database) and that's easier and faster than handing someone a card. For example, if you message me your "e-card", all I need to do is accept it on my phone and I'll have you in my contacts. If you give me a business card, I'll have to enter the information manually and most people don't bother doing that.

In many ways, business cards give the idea that you're not "up on game" to be honest.

Incidentally, I bought my nephew a Jr acoustic guitar for xmas and the GC sales person gave me my warranty information in the back of HIS business card. I thought that was tacky, in the car, I wrote the info on the back of my receipt and threw his business card away.

[cgarges]

I would advise you to scrap the idea of making business cards. I think they still serve a purpose for some businesses, but for audio engineering, I personally feel they're outdated.

In many ways, business cards give the idea that you're not "up on game" to be honest.

Well, here's an email that I got yesterday:

Hi Chris. I spoke with you briefly at The Plaza-Midwood Fall Crawl and got your card. I?m interested in making a demo CD, and wanted some more details about pricing and scheduling.

Seems to still work perfectly fine for some people. I have no idea how having a business card equals "not up on game."

The e-card idea sounds like a good one, but I don't see how having a business card would make you not want to work with someone. That seems awfully ignorant to me.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[L-ROX]

I didn't mean to sound too general; I think it depends on the level of sophistication of the prospective clients you're trying to reach.

I'm sure there are still people who appreciate business cards, but as I said "I personally feel", that's only my opinion.

I live in Los Angeles like the OP, and deal with a younger crowd and practically everyone I see has a smart phone and "beams" contacts to one another, so I felt my advice was appropriate to the OP.

I also have to say that (in my opinion) nothing gets you jobs more than actually talking to people and connecting with them.

[JWL]

No one is ever going to hire you because of a witty phrase on your business card. A witty phrase on your card may, on the other hand, be offputting to some.

Just skip it. More important than business cards are your ability to do good engineering, and your ability to network in a way that people feel good being around you and trusting you. Focus on doing this work, your business card is just a piece of paper with your contact info on it.